Absolutely brilliant

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This is actually a very upsetting film, as the vile brutality and vicious corruption of Edmond O'Brien is difficult to associate with such a brilliant actor. It's a sinister drama of police corruption that hardly could be more dark and depressive. The fall of the protagonist into constantly deeper darkness and hopelessness of moral bankruptcy is almost unbearable. Still, there are some brighter spots. Carolyn Jones as a bar blonde at hand for comfort when the abyss gapes open is the one element of comedy in the film, and that whole spaghetti scene is paramount and the best of the film. There are some other scenes approaching it, like when he goes berserk at a public bath being both chased and chasing his own desperate destiny, and of course it can only end one way. It's one of the darkest noirs ever, but pay special attention to Emile Meyer as Captain Gunnarson. You'll never again see a cop like that. He actually runs the show and knows from the beginning the full extent of the troubles mounting and is the perfect realist to handle them. It's a great film worth watching to the end - if you can stand it.

Previously, Edmond O'Brien had made a name for himself in crime dramas like D.O.A. and 711 Ocean Drive. In those pictures, he plays a man of justice, sometimes put in compromising positions and dealing with ironic situations. This time, he is decidedly on the wrong side of the law. Mostly, the plot of Shield for Murder can be described as a good-cop-turns-bad-cop story, with O'Brien playing a crooked detective whose increasing corruption becomes more and more obvious with each additional crime he commits. Yet the drama is played fairly realistically and remains believable throughout the film's entire running time. Viewer interest is achieved by including assorted oddball characters and with a spectacular chase during the final minutes, where O'Brien is embroiled in a tense shoot-out at a men's athletic club.The supporting cast is more than adequate-- including a memorable turn by Carolyn Jones as the girl at the diner. And while the climactic ending is predictable, it's fun watching O'Brien's character get the usual what's-coming-to-him after causing so much trouble.

***SPOILERS*** In a role that very possibly inspired the "Psycho Cop" series of movies of the 1990's Edmond O'Brian as the sweaty disheveled and bug eyed LA police detective Barney Noland is about as rotten and barbaric as any film or TV policemen ever seen up to that time. Murdering without conscience Barney not only guns down an innocent bookie, Kirk Martin,to grab his $25,000.00 bankroll he's given by his boss Packy Reed, Hugh Sanders, but murders by wringing his neck and throwing him down a flight of stairs deaf mute Ernest Sternmuller,David Hughes. That's in that Sternmuller is the one person who can identify Barney in Martin's murder.Working his way up in the LAPD as a Let. Detective the pay, about $100,00 a week, wasn't enough for Barney's future plans to marry 20 year old, some 20 years Barney junior, cigarette girl Patty Winters, Maria English and get a house out in the suburbs. So when Barney got a tip that Martin was loaded with cash he jumped at it not caring what the consequences were going to be. It was Barney's good friend at the LAPD Detective Sgt. Mark Brewster, John Agar, who by getting to the bottom, of the stairs, of deaf mute Sternmuller's death who figured out that his good friend and mentor Barney Noland murdered him! As well as him being the person who murdered bookie Kirk Martin!Barney also takes time to brutally pistol whip private detectives Fats Michaels & Laddie O'Neil, Claud Akins & Lawrence Ryle, who were hired by Mob Boss Packy Reed to checkup on him at a local spaghetti joint where he picked up boozy Carolyn Jones, wearing a blond wig, for a date. In the end it was Fats, with his head bandaged like Lon Cheney Jr in the "Mummy's Curse", who tried to murder Barney at a local YMCA where he was suppose to get the tickets and ready cash from mobster Mannings, Michael H. Cutting, for him & Patty to check out of the country to South America.***SPOILERS*** Now on the run from both the law and the mob Barney is finally gunned down in a hail of bullets by the LA police lead by his good friend Det. Sgt. Breswter in front of the house that he hoped to buy with his ill gotten gains, the $25,000.00 in bookie money, for him and Patty to spend the rest of their lives living in. It's a shame that Edmond O'Brian wasn't given more psycho type roles like the one in "Shield for Murder" in him being so good in playing one. By then I would guess he was far too old and chubby to be convincing in playing psychos leaving them up to younger actors like Anthony Perkins to get to be cast in them.

And maybe all noir is Shakespearean. This one certainly is.Edmond O'Brien plays the "Macbeth", a rotten detective named Barney, but he isn't the politically correct deputy of Mayberry by a long shot.And it's okay to kid about it, because there is a fairly extensive dark comic relief scene in this film, where he is approached by a flirty blond girl, more cute than naturally attractive, but very charming, in a scene that culminates in a great directorial triumph of mixing violence (in the form of a beating) with dark comedy (as a patron stands in horror, yet continuing to gulp down his spaghetti).This is a perfect noir. The crooked detective begins with murdering a man, and using his "shield" to justify his actions. Agar is well cast as the "good cop" detective. English is stunning as the woman in the triangle about to form.We soon learn it isn't the first offense by the bad detective. The other characters play a big part in this film, as great films are usually the result of believable characters up and down the line up. These are all .300 hitters, down to the pitcher. No intentional walks to this group.And that does penalize it in IMDb voting, since most multiple accounts are from the bubble boys who won't appreciate the three dimensional villain we're given. IMDb's beavis and butthead type voters traditionally praise the "my sadist can outsadist your sadist" movies. This won't appeal to them, as O'Brien gives an acting clinic (helped by the rest of the cast, of course).The depth of O'Brien's acting could well be shown to classes, when one compares this to his technique in D.O.A.. For instance, there is a scene in this film where he recoils in horror upon being discovered, similar to the scene in D.O.A. where he recoils upon being diagnosed with luminous poisoning. Yet he clearly shows different expressions and emotions for recoiling from guilt and recoiling from persecution.This film flows well, full of pace, always with some action, comedy, or interesting tid bits to keep even the most easily bored into it. This film has many positives, and no negatives.