FEAR

Peter Cookson

FEAR (1946). Director: Alfred Zeisler.  

Medical student Larry Crain (Peter Cookson) is weeks behind in his rent when he learns that he will no longer be able to get a scholarship. Feeling that a person should be allowed to be above the law if the situation warrants it, he murders Professor Stanley (Francis Pierlot), a miserly unlicensed pawnbroker, for his money, although things don't go quite as planned. As his relationship with a young lady named Eileen (Anne Gwynne) deepens, he is followed and interrogated by two policemen, Schaefer (Nestor Paiva) and Captain Burke (Warren William). Will guilt begin eating away at Larry? When another man is arrested for the crime, Larry may think he's gotten away with murder ... 

Anne Gwynne with Cookson

Who would have ever thought that Monogram studios would dare attempt their own version of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" or that it would be as credible as it is? Now let me make it clear from the first that this is by no means on the level of the book or of such previous film versions as Crime and Punishment with Peter Lorre in the lead, but it is also not the disaster that you might imagine it would be. Although the notion that guilt is eating away at Larry does not quite come across -- not because of any insufficiency in Cookson's acting but because of the very short running time -- Cookson delivers in a role that generally doesn't call for his usual charm or suavity. Anne Gwynne is not quite up to her more dramatic moments, but William and Paiva are perfect as the police officers. Without giving too much away, the film has two endings: one is more or less tragic, and the other -- well, let's just say it's rather "dreamy" and leave it at that. With another half hour of character development, this really might have amounted to something, but it's still interesting as it is. Jackson Rose's cinematography is an asset, as is the score by Edward J. Kay. 

Verdict: Crime and Punishment with a happy ending? ***.