NOTE - please be wary of the horrible colourised version on Prime Video. I am reviewing the film, but went out of my way to find the original B&W presentation after quickly realising how awful the Prime Video version looked.
Written by Seton I. Miller and Philip MacDonald, The Man Who Cheated Himself is one of many typical noir films you can stumble across once you've made you way through most of the more well-known titles. It has a director (Felix E. Feist) who seems to be a safe and competent pair of hands, there's at least one star name (Lee J. Cobb) to help hold your attention, and the thrills and tension are couched in a feeling of familiarity and cosy expectation that things will somehow work out alright in the end . . . for someone.
Cobb plays Lt. Ed Cullen, a man who is about to work more closely with his newly-promoted brother, Andy (John Call). Andy is doubly happy, having done well at work just before his wedding to Janet (Lisa Howard). Ed has his own looming happiness whenever Lois Frazer (Jane Wyatt) separates from her husband, Howard (Harlan Wade), but things abruptly change when Howard returns home to catch his wife being unfaithful to him. Some bullets fly and Ed has to take charge, getting rid of the body and ensuring that everything looks good enough for when the main investigating officer turns up. And wouldn't you know it . . . Andy ends up on the case.
I'm not sure if I'll remember this a year from now. I'm not even sure if I'll remember it next month. I had fun with it while it was on though. It's all about the situation, watching Ed alternate between relaxing and tensing up as he tries to stay one step ahead of the investigation, and there are particularly enjoyable scenes featuring Charles Arnt and Marjorie Bennett as two people who may have inadvertently witnessed some corpse disposal. It's just a shame that things never get more intense, and the third act feels a bit padded out, making the 81-minute runtime feel surprisingly overlong. Feist does well enough with the material, but he undermines everything slightly by refusing to add any edge to any scenes.
Cobb is a great choice for the main role, a man forced to make one bad choice after another, yet also doing his best to protect everyone he cares about. Call has to play his part with a bit more sappiness and innocence throughout the first half, especially in scenes that allow him to be loved up and happy alongside the lovely Howard, but he's easy enough to keep rooting for as he skirts closer and closer to a danger he is often oblivious to. Wyatt is just fine, but it's a shame that there are only two quick moments that allow her to show any sharp edges.
Like so many others of this ilk, there are obvious reasons why this isn't included alongside the classics of the era. It's still worth a watch though, especially when you have worked your way through many of the more obvious noir titles from the '40s and '50s.
7/10
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