D.O.A.

After a night on the town in San Francisco, account Frank Bigelow wakes up to discover he’s been poisoned. There’s no cure, he has no idea who did it, and he only has days to find out who it was before he drops dead for good.

D.O.A. is a goofy movie to modern eyes. From its high concept premise to its melodramatic acting and music, to the bizarre slide whistle sound effect inserted early in the movie whenever a woman catches Frank’s eye, this is a film that needs to be viewed with a certain amount of understanding.

However, D.O.A. has its charms. The film starts a little slow, but toward the end things accelerate to a sprinter’s pace as Frank tries to unravel the complex mystery before he runs out of time. There are several exterior shots that were unusual at the time, including a scene of Frank running down the sidewalk and bumping into people that weren’t extras and didn’t know they were in a movie. The photography in general is good and moody in places, in spite of the quality of the video. And there are some good performances, including a surprisingly creepy turn by Neville Brand as a psychopath.

D.O.A. came out in 1949 and for some reason fell into the public domain, meaning that there have been many different VHS and DVD releases throughout the years. The video on Overdrive is not what one would call pristine, replete with many blown out backgrounds and film scratches and blips, but you can still follow everything that’s going on if you pay attention.

D.O.A. is considered a classic of the film noir genre, regularly appearing on best of lists. Anyone who’s a fan of classic film noir should see it, or anyone who enjoys the idea of an old Hollywood film that does things a little differently than you might expect.