The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)

Jane Wyatt and Lee J. Cobb

The Man Who Cheated Himself, 1950 film noir and available free from archive.org - directed by Felix E. Feist and starring Lee. J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt and John Dall.

For anyone who isn't only enjoying the film noir feel of skid row, but is actually living on skid row and can't afford to rent any movies, free film noir is an invaluable source of entertainment.  

Free in this instance just means free of copyright, but of course this generally means you can watch a bunch of these films on archive.org or on public uploads made to YouTube.

Directors beware. Failure to renew copyright can default your masterpiece to the List of Films in the Public Domain in the USA.

One or two of these many free film noirs are iffy to say the least but most are respectable, and of that respectable many, just about all of them have a high curiosity factor.

There are a few free film noirs that are even better, and are silver standard noir (we mix colors where we can) and quite watchable for many reasons.  If your a lover of San Francsico, for example, you're going to want to see The Man Who Cheated Himself.

San Francisco Screen Kiss (1950)

At the start of The Man Who Cheated Himself, I didn't think that Jane Wyatt was going to meet the high standards of many of the classic femmes fatales.  For a start she is in a panic, and she also acts rather impulsively in committing her murder, which seems to be improvised rather than something her character migth have actually wanted to do.

On top of that she ignores the advice given by her partner in crime but it doesn't matter.  The story is begun.  The clock is running.  Fate is on their trail.  And doom is only 50 minutes of dark dealings away.

Lee J Cobb delivers big time as The Man Who Cheated Himself.  Due to his supposed lust for Jane Wyatt as the confused femme fatale, this weak-assed cop-turned-lover does the dirty not just on justrice, but on his own gaddamned brother.  The brother is played by John Dall - you know, Bart from Gun Crazy, also released in 1950.

So what is more exciting than a crooked cop?  The cops know how best to cover up crimes and Lee J. Cobb goes through all the moves.  There are witnesses, a Mr and Mrs Quimby who are reminiscent of the comedy-relief witness in Double Indemnity, the so-called 'Medford Man' on the train.  

I say this because there is a similar scene to one that plays out in Double Indemnity when the witness is trying to describe the person he saw, while that person is standing, unbeknownst to them (but knownst to the viewer) right in front of them.  It worked in Double Indemnity but it ain't so hot, here.

Despite veering off the stark and dark rails of film noir towards the more straightforward paths of crime-drama, and even some hefty plodding police procedural as the dudes at the station show off their radio technology, The Man Who Cheated Himself does offer a satisfying mini-tour of what has become the great noir city, San Francisco.  

There is a memorable finale at an abandoned military base at Fort Point and this is one of the main attractions of the movie.  The car arrives at high speed and there is a good ten minutes of chasing and hiding, with a tiny but suspenseful sequence with Jane Wyatt's scarf that Orson Welles would have made last at least 12 minutes in itself.

 

Ah well. Remember at school when they said that if you were cheating at something, you were only cheating yourself?

The one thing the Production Code never gave any credit for was the huge amount of times that people committed crimes and got away with them.

So in cheating with Jane Wyatt and in trying to cheat the law and cheat his brother Lee J. Cobb is 'only cheating himself'?  

Well he did make some pretty catastrophic mistakes, but what I like best about The Man Who Cheated Himself is that the cheating carries on right up until the end.

Eeven after the end of the film we are led to believe that there is a whole lot more cheating going to be going on in court after Lee J.Cobb sees Jane Wyatt trying a similar thing on with her lawyer. 

It's a really great sour ending, kind of a small sucker punch to leave you thinking.

The Guy Never Gets The Light - Lee J. Cobb

Lee lights Jane's cigarette but he's got an unlit one in his mouth ... and I really wanted her to light his for a solid change.

The Man Who Cheated Himself hits WIKIPEDIA

Failure to renew copyright can lead your masterpiece to join the List of Films in the Public Domain in the USA

Full DOWNLOAD of The Man Who Cheated Himself at archive.org