Nobody Lives Forever (1946 film)

Nobody Lives Forever

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jean Negulesco
Produced by Robert Buckner
Screenplay by W.R. Burnett
Based on the novel I Wasn't Born Yesterday
by W.R. Burnett
Starring John Garfield
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Walter Brennan
Faye Emerson
Music by Adolph Deutsch
Cinematography Arthur Edeson
Edited by Rudi Fehr
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates
  • October 12, 1946 (1946-10-12)
Running time
 100 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Nobody Lives Forever is a 1946 black-and-white crime film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and based on the novel I Wasn't Born Yesterday by W.R. Burnett. It starred John Garfield and Geraldine Fitzgerald.[1]

Plot

Former conman Nick Blake (Garfield), a soldier returning to New York City after World War II, looks up his old girlfriend Toni Blackburn (Faye Emerson) to get the money she has been holding for him while he was in the army. Toni claims that she lost the money investing in a nightclub before selling it to Chet King (Robert Shayne), who employs her there now as a singer. Nick has discovered Toni's affair with King, however, and gets his money back.

Nick looks up old conman Pop Gruber (Walter Brennan), who feels he's getting too old for the con game and that if he keeps it up, he will end up "selling pencils on the side of the road." Nick and his crony Al (George Tobias) travel to Los Angeles, where another con artist, Doc Ganson (George Coulouris), has spotted a sucker, but has neither the money nor the charm necessary for the job. Doc reluctantly approaches Pop to recruit Nick, even though there is bad blood between them.

The plan is to have Nick, a ladies' man, romance rich recent widow Gladys Halvorsen (Fitzgerald) and persuade her to invest in a phony tugboat business. Nick agrees on the condition that he get two-thirds of the proceeds, increasing Doc's bitter resentment of the younger, more successful man.

The plan hits a snag when Nick falls in love with the intended victim and decides to back out of the con. At the same time, Gladys' business manager, Charles Manning (Richard Gaines), has found out about Nick's criminal past and alerts both Gladys and the authorities. The law can't touch Nick since he hasn't yet taken any money. Nick admits the truth to Gladys anyway. However, she is hopelessly in love and refuses to let him go.

Nick decides to pay the others the $30,000 he promised them, using his own money. Toni shows up, though, and learns of the aborted scheme. When she tells Doc that she is sure Nick intends to marry Gladys (and her $2,000,000), the gang kidnaps the widow for a larger share of her money. Pop is able to follow them to their hideout. In the ensuing gunfight, Nick rescues Gladys, but both Doc and Pop are killed.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

Film critic Bosley Crowther while stating that the production team of the film "managed a craftsmanlike job", he nonetheless, made the case the viewers will find the film's "repetition just a bit wearisome and even dull. They are likely to find the dialogue — although flavored with such racy words as 'pitch' and 'plant' and 'sucker' — rather heavily loaded with cliches. And they will certainly find nothing original in the easy solution of the plot."[2]

Adaptation

The film was adapted for radio on the Lux Radio Theatre. The production featured Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan and was aired on November 17, 1947.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Nobody Lives Forever at the American Film Institute Catalog.
  2. ↑ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, November 2, 1946. Accessed: July 25, 2013.
  3. ↑ AFI. Ibid.

Streaming audio

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