I’m back with the Universal Noir #1 box set and a crime film previously unknown to me. From its length of 87+ minutes, The Web appears to be one of the mid-budget Universal-International Pictures ‘A’ features rather than a ‘B’ picture. I guess that it can be classed as a film noir in terms of its visual style but thematically it doesn’t tick too many noir boxes. However, this doesn’t mean it isn’t of interest. It’s a first film as cinematographer for Irving Glassberg and a first Universal project for director Michael Gordon and producer Jerry Bresler, each of whom would develop their careers further. They worked well together to produce a film that is entertaining and enjoyable and they were helped by a strong cast with four familiar leading players, Edmond O’Brien, Ella Raines, William Bendix and Vincent Price. I’m not sure that any of these four could be classed as frontline stars, at least at this point. Vincent Price would be recognised as such in the 1960s for horror films but in the late 1940s all four were well-known, especially in ‘dark crime films’.

Vincent Price as Alex Colby, surprised at the start of the narrative by Regan bursting into his meeting

The original screenplay was written by William Bowers and the veteran Bertram Millhauser. Robert (Bob) Regan (Edmond O’Brien) is a young lawyer storming into the offices of a company run by Alex Colby (Vincent Price) despite attempts by Colby’s PA, Noelle Faraday (Ella Raines) to stop him. Regan has been pressing Colby for some time to pay compensation for damage done to a street trader’s cart. Now he has a summons. A confrontation neatly suggests that Regan is a crusading lawyer, fighting for the ‘little man’ and Colby is a ‘smooth’ businessman defusing the situation quickly. I wondered about the title but it seems fairly obvious that Regan is like the fly caught in the spider’s web. Soon after the opening incident, Colby is enticing the young lawyer with a fat fee if he will act as his bodyguard – he wants an intelligent man not just a typical ‘heavy’. I suggested earlier that this isn’t a film noir in thematic terms. But it’s possible at this early point in the narrative to argue that Regan is a ‘doomed man’ caught in a trap and that Noelle is in effect a femme fatale luring him in, but this doesn’t really develop as we might expect. Noelle is close to Golby but only as a business arrangement. In the same way Regan needs money but he still has ethics. When he realises that Colby is actually up to no good he will begin to fight back. Before that we meet Lt. Damico (William Bendix) a one-time colleague of Regan’s father and now in charge of the local police precinct. Regan has to get a firearms certificate to act as a bodyguard and Damico is wary about granting him one. It’s a slightly different role for Bendix. I’m more used to him as featuring with Alan Ladd at Paramount and nearly always as a blue-collar New Yorker. Here Bendix is given an oversize pair of spectacles and he uses a dry sense of humour, heavily drenched in sarcasm. I don’t want to spoil the plot so I’ll just say that Regan comes later to rely on Damico’s intelligence.

Regan and Lt.Damico (William Bendix)
Regan and Noelle (Ella Raines) out on a date. This seems to be slightly ‘tongue in cheek’. We are not yet sure that the couple are together – but things will change soon

Vincent Price as Colby is impressive as the villain – smooth, charming but also ruthless and seemingly unflappable. However it is Noelle as played by Ella Raines who interests me the most. She has been working closely with Colby for a few years, always with him, including trips abroad. What exactly is their relationship? When it appears that she is potentially interested in a relationship with Regan, is this genuine? Raines certainly keeps us guessing. I find Ms Raines intriguing. I first came across her in Phantom Lady (US 1944), the terrific noir by Robert Siodmak. She had a relatively short career but usually made an impact and in the case of My Name is Julia Ross (US 1945) she helped make a ‘B’ picture a success. I’ve also been looking at another Universal film from the Vol. 2 box set, Time Out of Mind (US 1947) in which plays alongside Phyllis Calvert. I’ll be writing on that soon. In The Web there are moments when Raines reminds me of Lauren Bacall, a younger woman but one with a very strong screen presence.

Regan is in most scenes and he and Noelle make a good couple

Perhaps the key to the film’s success is the playing of Edmond O’Brien as Reagan. In this early stage of his career he was cast in the lead in several mid-budget pictures. I guess he was thought of as a kind of ‘Second Division’ star who could lead smaller pictures but later he was often in supporting roles for big budget pictures with an array of ‘First Division’ stars. This is not to denigrate his playing. He was always very good and I like him in two Ida Lupino-directed films, The Hitch-Hiker and The Bigamist, both in 1953. In The Web, O’Brien’s Regan is what could be a difficult character to portray. The ethical basis is there, the plot requires him to be a bit gung-ho with the gun he is required to carry and he gets himself into trouble. His relationship with Raines’ Noelle is bumpy but we know they should be together. By the end of the film, I think it has become a form of crime-romance-melodrama and its resolution is satisfying but doesn’t have the feel of a film noir. Michael Gordon, who started in the Group Theatre in New York with Elia Kazan and Clifford Odets, might have had a solid career after early days in Hollywood on ‘B pictures’. After a gap of three to four years he re-emerged at Universal for The Web and directed films starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ida Lupino among  others but he fell foul of the McCarthy witch hunts in the early 1950s and was blacklisted for refusing to ‘name names’ of his left-leaning colleagues. He returned to work for Ross Hunter in 1959 with the Doris Day picture Pillow Talk which set him up for the last ten years of his Hollywood time making mainly romantic comedies.

There is rather more plot than I have described here and it is presented in the trailer which explicitly presents the story as a frame-up and Regan as the fall guy. The four leads are supported by some distinctive character actors. I think I was more interested in Regan’s attempt to make something happen with Noelle as well as defeating Colby. Overall this is an engaging crime thriller that certainly stands up in the context of the other titles in the box set which is still recommended if you can find either the UK or US version.