ridiculous rating

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

B film-noir from Columbia Pictures and director Lew Landers. Dependable character actor Edmond O'Brien plays Steve Rawley, a gangster who agrees to undergo experimental brain surgery to alter his criminal activities and erase his memories. Rawley masterminded a payroll robbery and hid the spoils before being nabbed. Steve's old buddies don't believe his new situation and try to beat the information out of him. They desperately want their share of the payroll. I guess in the world of crime, amnesia is no excuse. Some of Rawley's memories come back; maybe bits and pieces can lead to the hidden money. Rawley's old girlfriend Peg(Audrey Totter)wants him to leave the stash alone and just run away to a brand new life. It is not going to end that easily.Other players: Horace McMahon, Ted de Corsia, Nick Dennis, Mickey Simpson, Ruth Warren and Dayton Lummis.

Some one had bad mouth this picture labeling it no different than the three stooges film that was in 3D ,Spooks,but, This wasn't.The story was strong The focus on the 3d was the depth.The sepia tones were not restored .It did have few throwing on your face sequence ,but, it was sticking to the plot ,except for the bird sequence.For some reason there were a few shots that were flat.They were only a few seconds .Once again I'm guessing that the left or the right eye version of those shots were missing or have been damaged.It did not mess the whole film up Edmond is having half of his brains removed so he can get out of prison for robbing a security company.It works,but ,as he is recovering ,the old gang shows up and kidnaps him.Back at his ex girl friend apartment ,played by Audrey Totter ,Queen of the Noir flicks,everybody thinks he's the same .The gang individually tries to make him tell where the money is.They even use his girl friend,but, he doesn't remember.It isn't till later after some of his gang beat him up in an attempted to escape, that his girl friend realizes he does not remember.Then he start having a dream which causes him to remember where he had gotten the money, after the gang took him to his old house and he found a sticker number.Then he and Audrey escape the gang into a carnival ,where he had hid the money in a box at a place where you have your stuff deathwatch.He's going to get it and keep it for himself ,instead of giving back to the insurance company .Audrey had reform she mad that he doesn't want to be honest.It's an irony that there is a roller coaster scene where the gang chases him up there .Unfortunately it's screen with props for the roller coaster ride ,so you don't feel the effect .It's very obvious than Columbia took this from the film that was made a year earlier,This is Cinerama,the roller coaster ideal into the plot.Excellent 3D noir. 02/6/12

The 3D "Bwana Devil" had proved a surprising success and Hollywood now felt it had a secret weapon in it's fight against the infiltration of television. "Man in the Dark" was one of only two noirs filmed in 3D (the other being "I, the Jury") and it was quite an expensive process for what was really just a programmer. From the start, with punches flying and guns exploding in front of the camera, it was quite different to the usual Lew Landers production. Mobster Steve Rawley (Edmond O'Brien) is due to be operated on as part of a unique brain experiment to see if his murderous criminal tendencies can be stopped. It reminded me a bit of "The Crime Doctor" - you know, the first one of the series where Warner Baxter, originally a crime boss, is hit on the head and wakes up in hospital, not knowing who he is or what happened to the stolen money.Only Edmond O'Brien, being a much superior actor is able to imbue this gritty little noir with much edginess. In his case it is $130,000 and both his old gang and the insurance assessors are all eager to find out where he has hidden the loot. The only thing is he has lost his memory so even though his old gang get to him first and give him a thorough beating it does them no good. His old girl friend, hard boiled tough girl Peg (as only Audrey Totter can play her) is bought in to try to soften him up but she likes the new, gentle Steve and now wants no part of the money.Just so you don't forget it was originally a 3D movie, there are punches thrown, a bird flies toward the camera, an exciting gun fight from a speeding car with guns levelled right at the cameras and a man hurtling feet first toward the camera from a roller coaster ramp which must have given the original audience a few thrills. Steve starts to regain his original hardness and through a vivid dream, his memory of a chase through an amusement park. The roller coaster ride could have been inspired by the opening shot in the recently released "This Is Cinerama" but a couple of years previously in "Woman on the Run" (1950), the climax came with Ann Sheridan in a particularly scary roller coaster ride filmed at the same Pacific Ocean Park. Peg, now aligned with the police and assessors can only watch as Steve battles his greedy partners atop the ride.This is a pretty excellent movie with O'Brien, seemingly still on the run (like he was in "D.O.A"). In the original prints Columbia advertised the movie as made in "glowing monocolor" - in reality it was sepia, but prints don't even have that now, just plain black and white.Recommended.

Edmond O'Brien plays a criminal who is paroled to participate in experimental brain surgery which will remove his criminal impulses as well as his memory. The problem is that his former partners want their shares of $130,000 he stole before he went to jail. (Big Plot problem: Why would O'Brien agree to participate in this experiment if he knew he had a bundle waiting for him? Wouldn't he just do his time?) This B-crime drama, too light in tone to qualify as a Film-noir (check out O'Brien in DOA if you want to see some real Film Noir), with its paper-thin characterizations and dated tough guy dialog, would be easily forgotten if not for its status as the first Big Studio picture released in 3-D. Check it out: It beat "House of Wax" to the screens by one day. I just had the good fortune to see an excellent print of the film today at the Maryland Film Festival. (I should say prints, since it was projected by two cameras simultaneously.) The 3-D experience more than compensated for any deficiencies in the script. (In the film's defense, it does move along quite quickly in its effort to entertain.) I have seen many of the classic 3-D films in their natural format, and I found the 3-D in this film fabulous. Just seeing the black & white Columbia logo itself was worth the price of admission. Oddly, however, the intentional 3-D effects, amusing as they could sometimes be, distracted from the overall 3-D experience. I found myself fascinated simply by the illusion of depth in simple conversational scenes with the occasional object in the foreground. If I were flipping through the channels and watched a bit of this film flat on television, I doubt I would linger very long on it, but the excellent 3-D made it a worthwhile theatrical experience. Check it out if you ever get the chance.