Die Menschenfalle (1949)

Die Menschenfalle: Directed by Richard Fleischer. With Lloyd Bridges, Barbara Payton, John Hoyt, James Todd. Secret Service agents make a deal with a counterfeiting inmate to be released on early parole if he will help them recover some bogus moneymaking plates, but he plans to double cross them.

“u0026quot;Trappedu0026quot; is a typical late u0026#39;40s B movie. This one concerns a sting organized by the Treasury Department in order to track down some counterfeit plates.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe beginning is told in documentary style, which was done quite a bit during that period. In the story, the Department enables Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) to escape from prison to lead them to counterfeit plates, funny money which has again surfaced after a period of several years. They bug the apartment of his old girlfriend Meg (Barbara Payton) and ultimately send in an agent (John Hoyt) who is supposed to be one of the gang. Heu0026#39;s established an identity in the club where Meg works. Once Stewart tracks down the plates, he learns theyu0026#39;ve been sold, and it will cost him $25,000 to buy them back.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s fun to see the actors driving around old Los Angeles, though this is a fairly routine drama with very over the top music. When Bridges makes his entrance, itu0026#39;s almost Superman music. He was certainly a hunky young man as well as a handsome older one.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBarbara Payton, whose career at this time was actually on the way up, does a good job as Meg. A few years later, she hit the skids, due to a series of unfortunate romances. She was juggling the abusive Tom Neal and Franchot Tone at the same time; Neal and Tone got into a huge fight during which Tone was badly injured and hospitalized. This hurt her reputation, and the rest is a sad story of abuse at the hands of Neal, drunkenness, prostitution, and bad checks.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDespite this being formulaic, it will hold your interest.”