Very well executed

Such a frustrating disappointment

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

Burt Lancaster and Lizabeth Scott continue to make a great couple, as they found each other in "Desert Fury". but here it is more sinister in black and white, and there is Kirk Douglas as an even fouler gangster than John Hodiak. Mary Astor is missing here and replaced by a more cynical and less motherly Kristine Miller, who didn't leave a mark on the screen. On the other hand, Wendell Corey is even better here than in "Desert Rage" and makes one of his finest appearances as the hopelessly subjugated slave worker with all his integrity lost. The great scene in the film is his scene, when Kirk forces him to lecture Burt on bureaucracy leading up to the crisis of Burt's own character and integrity assassination. Fortunately there is still Lizabeth Scott, and she upholds the entire picture, not only by her singing. As a singer she was worse than Ida Lupino.It's neither Burt's nor Kirk's best film, but both are excellent as former gangsters trying to resettle after the second world war, Burt after 14 years in prison and Kirk firmly established as a syndicate mobster. It just can't end well when the two meet again after 14 years when one let the other down.It was probably his performance here that gave Wendell Corey his only significant lead in a noir a few years later, ("The File on Thelma jordan",) but he was best as a supporting actor and will be remembered best as such - while both Burt and Kirk never stopped rising as stars.

Kirk Douglas was ready to break into his typical tough guy no-nonsense image in this gripping 1949 crime drama. He is ably matched by Burt Lancaster, his pal, who took the wrap for both of them and as a result served 14 years in prison. During those years prohibition ended and Lancaster returns thinking he'll have part of Douglas's lucrative lounge business with Lizabeth Scott, whose career suffered from the rumors that she was a lesbian.Lancaster didn't realize the intricate corporate set-up that Douglas had established to keep him out.Douglas resorted to thievery, viciousness and ultimate murder along with framing Lancaster for the murder of the quiet, soft-spoken bookkeeper, played very well by Wendell Corey.This is a wonderful crime drama film and your interest shall be sustained until the very end.

If you think you've seen this one before you have. I Walk Alone takes the plot premise of Warner Brothers Angels With Dirty Faces and refines it quite a bit with far more character development than James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart were allowed to do with their characters in that other film.This was the first co-starring film of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in the salad days as Paramount contract players. Of course they would do better collaborative films in the future, but I Walk Alone was a pretty good way to start the team identification. Lancaster is an old time prohibition bootlegger who has just finished a fourteen year stretch in prison. Like Cagney he took the fall and like Cagney he wants his share of the business just like he left off.But in the intervening years which also included the Great Depression and World War II, Kirk Douglas in the Bogart part no longer runs a cheap speakeasy. He's the proprietor of a successful Stork Club like nightclub with Lizabeth Scott singing there nightly. He's got Scott on the side, but he's also putting the moves on society mover and shaker Kristine Miller. There's no place in his set up for an old time Twenties hood like Lancaster.Lancaster doesn't take the hint easily until he's left beaten and unconscious in an alley. After that he's framed for Wendell Corey's murder who ran the books then and now for Douglas. The film really belongs to Kirk Douglas. He does a variation on the part he did Out Of The Past, a rather elegant and fastidious man, whom you don't have to scratch too hard or too deep to see the menace come out. Blended of course with the Bogart role in Angels With Dirty Face in which quite more depth is given. Kirk just thinks he's the smartest guy around and everyone else is dumb, that's his downfall.I Walk Alone is a nice noir thriller from Paramount and the beginning of the partnership of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas of whom columnist Hedda Hopper labeled the Terrible Twins.

After waiting for years to see this fine film-noir, I finally did today. Two young hoodlums (Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas) are running illegal booze into another county during prohibition and get chased by the cops. The two separate after one of the cops is killed, and Douglas escapes, but Lancaster is caught and goes to jail. 14 years later, Lancaster is out and finds that Douglas has gone legit and is the owner of a major nightclub and doing quite well. Lancaster feels Douglas owes him something, and wants to become a full partner. Douglas then makes plans to eliminate him. Part of Douglas's plans include using his own mistress (Lizabeth Scott) to lead Lancaster on. A good thriller all around,predictable at times but very stylish, gritty and involving all the time. A "can't miss" for noir-fans.