Decoy (1946 film)
| Decoy | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jack Bernhard |
| Produced by | Jack Bernhard Bernard Brandt |
| Screenplay by | Nedrick Young |
| Story by | Stanley Rubin |
| Starring |
Jean Gillie Robert Armstrong |
| Music by | Edward J. Kay |
| Cinematography | L. William O'Connell |
| Edited by | Jason H. Bernie |
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Production
company |
Bernhard-Brandt Productions
Pathe Pictures |
| Distributed by | Monogram Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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76 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Decoy is a 1946 American film noir. Directed by Jack Bernhard, the film stars Jean Gillie, Edward Norris, Robert Armstrong, Herbert Rudley, and Sheldon Leonard. The film was produced by Jack Bernhard and Bernard Brandt as a Jack Bernhard Production, with a screenplay by Ned Young, based on an original story by Stanley Rubin
Decoy is a showcase of how film noir can do so much with so little. Short-lived Jean Gillie stars as one of the film genre's toughest femme fatales. Gillie was married to Bernhard when this film was made.
The story picks up in Margot Shelby's apartment, as she is dying from a gunshot wound. Police detective Joe Portugal arrives at the scene to hear her last moments and possible confession. Margot recounts all the events that lead to Dr. Lloyd Craig shooting her shortly after arriving at her apartment. Via flash-back, we travel back to the beginning:
Margot's boyfriend was gangster Frankie Olins. Frankie robbed a bank and got away with around $400,000. He hid the money in a safe place before being arrested by the police. Since Frankie accidentally killed a guard during the robbery, he has been sentenced to death in the gas chamber. Frankie has never disclosed the location of the buried money to anyone. Margot, in order to get both Frankie out of prison and get her hands on the money, pretends to be in love with another gangster, Jim Vincent. She promises to share the stolen money with him if she can get Frankie to disclose the location. To this end, Vincent is recruited to fund Frankie's defense, and later, his possible resurrection from execution. In order to counter-act the effects of cyanide poisoning, Margot recruits the help of Dr. Lloyd Craig, the prison physician. They subsequently "steal" Frankie's body from the prison morgue.
Once Frankie is revived, he draws a map to the location of the buried loot for Margot, but on handing it to her, keeps half of the map for himself. Now that Vincent and Margot have the location, Margot encourages Vincent to shoot Frankie and take his half of the map. With Frankie truly dead, Margot, Vincent, and Dr. Craig now must be able to get out of the city.
Since Sergeant Portugal is aware of both Margot and Vincent's possible involvement in the dead convicts body disappearing, they determine to use doctor Craig and his car. As Dr. Craig's license plates will get them through any police roadblock, they force the reluctant Dr. Craig to drive them out of hiding to look for the money. Vincent's plan is to kill Dr. Craig once they leave town, but Margot has a plan of her own. She flattens a tire and tricks Vincent into fixing the flat. As he is lowering the car from the tire jack, she runs him over, killing him. She now forces Dr. Craig, at gunpoint, to dig up the buried money. Once she has the money box, she shoots Dr. Craig, leaving him for dead. However, he survives and follows her to her apartment, where he shoots her in revenge, thus bringing the story to the present. As Margot finishes her story to detective Portugal, she dies. Portugal opens the money box only to find a single dollar bill wrapped in a note from Frankie, stating that he did not intend to leave any money to a double-crosser.
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