Great Film overall

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A runaway truck without brakes that barrels down a mountain road and into a small town provides an exciting start to a film constructed on an intriguing premise. However, if only "Framed" had been able to maintain the initial momentum and build upon the underlying idea, a classic might have emerged. Handsome Glenn Ford of the thick dark eyebrows is behind the wheel of that truck, and, as Michael Lambert, he is quickly arrested and hauled into court, when his truck reaches a stop and he is discovered to have an expired drivers' license. Either dazed by the wild ride or congenitally naive, Ford fails to notice that the sultry blonde bar waitress, who bails him out, pays for his hotel room, and leaves him spending money, has an expensive coiffure, pricey dyed hair, and a chic wardrobe far beyond the means of someone living on tips. If he overlooked those clues, her cozy apartment and her casual job resignation should have tipped him off. However, the college-educated mining engineer is easily taken in by the obvious wiles of Paula Craig, played by Janis Carter in a role that cries out for a Barbara Stanwyck. Carter is as unconvincing in the part as is Ford's keen interest in her.The screenplay by Ben Maddow, adapted from a story by Jack Patrick, reveals that Craig's obvious come-on masks intentions to enlist him as a fall guy for the plot she is hatching with boyfriend Barry Sullivan. The mix of dumb nice guy, evil seductress, money, sex, and murder have produced some classic films, but unfortunately "Framed" falls short. The mediocre production is nicely photographed in black and white by Burnett Guffey, but Richard Wallace's direction, after a great start, falters.The film's disappointment, however, does not lay with star Glenn Ford. Always an affable, likable actor, Ford is engaging in the central role, even if his initial gullibility is hard to swallow. Seeking employment, Ford befriends a colorful local miner, Edgar Buchanan, who strikes pay dirt and offers him a job, which complicates the plans Carter and Sullivan have laid. Veteran character actor, Buchanan, is always fun, and he and Ford make the film worthwhile. However, the lines and situations are often trite, Sullivan is only passable in his role, and Carter is the big void at the film's center. If the audience can quickly see through Paula's character and grasp her intent during her first few moments on screen, the credibility of Ford's tough guy character unravels. While the skill, depth, and sex appeal of a Barbara Stanwyck would have elevated "Framed" several notches, even she may not have been able to make it a classic. However, for fans of Glenn Ford, the film is a must see.

Mining engineer Glenn Ford (Mike) trucks into town and is befriended by barmaid Janis Carter (Paula). She's a bit too friendly isn't she? The clue to this film is in the title.You know Janis Carter is up to something from early on. Always be suspicious of people who are too friendly. Carter is plotting with bank vice-president Barry Sullivan (Steve) and they are looking for a scapegoat. There are twists along the way and Glenn Ford is a sympathetic character to identify with as he begins to suspect and unravel what has been happening. Who gets all that money? Someone starts the film with nothing….and ends the film with nothing.

FRAMED", Columbia, 1947, 82 min. This the one in which a slightly scruffy Glen Ford (just after "'Gilda", which made him a highly bankable Star) plays a mining engineer down on his luck, drifts into town, gets busted for a brakeless truck driving accident for which he gets thirty days in the local hoosegow, but is bailed out by a mysterious blonde (Janis Carter) for no apparent reason other than that she seems to have eyes for him. If he knew what she really had in mind for him he would have taken the ten days, gladly! As the plot thickens the incredibly alluring Carter really racks poor lovesick Glen over the coals setting him up for an insurance scam where he will be "accidentally killed" in a car crash so she and her real boyfriend (Barry Sullivan) can collect on the policy and scram. Glen barely survives and Janis gets her just deserts but her performance is so subtly-shaded with both hidden menace and obvious allure, and she is just so all-around fantastic in "Framed", that I couldn't help thinking that, all kidding aside, this must have been the Best Performance by an Actress for all of 1947 - - the year that Loretta Young actually got it for "The Farmer's Daughter".

FRAMED starts out with a bang, with Glenn Ford trying to steer a speeding truck with no brakes to its destination, but gradually it started to lose me as it sped along into increasingly illogical plot turns. Janis Carter plays the least appealing femme fatale I've ever seen in a film noir. (In any lineup of great ladies of film noir, her name has never come up.) Here she's plotting with her lover, a married banker (Barry Sullivan), to fake his death, retrieve the money he's embezzled, and head off to happier climes. But they need a patsy with no ties to substitute for the banker. And that's where Ford, a mining engineer looking for work, comes in. We're supposed to believe Ms. Carter can entice Ford, but he never displays anything but rank hostility in her presence. When he finally kisses her, it's more of a physical assault than an act of lust. When it comes to carrying out the death-faking part, they enact a scene straight out of DOUBLE INDEMNITY. The plan they adopt is so poorly thought out that even the most cursory police investigation would see through it. Ford at least is punchy and irritable throughout, a side of him I've never quite seen before. He glares with the best of them and passes out drunk a couple of times. He's nice to Edgar Buchanan, though. And who wouldn't be? As silly as the proceedings get, it's never too predictable and moves at a fast clip throughout. This is low-end film noir, a far cry from James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler, but still worth recording off TCM and watching once. Barry Sullivan (whose centennial is tomorrow, August 29) plays a solid citizen with a corrupt core, a long way from the rugged western heroes he'd portray ten years later (e.g. FORTY GUNS), but closer to the antagonists he'd specialize in playing on TV dramas in the 1960s and '70s.