When a desk-jockey’s midlife crisis collides with a femme fatale’s secrets, he tumbles into a pitfall of lust, lies, and life-or-death stakes!
Bored insurance agent John Forbes risks his perfect family for a reckless affair with model Mona Stevens, igniting her volatile ex-con lover Bill Smiley’s rage. As a sinister private eye manipulates the chaos, John’s escape from suburbia spirals into murder—and a fight to survive the consequences.
Original Title: Pitfall (1948) AKA: The Path of Temptation
b&w version https://youtu.be/gsA-pbhmgFw
⭐️ STARRING
Dick Powell – John Forbes
Lizabeth Scott – Mona Stevens
Jane Wyatt – Sue Forbes
Raymond Burr – MacDonald "Mac"
John Litel – District Attorney
Byron Barr – Bill Smiley
Jimmy Hunt – Tommy Forbes
Ann Doran – Maggie
Selmer Jackson – Ed Brawley
Margaret Wells – Terry
Dick Wessel – Desk Sergeant
🎬 CREW
Directed by André De Toth (House of Wax, Crime Wave)
Screenplay by Karl Kamb (from Jay Dratler’s novel)
Shadow-soaked cinematography by Harry J. Wild (Murder, My Sweet)
Jazz-tension score by Louis Forbes (The Big Steal)
🎯 WHY WATCH?
• 🕶️ Noir’s moral quicksand – Can a "good man" outrun his bad choices?
• 💥 Raymond Burr’s masterclass menace
🔔 SUBSCRIBE @CultCinemaClassics
Film Noir • Crime Thriller • Golden Age Hollywood • Psychological Drama • Suspense
