Desert Fury

Directed by Lewis Allen, Desert Fury follows Lizabeth Scott’s Paula Haller as she arrives in her hometown and soon finds herself falling for a criminal (John Hodiak’s Eddie Bendix) with ties to her mother (Mary Astor’s Fritzi). There’s little doubt that Desert Fury, despite its seemingly foolproof setup, has been saddled with a disastrously underwhelming and uninvolving opening hour, as Allen, armed with a script by Robert Rossen, kicks the proceedings off with a first half that contains few, if any, attributes designed to capture the viewer’s interest and attention – with the arms-length atmosphere perpetuated by a lack of forward narrative thrust that is, to put it mildly, off-putting (ie it almost feels as though we’ve been dropped into the middle of a long-running soap). The context-free atmosphere is, at least, partially offset by the strong performances and striking Technicolor visuals, and it’s clear, certainly, that the picture improves considerably once it progresses into its gleefully lurid and over-the-top third act – with the growing emphasis on larger-than-life twists and revelations paving the way for an unexpectedly thrilling climax. The final result is a film noir that’s just about as hit-and-miss as one could possibly envision, which confirms the picture’s place as a barely-passable endeavor that feels like it should be so much better.

**1/2 out of ****