Strange Bargain (1949)

An assistant bookkeeper, struggling to provide for his family, gets a peculiar offer from his boss. One might say, a Strange Bargain. The boss, despite living a lavish lifestyle, is absolutely broke. Not wanting his family to abandon the lifestyle they've come accustomed to, he decides to commit suicide. He offers ten grand to good man Sam to make it look like murder, you know, because of the insurance. A young Harry Morgan is the hot shot investigator.

While there is mystery here, we know Sam’s exact role in the operation. Involved but not guilty of any real crime, he decides to lie to the investigators and act as guilty as humanly possible. Colonel Potter takes notice.

I suppose we call this film noir, but it lacks much of the attitude we come to expect, ambiguity in particular, but it is what it is. On an interesting side note, Harry Morgan would reprise his role thirty eight years later for an episode of Murder, She Wrote, although I understand the story details differ. Its available on Prime, and I'm curious.

Strange Bargain is an entertaining, but ultimately forgettable film. For much of the film we just worry that a good man doesn’t get in trouble for his role in insurance fraud. Or accidentally accused of murder. Morgan, impressively charismatic in his role, would have made for a better protagonist. And better movies have better protagonists. AMRU 3.