Purely Joyful Movie!

One of my all time favorites.

Just perfect...

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The plot for "The Crooked Web" is way too complicated--so complicated and nonsensical that you wonder why they didn't work out all these details better before they filmed the story. It's a shame...but it's a film I would just as soon never watched.The story begins with a business run by Stan (Frank Lovejoy). He's assisted by his fiancée, Joanie (Mari Blanchard) and things look pretty normal. Then, her ne'er-do-well brother, Frank (Richard Denning) arrives and he's apparently got so get rich quick scheme but it entails going to Germany and digging up some grave. Also, along the way Frank ends up killing his partner right in front of Stan and Joanie!! Instead of going to the cops, Stan wants in with Frank and his scheme.Soon, the viewer learns that Frank and Joanie are NOT brother and sister and in fact she's already engaged with Frank. What gives? Well it seems that the pair are government agents and they are trying to lure Stan back to Germany. Does it all sound too complicated? You haven't even begun to hear the entire story! But, unfortunately, the story doesn't make a lot of sense and there really was no reason to even lure Stan to Germany in the first place. Overall, a film with little payoff and a story that seems to have too many holes.

The stage is set for an intriguing "Double Indemnity" like thriller where hard-boiled waitress (Mari Blanchard) turns out to seem to be more than the back-stabbing blonde sex-pot, betraying her fiancé (Frank Lovejoy) with a man (Richard Denning) she claims is her brother. The scenes at the drive-in restaurant which Lovejoy owns (and where Blanchard works) give promise to another "Detour" or "Decoy", a throwback to what classic film noir was all about. But soon you learn that what you think is going on isn't what is going on at all, and it all boils down to a trip to Germany where a stash of valuables hidden in a graveyard becomes the desire of the three leads, running from the law, yet not really on each other's side.There are some creepy moments where Lovejoy comes across Denning and Blanchard are acting a lot less like brother and sister and more like lovers, and he doesn't put two and two together. There's faked murders, a phony radio broadcast announcing the search for the three runaways, and a lot more confusing situations involving a military base all of a sudden built around the gravesite which Lovejoy and Denning desperately try to get to so they can turn the valuables into golden wrenches in order to smuggle out of the country.I found the whole thing pretty preposterous as the film went on, and as it neared its violent conclusion, my thoughts went from "Huh?" to "Whatever!". What seemed like a great scam in the making film where all the amoral parties ended up paying turned into an absurd cat and mouse game where the mouse and the rat play with the cat who grabs the cheese, not realizing that it's poisoned.

***SPOILERS*** You notice right away that hamburger joint owner Stanley Fabian, Frank Lovejoy, senses that something isn't kosher not in the hamburgers that he's flipping but in the relationship of his fiancée and waitress in his hamburger joint Jonie Daniels, Miri Blanchard, and her long lost "Brother" Frank, Richard Denning, who just happened to drop in for a hamburger on his way to Chicago. With Frank claiming that he's to get his hands on as much as $2000,000.00 worth of stolen gold jewelry and split it with his partner Chicago hoodlum Ray Torres, Steven Rich, the temptation was too much for Stanley to ignore. What the not too on the ball Stanley didn't realize is that he was being set up by both Frank as well as Jonie who wen't brother & sister but special agents for the US Army in a murder he committed ten years ago in post war Germany of a US officer as he, being a cook in the US Army, was stealing top grade beef & poultry from the US Army mess hall.Like a mindless and love sick jerk Stanley went along with the scam even though at times both Jonie & Frank blew their cover right in front of him by making out with each other! Still Stanley fell right into the trap doing everything that both Frank & Jonie asked him to implicate himself in the murder that he committed ten years ago, With it looking like the plan to trap Stanley was about to go bust the brainless nincompoop out of the blue admitted that he in fact did committed a murder when he was a cook in the US Army, in him trying to explain to Jonie why he can't re-enlist, and his fate was sealed!Frank Lovejoy seems to realize just how ridicules his role in the movie was and seemed to be on automatic pilot in plying it. Showing almost no emotion at all Lovejoy just went through the motions playing a complete jerk until he finally, in front of witnesses, admitted the crime that he was being investigated for. Even when it was all over in him being lead away in handcuffs and possible the firing squad Lovejoy, as Stanley Fabian, acted so mindless and brain dead that you wondered if he had known what was going on in the movie or the crime, murder, that he in fact committed and now was going too pay for!

Frank Lovejoy, Richard Denning, and Mari Blanchard star in "The Crooked Web" from 1955.The story in the beginning is that a brother and sister (Denning and Blanchard) set up the owner of a diner (Lovejoy) in order to use his money for a scam they have planned in Germany. The story then changes.Despite what one of the posters said, this film has a decent cast. I thought Mari Blanchard as the femme fatale was very beautiful and sexy. She had a hard edge that was brought out when her boyfriend wouldn't do what she wanted.Richard Denning was so handsome, but his film career never took off. However, he made a good living in radio, film, and television. He was the original star of a radio show with Lucille Ball that was later turned into "I Love Lucy." Denning was to star with her, but Ball wanted Arnaz.Lovejoy did a good job as the guy who is set up, alternately greedy, suspicious, and in love with Blanchard.The film is okay, but the plot has an enormous hole. If interested, read below. Otherwise, stop here.Spoiler When Lovejoy sees Denning's badge while Denning showers, Denning tells him that it was made for him so they can get onto the estate with the hidden box of expensive items made of gold. But the badge, which was real, must have had his real name on it and not the one he was using. He had already been recognized on board ship by someone who had been in the service with him, who had called him by his real name, but Denning tells him he's mistaken. So Lovejoy had already heard the name.