Cavalcanti (as he was billed; his given name was Alberto and it was given to him in Brazil) directed the chilling last story, "Ventriloquist's Dummy" (with Michael Redgrave as the ventriloquist) in the triptych "Dead of Night" (1945). I knew that he directed a version of Nicholas Nickleby  in 1947, but I have not seen that. Or before Netflix recommended the 1947  Warner Brothers/Rank coproduction of the noir "They Made Me a Fugitive," had I seen anything else Cavalcanti directed.

It prefigured "The Third Man" not only in the noir look (shot by Czech cinematographer Otto Heller who would later shot Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom", "Victim," "Alfie," "Funeral in Berlin"), in featuring Trevor Howard and a bleak standing alone ending, but in mixing sardonic humor with grim goings on. Smuggled drugs (heroin instead of penicillin) play a smaller though crucial part in "Fugitive."

Clem (Howard), a South African who was in the RAF during WWII and escaped from a German POW camp, seems to have spent his time since be demobilized drinking. He has agreed to join a smuggling gang run by the sadistic Narcy ((Griffith Jones), which is short for Narcissus. One of When  the gang members asks Narcy what Clem's "speciality" is.  Narcy explains: "He’s got class. We need a bit of that in our business." It is not clear to me why in any business sense, though I think that Narcy wants to command and humiliate posher "toffs." Not only Clem,. but Narcy's girlfriend Sally (Sally Gray). That is, Narcy wants "respect" not afforded his working-class origins and to dominate his social "betters."

The business front is a funeral home (Valhalla! with R.I.P. in giant letters on the roof, where experienced film viewers can be sure the characters will eventually go and grapple), with contraband transported in coffins. (It takes surprisingly long for anyone to hide in one!)

Cigarettes and liquor are the main line. Clem balks at involvement with heroin. This insubordination infuriated Narcy and/or convinces him he cannot trust Clem, so he sets him up (more opportunistically and instinctively than by planning).

Clem is sentenced to fifteen years in prison for vehicular manslaughter of a policeman. He is visited there by Sally who is outraged that Narcy has dumped her and taken up with Clem's companion Ellen (Eve Ashley). That would make more social-climbing sense if Sally did not come across as so posh, but...

Clem escapes a work party and heads for London to take revenge on Clem for framing him. Taking "his girl" does not seem to much matter. Clem's encounters on the way back are quite interesting (to the viewer) and include being framed for another murder. Then there's lots of suspense in dark West End streets as the police and Narcy's henchmen attempt to find Clem before he gets to Narcy.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by the intricate fight choreography of Hong Kong movies of recent decades, but the prolonged fight seems very clumsy with way too many reaction shots. On the other hand, the quite touch Clem is not a superman and reels from blows he takes. Many Hollywood noirs were forced by the Production Code to sugarcoat the endings. But as I already noted, "Fugitive" is in the company of "The Third Man" in not copping out in its ending.

I thought that Trevor Howard and Griffith Jones were very good as the main antagonists and there were many stylish shots (including some with the kind of irony one associates with Alfred Hitchcock). I thought the pacing too slow and the dirty and damaged print Kino does not seem to have done anything to try to clean (let alone restore) is annoying. (I assume there is nothing that can be done about missing frames.) The sound is also hissy. Some of the accents are very thick, but there is no subtitling (in English or any language).

Nor are there any bonus features. Indeed, there is not even scene access, which I consider a standard feature. The movie I'd rate 3.8, but the Kino DVD 1.4.

©2009, Stephen O. Murray

BTW, I don't understand the plural in the title. One man (Narcy) framed Clem and Clem decided to make an escape. The 1939 Warner Brothers' melodrama with a typically resentful (and framed) John Garfield had already used "They Made Me a Criminal." Besides, Clem turned to crime of his own volition in postwar boredom.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD