Trapped

"How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of `Trapped.'" That's Hamlet, part-time movie critic for the Elsinore Herald-Gazette, writing his review after watching this reverential dud. Trapped instructs us on the excellence of the U. S. Treasury Department's Secret Service, as its agents track down the near-perfect plates for bogus $20 bills, now starting to show up in circulation. The man who made the plates, Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) is in prison, so he can't be the mastermind. Someone, Mr. Big, has those plates and is starting to use them. The Treasury Department works a deal with Stewart. They'll spring him from prison and make it look like a jailbreak. In return, he'll track down his former partner and find out who's responsible for the new stuff. Stewart, however, has a different idea. He'll go along with the phony jail break, but he plans to hook up with his old girl friend, Meg Dixon (Barbara Payton), cut a deal of his own with Mr. Big, then vamoose to Mexico with Meg and as much money, good or bad, that he can fool everyone out of. Only two things stand in his way. First are the shrewd, brave and dedicated men (there are no women in the movie except Payton) of the United States Treasury. Second is the shrewd, brave and dedicated Secret Service agent John Downey (John Hoyt).

Trapped is one of those documentary-seeming paeans to the government that Hollywood produced in the late Forties. For the FBI, it was The House on 92nd Street and The Street With No Name. With Trapped, we're given a seven-minute civics lesson on the many praise-worthy activities of the U. S. Treasury, with an emphasis on the reprehensible nature of counterfeiting, At the end of this stentorian, no-nonsense, deeply respectful narration honoring our government at work, I nearly wrote a check to add to my income tax payment.

The real problem with Trapped, however, is that it is dull, with journeyman direction and acting. There are one or two solid scenes, including a tough fist fight in a shadowy hotel room and a chase and shootout in the huge shed housing dozens of Los Angeles' electrified streetcars. In between is just one dull scene after another as Stewart tracks down Mr. Big and the Secret Service stays on Stewart's tail. The Secret Service may be always one step ahead of Stewart, but for most of the movie, once we catch on to how good Hollywood is going to make the Secret Service, not much suspense is left.

This was one of the first movies Richard Fleischer directed. He had a long, successful career that wasn't particularly distinguished. On the one hand he gave us such interesting or pleasurable movies as The Narrow Margin, Fantastic Voyage, 10 Rillington Place and Soylent Green. But then we have things such as Doctor Doolittle, Mandingo and The Jazz Singer.

Poignantly, we can see Barbara Payton and reflect on the lives, if they're unlucky, of lush, blonde, shallow starlets. She managed a handful of movies working with the likes of Gregory Peck, James Cagney and Gary Cooper. Within a couple of years she was enmeshed in scandal. She didn't seem to mind along as she was talked about. Another year or two and her career was over, which seemed to puzzle her. Payton's life was a sad, sordid melodrama, finishing at the age of 39 after alcoholism, public drunkenness and arrests for heroin and prostitution. She loved the attention Hollywood gives starlets, but she had little talent other than her curves.

Trapped is in the public domain. My version doesn't look so hot.

Directed by Richard Fleischer (Fantastic Voyage, Conan the Destroyer, and Red Sonja) Trapped (1950) is a grade B noir that at times contains impressive stylistic imagery and dialogue, but overall falls short of being a true "underground" B noir classic. For a succint, yet revealing synopsis of the film read the review by Dave. My comments are directed toward a few scenes that detract from the effective realism that exists in other exemplarary noir films. First a stunt double is clearly used for John Hoyt, who portrays the undercover Secret Service agent Hackett in the fight scene between him and Tris (Lloyd Bridges). Later in the film, Hackett, his face showing no effects from the vicious rumble, meets with Mr. Sylvester to arrange another meeting. Wouldn't Mr. Sylvester notice Hackett's facial renmants of his brutal fight? It is worth mentioning here that the three fight scenes in the film are realistically directed and acted. It was pleasing to view a 1950's film fight that did not end with a character being knocked out with one punch. (Why did George Raft, James Cagney, and Humphrey Bogart so often look like boxing champions on the screen?) Other shortcomings of the film were the car scenes. A moving background screen is clearly evident behind the stationary studio vehicle-too cheesy. Why is Tris, who is a prison inmate in his opening scene, not dressed in prison garb? The film's finale also shows amateurish camera work, when the pursuers seem to jump to "fast-motion" when startled by Mr. Sylvester's buzzer blunder. Trapped does not contain the moral struggle that challenges the protagionist in many classic noir films. Instead viewers are introduced to a cold-hearted crimminal, Tris , who Lloyd Bridges plays to the hilt. John Hoyt plays the undercover Secret Service agent who we find is the one that is really trapped. In conclusion, the opening scenes of the film with a narrative of the powers of the U.S.Treasury is well documentated.

Trapped is a pretty good movie I think. Lloyd Bridges plays his role well. An escaped, tough con on the run and trying to make one last big score so he and his girlfriend can go to Mexico. Barbera Payton is his girlfriend and man is she a hottie!

The movie starts off with a quick high school type lecture on how money is made and all the other responsibilities of the US Treasury. After that we learn of the evils and perils of counterfitting.

The feds discover a resurgance of counterfit money that had Lloyd locked away. They make a deal with him for early parole if he helps the feds catch the new counterfeiters and recovet the plates.

But Lloyd has other plans. What ensues is a cat and mouse game between the feds and the counterfeiters. When the undercover agent gets his cover blown, the fun really begins.

This is one of those great old flicks that would probably be a blockbuster if it was remade.

Topnotch quality picture and sound in this DVD film noir,Trapped.Good performances by Lloyd Bridges,John Hoyt and Barbara Payton( She really can act)

This mediocre B film noir was released by Eagle Lion production company barely a year after their 1948 smash hit "T-Men". Like the very similar "Port of New York" (-also released by Eagle Lion), it was really a ripoff of "T-Men" and lacked the style, creativity, and excitement that made "T-Men" a classic. "Trapped" was directed by Richard Fleischer, who was well-suited for making low-budget noirs such as "Follow Me Quietly" (1949), "Armored Car Robbery" (1950), "The Narrow Margin" (1952), and "Violent Saturday" (1955).

A young Lloyd Bridges stars as Tris Stewart, a convicted counterfeiter who is offered a chance at early release from prison if he agrees to cooperate with Treasury agents who're trying to track down his former partners-in-crime. He reluctantly agrees to help them but as soon as he's alone with an agent he knocks him out and makes his escape. What he didn't count on was that the agents had already anticipated such an event and they follow him closely, knowing that he'll unwittingly lead them to his counterfeiting ring members. While enjoying his shortlived freedom, he finds his former girlfriend Laurie Fredericks, aka Meg Dixon (Barbara Payton, in her film debut) and they reignite their fiery relationship.

Laurie has no problems with Stewart's dangerous lifestyle, and when she learns of the agents following him closely she tries to warn him, but it proves to be too late. But recapturing Tris is only the beginning for the determined Agent John Downey (John Hoyt), who then sets out to capture his murderous counterfeiting gang. In this movie the T-Men, just like the Canadian Mounties, "always get their man", and the movie's ending is totally predictable and unexciting. It was supposedly based on the same true case that inspired Anthony Mann's classic "T-Men", but the sluggish pace and lack of excitement kept this movie from being a classic B noir.

The movie is worth watching once maybe, just to see luscious Barbara Payton in her impressive debut. Payton, who's real name was Barbara Lee Redfield, appeared in barely over a dozen movies and had her peak in Hollywood in 1950's "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" with James Cagney. Her career came spiraling downward following several scandalous affairs (many with married men) and a violent battle between Franchot Tone and Tom Neal, who nearly fought to the death over Barbara. She faded into obscurity and eventually became an alcoholic prostitute, dying at the age of 39 on May 8, 1967. As for Lloyd Bridges, he was good playing another bad guy but he just didn't get enough screen time to make this a memorable performance. As for the Alpha dvd, it has an acceptable picture and sound quality. Overall, recommended only for hardcore film noir buffs.