Excellent, a Must See

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

For an independent film produced on a dental floss wide budget, For You I Die will leave quite the indelible impression. That is mostly due to the moody atmosphere of the film and the sincere playing of the leads Cathy Downs and Paul Langton.Langton is a prisoner who was forced to participate at gunpoint to accompany Don C. Harvey on a break. Harvey's a vicious killer and Langton is intimidated by him. They split up with Harvey telling Langton to go to an out of the way motel camp run by Marian Kerby and her husband Roman Bohnen.But when he gets there after a few false starts, Langton finds a strange contentment and a bit of romance with Cathy Downs who is a waitress in their small restaurant. The place is so isolated it kind of brings on a strange kind of peace. But always hanging over their heads is the threat of Harvey's return.Cheap hardly describes For You I Die. But the performances are great and the atmosphere created so fits what the actors are doing.This one's a sleeper and a keeper.

This surprisingly excellent film noir mixes every element of the classic noir, mixing a prison break, a reluctant participant forced at gunpoint to aid the escapee, a trashy vixen, an innocent young girl wrongly accused of being a robbery accomplice, a tough-talking restaurant owner obsessed with religion, and a confrontation between the two convicts, all in a rustic setting. There are also assorted locales, including two cops who frequent the restaurant and a married couple who live like gypsies, popping in and out to entertain the owner and staff of the roadside dive which has cabins where the misunderstood convict hides out. Other than Mischa Auer, who plays the traveling actor husband, the cast is filled with obscure unknowns who all deliver totally believable performances that are naturalistic and sharp.Paul Langton, a veteran T.V. actor, plays a prison trustee forced to aid another prisoner in his escape attempt. Knowing that his attempt to return to prison could mean his death, he decides to hide out in the tough Marian Kerby's roadside inn, doing odd jobs and ultimately becoming a part of Kerby's extended family. That clan includes two nieces as different as night and day (Cathy Downs as the noble one; Jane Weeks as the trampy one) and the alcoholic chef (Roman Bohnen) whose affection for Downs is based upon his own abandonment of his family and his realization that Downs would be the same age as his own daughter.Kerby's Aunt Maggie is a tough old broad, greeting her customers with home-spun friendliness, but harping at Bohnen for his drinking, Weeks for her floozy ways, and Langton for reading the Sunday paper instead of going with her to church. In short, she's a big-hearted doll who uses tough love on the people around her, although she definitely is tired of Weeks' philandering. In the scene where she finds out the reason behind Bohnen's dependency on alcohol, she shows what really lies behind all that sweet talk and harping. While she only made three films, Kerby's performance is that of a pro, and you will find yourself rooting for her, especially when she makes her feelings towards Langton known after discovering the truth.The performance of Jane Weeks as the slutty Georgie reminds me of Gloria Grahame. She is obviously no good, and any association with Langton would lead him to the same fate of the anti-hero in the low budget noir classic "Detour" where Ann Savage was just as sexually manipulative and twice as devious. Downs is feisty, if a lot more realistic and down to earth, yet not too sweet, as the ingénue who was briefly involved with the mastermind behind the prison escape (Rory Mallinson). Bohnen is excellent as Smitty, whether confiding his past to Kerby or drunkenly giving Downs a bowl filled with goldfish. Auer goes a bit too over the top and his character seems rather out of place.While the print of the available DVD is extremely grainy, the sound is good enough to listen to, and the film itself is extremely fast moving, so the print quality should not be a factor. The characters are all fascinating, even if a few of them (particularly Weeks and Auer) deserve a good slap down. The excellent screenplay builds up tension towards the exciting climax which ends on a promising note for one, but an untimely end for another.

Arpi Productions only produced two movies. This one and the following year, Sophia. Both directed by the same guy.This film is a tight production however the public domain prints are horrible. They do not appear to come from a negative but from a direct transfer -- film to film.That's means all the grays bleed out and you are left with blacks and whites in high contrast. Not enjoyable to watch.Too bad. For a B picture it's not half bad.The synopsis:A young convict,Johnny Coulter, serving as a trustee and with only a year remaining on his sentence, is forced to participate in a prison break by one of the hardened criminals. They separate after the break but circumstances bring them together again. Johnny and a waitress, Hope Novak, fall in love and, together, they help the law recapture the escapee and his henchmen.

Another in the list of solidly made B movies, FOR YOU I DIE is very much worth seeking out. This taut little Film Noir has good actors and a fine, dark atmosphere. Paul Langton is excellent as down-and-out Johnny Coulter, newly escaped from prison, but basically a decent guy. His companion, seen briefly in the film's shadowy opening, is Mac (Rory Mallinson), a hard-as-nails con-type who instructs Johnny to head alone to the restaurant where Mac's girlfriend Hope works. Nervous Johnny arrives and is immediately misled by floozy Jane Weeks as Georgie, who pretends to be Hope in order to seduce handsome Johhny. As the real Hope (symbolic name, no doubt), Cathy Downs is a standout, avoiding all the good-girl clichés and creating a believable character. Other very good performers in the film are Marion Kerby, Mischa Auer and Roman Bohnen. These actors give their all in what was most likely just a low-budget production. Director John Reinhardt keeps the pace fast and the details interesting, and William Clothier does some nice things with obscure, Noir lighting effects. A top-notch minor Noir, whose theme is the enjoyment of what life offers for free.