Outside the Wall (1950)

Outside the Wall (1950) is included in Kino Lorber’s Film Noir: Dark Side of Cinema XVII. These sets are excellent and include lots of fine movies that are very much worth seeing but most of the films have at best only the most tenuous connections to actual film noir.

Larry Nelson (Richard Basehart) has just been released from prison. He served fifteen years for murder. He went into prison at the age of fourteen. Now he’s almost thirty. He’s no longer the hot-headed punk who was sentenced all those years ago. Whatever demons were driving him in his youth have long since departed. He’s now a good-natured rather pleasant young man. For years he has been a model prisoner, working in the prison infirmary.

He is also very confused and very scared. He has been totally institutionalised. He is horrified by the world outside of prison. Why are people so nasty to each other? Why is everyone in such a hurry? Why is everything so loud?

Seeking peace and quiet he finds a job in a sanatorium in a tiny Pennsylvania town. He is assured that nothing ever happens in this sleepy little village. That suits Larry just fine.

One major problem he has is women. Having been in prison since the age of fourteen he has of course zero experience with women. Not only is he obviously a virgin, he has never kissed a girl, never held hands with a girl, never danced with a girl, never dated a girl. He is terrified of women.

Unfortunately the first dame he encounters on the outside is a lady of easy virtue who tries to relieve him of his bankroll. Now he’s really suspicious of these dangerous creatures.

There are two young nurses at the sanatorium. They’re very scary. They have all these curves, which is rather disturbing. He really gets off on the wrong foot with Charlotte (Marilyn Maxwell). He totally misinterprets everything she does. He thinks she’s rude and obnoxious. In fact, having performed the pre-employment medical exam on him, she is actually rather besotted with his manly physique. Poor Larry doesn’t understand how flirting works. The other nurse is Ann Taylor (Dorothy Hart). She seems friendly but Larry doesn’t know to respond.

Now some noirness enters the story. A new patient arrives at the sanatorium. Mr Stoker is seriously ill with TB and may or may not live. Only Mr Stoker isn’t Mr Stoker, he’s Jack Bernard who has just netted a cool million dollars from an armoured car holdup. Larry recognises him. They knew each other in prison. As far as Larry is concerned it's none of his business.

The real trouble for Larry comes, naturally, from a dame. He’s decided Charlotte is kind of exciting. She makes it clear that she’s available, but only to guys with lots of money. And then Jack Bernard makes Larry a proposition. It’s not exactly legal but it doesn’t involve doing anything really bad, it sounds safe and with that kind of money Charlotte would be his.

Larry is a classic noir protagonist. He has a shady past but he’s a basically decent guy. He’s just a bit naïve, he’s very vulnerable when it comes to dames and Charlotte is the kind of dame who is not going to have any problem getting Larry to dance to her tune.

Larry doesn’t really understand how it’s happened, but he’s getting sucked into the noir nightmare world.

Richard Basehart is excellent. It would have been easy to make Larry seem like a pathetic sucker but Basehart ensures that we never lose sympathy for the guy and we never lose respect for him.

Marilyn Maxwell as Charlotte is fairly effective although Charlotte isn’t evil, just totally selfish. One of the most interesting things about this movie is that although she fulfils the plot function of the femme fatale she isn’t really a femme fatale. She is totally honest with Larry. She is totally honest about the kind of girl she is. What she wants in a man is money. The problem is that Larry just doesn’t know enough about women to realise that he should forget all about her. He should go after Ann, a sweet girl who is practically throwing herself at him.

Dorothy Hart as Ann is OK in the good girl role. There’s a fine supporting cast.

There’s very little in the way of noir visual style but all the other noir ingredients are here. Of course you can have all the right ingredients and still not end up with a genuine film noir. Outside the Wall certainly does have noirishness.

Not a masterpiece (Crane Wilbur just isn’t a very inspired director) but a reasonably enjoyable movie. Recommended.

Kino Lorber have come up with a very nice transfer for their Blu-Ray presentation.