Pitfall

Those lucky enough to catch Crime Wave during last year’s noir season can already vouch for the pulpy pleasures of André de Toth’s svelte brand of noir. Here, the Hungarian émigré orchestrates a taut study of suburban criminality with Dick Powell (Murder, My Sweet) as John Forbes, a family and insurance man dreaming of shaking off the doldrums of middle-class mundanity. He gets his wish (oh, does he ever) when a boorish PI (Raymond Burr) turns up a dame in an embezzlement case—an hourglass blonde (Lizabeth Scott) with a boyfriend behind bars. Adultery and murderous jealousies ensue; so too does an almost ironically pat return to the domestic status quo, underlining the rot already eroding the nuclear family. The film’s untampered inclusion of a certain Hays Code violation was reportedly maneuvered, with some coercion, by de Toth. This 2026 restoration had its world premiere at UCLA’s Festival of Preservation in May.