Shot in 1950 and starring Edmond O'Brien, D.O.A. ranks as a top tier film noir, and is considered by many s a classic. The premise finds O'Brien (playing Frank Bigelow) has been slipped a Mickey Finn of radiation poison ("luminous toxin") and becomes a dying man. He has only a few days to beat the clock to discover who'd do such a heinour thing to him. After all, he's just a mild mannered accountant/public notary.

Of course, the plot twists its way along, and O'Brien meets shady characters like the brilliant Neville Brand playing the "psychopath" hoodlum Chester. I'm not a big O'Brien fan. His later performances seem hammy and over-the-top to me, but here he's restrained and in excellent form. The jazz numbers played in the club where O'Brien gets poisoned are snappy.

Two quibbles. I didn't get the goofy wolf whistle sound effect in the beginning hotel scenes. The romance scenes between O'Brien and Pamela Britton as Paula Gibson seemed too long if not a little hokey (but maybe just by today's standards).

Anyway, despite my grousing, I immensely enjoyed D.O.A. that was loosely remade in 1988 starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. I'll probably not watch it. I like to stick to the classics like the 1950 D.O.A. which runs 83 minutes. I loved the photography of the 1950s San Francisco.

You can view D.O.A. (public domain) on line at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fMDJ6...