Farley Granger's life is desperately grim. His sick mother has died leaving him without friends or family with a stingy employer and a callous parish priest that he has estranged due to his unwillingness to bury his sacrilegious father. And his poverty has left him without enough money to provide his mother with a "proper" funeral or marry the one person that he loves and loves him, Mala Powers. Granger's performance is stunning and not far behind are Harold Vermilyea as the burned out parish priest and Paul Stewart as the dishonest neighbor. Mark Robson, who cut his teeth editing several Val Lewton legendary classics, provides expert direction weaving noir elements together with the sad realism of life in a ghetto community. The movie is unrelentingly bleak but thoroughly absorbing . While it does lack some of the colorful dialog of other film noir masterpieces, it still is an absolute must for connoisseurs of the genre. Highly recommended.
Review of Edge of Doom
