Trapped (1949) User Reviews

Tidy little crime thriller

[fredcdobbs5 · 7/10 · 3 June 2014]

This neat little thriller was directed by Richard Fleischer at the beginning of his "noir" period. He got better at it after this one--the terrific "Narrow Margin" and "Armored Car Robbery"--but this is still a good one, if a bit too slow at times.

Lloyd Bridges is a convicted counterfeiter serving time when he cuts a deal with the Treasury Department. It seems that when he was nabbed, his partner kept the plates and now almost flawless counterfeit currency is flooding Los Angeles. The feds believe it's Bridges' partner, and they'll cut his sentence in exchange for letting him out to find his partner and retrieve the plates. Once he gets out, however, he double-crosses them and plans to get the plates himself. As it turns out, Bridges isn't quite as slick as he thinks he is, and things start to go south rather quickly. Although not quite as fast-paced as Fleischer's better-known thrillers, it benefits tremendously from Bridges' presence. He's very tightly wound in this one, and quite a bit more brutal than you would expect him to be, even playing a bad guy. Tragic figure Barbara Payton actually does quite well as his floozy girlfriend, and the sinister John Hoyt does an excellent job as a somewhat enigmatic character who turns out to be not quite what he seems.

Good atmosphere and some neat plot--and other--twists make this a good companion piece to Fleischer's later noirs, and definitely worth a watch.

Lively, Gripping & Well Acted

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 11 August 2012]

Anyone who's seen "T-Men" (1947) will immediately experience a feeling of deja vu during the opening sequence of "Trapped" because the pompous voice-over which is used to give a description of the functions of the U.S. Treasury Department, echoes a similar narration which was used to introduce the earlier film. A rather reverential tone is adopted to extol the virtues of the work done by the Department and to emphasise its particular importance in relation to the printing of money and the pursuit of counterfeiters. Thankfully, however, this heavy handed solemnity soon gives way to normality as the action begins in, what turns out to be, an exciting crime thriller.

"Trapped" is fast moving and emphasises its film noir credentials by containing plenty of twists, double-crosses and characters with slippery identities. The cinematography is also impressive with extensive use being made of expressionistic lighting and street scenes which are particularly effective. This movie also contains some fistfights which are well choreographed and far more convincing than most of those seen in films of this era.

After some counterfeit bills come into circulation and a series of examinations is carried out, it's soon recognised that they must've been produced by using the same engraving plates that had previously been used by convicted counterfeiter Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges). Stewart is serving a long prison sentence in Atlanta and agrees to help the Treasury Department to locate the plates in exchange for a reduction in his sentence.

Elaborate arrangements are put in place to make it look as if Stewart has escaped from prison so that he can carry out his mission without attracting any suspicion and part of the plan involves him being accompanied by a Treasury Agent. As soon as Stewart is free, however, he attacks the agent and heads off, on his own, to L.A. to meet up with his girlfriend Meg Dixon who works as a cigarette girl in a nightclub and uses the name Laurie Frederick (Barbara Payton).

An undercover agent called John Downey frequents the club where Laurie works and uses the name Johnny Hackett (John Hoyt). He poses as a shady character who has plenty of money and gives Laurie large tips. He also flirts with her but she doesn't encourage his interest.

Stewart goes to see his ex-partner to collect his share of the money that they made together but finds that it's all been spent and the engraving plates have been sold on to a guy called Jack Sylvester (James Todd). As Hackett has access to plenty of money, Stewart makes a deal with him to use $25,000 of his cash to buy $250,000 of high quality forgeries from Sylvester. A series of unexpected twists then follow before the action reaches its very dramatic and violent conclusion in a shootout during which there are a couple of fatalities which are both shocking in different ways.

"Trapped" contains some witty dialogue as Laurie comments, "they don't make that kind of dough selling bibles" and proposes a toast by saying "here's to money and the time to spend it". Also, after Stewart goes into partnership with Hackett but doesn't appreciate his interest in Laurie, he says "you're part of the family now and don't forget, that makes Laurie your sister".

Lloyd Bridges is totally believable as the violent and calculating Stewart who's never, at any point, actually free of his pursuers. Barbara Payton, in the movie which first brought her to the public's attention, shows a great deal of promise which was never able to be fulfilled as her destructive lifestyle tragically led her into alcoholism and an early death at the age of 39. The remainder of the cast are also consistently good in a movie that's both lively and gripping from start to finish.

Some unusual but very good roles for Lloyd Bridges and John Hoyt

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 August 2010]

The film begins with a rather heavy-handed and hokey introduction extolling the virtues of Secret Service in their dealing with forged American dollars. Then, the actual story begins. It seems that a counterfeit $20 has turned up--and it's an awful lot like one passed by a man who has now been in prison several years (Lloyd Bridges). When he's questioned, he refuses to cooperate. However, when he does seem to be cooperating, it's a ruse--and soon he's escaped from custody. Eventually he makes his way back to his old gang--and he wants in for some of the action. Along the way, he meets up with a sharp character (John Hoyt) who wants to bankroll Bridges' scheme to make a killing with counterfeit bills. How all this works out is something you should see for yourself--and I really don't want to spoil the suspense by saying more.

When this fame debuted in 1949, Bridges and Hoyt were hardly household names. Bridges went on to great fame in the 1950s and 60s but here he plays a guy very much unlike his later roles--in "Trapped", he's just a nasty little hood. As for Hoyt, he's a face many will recognize though his name would escape most. He generally played cranky guys who were not the least bit macho or heroic, yet here he plays a man definitely against this type! In fact, it might just be one of Hoyt's best roles--if not his best. It's a shame, really, as he MIGHT have become a household name, as he was the original Doctor in the pilot episode of "Star Trek".

Overall, the film has a dandy script, is very entertaining and is a nice example of a lesser film noir movie that deserves to be seen. While not great, it certainly is very good and quite watchable.

Another "Killer B'

[GManfred · 4 June 2008]

This was a good movie. Considering that it was probably made on a shoestring budget, it was a very good movie. Personally, I enjoy a good plot and storyline and this picture had it; it was interesting and absorbing throughout. Pacing was good and the picture moved along at a brisk pace. There was very little if any padding material.

Good job by Lloyd Bridges, who had not yet made it big. It had a good cast of dependable character actors. I did not know the sad story of Barbara Payton until I read it on the website, and she was very good as Bridges' girlfriend. It must have been Director Richard Fleischer's first solid hit, as he went on to have a pretty distinguished career in Hollywood.

If it ever comes on one of the movie channels do yourself a favor and see it, even if you're not a cops-and-robbers fan.

Really good film with a nice show case role for the under rated John Hoyt

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 29 December 2008]

Lloyd Bridges stars, and is slightly miscast(he's too good looking), in a tale of forger on the run. Bridges is a counterfeiter doing a stretch of time who is confronted by the reemergence of the bank notes he had been passing that got him put in jail. The Treasury department comes to ask his help and he at first refuses. Later he agrees and is set free in a staged escape. Bridges takes it on the lam and tries to run down the plates he had entrusted with a friend. Dark complex tale is a very good B crime drama. If it has any real flaws its that Bridges is not gritty enough as the lead. He doesn't feel like a tough felon in with a bunch of bad guys. Its far from a fatal flaw, but it's the difference between this being a great drama and a very good one. I also need to point out that the great and long running character actor John Hoyt has a large and very important role as an undercover T-man. Hoyt is a guy who usually plays a villain and usually has tiny roles, but here he gets what amounts to the second lead and he shines. Worth a bag of popcorn and a soda.

Classic documentary-styled noir with that dark look

[SanRafReefer · 7/10 · 20 May 2003]

TRAPPED is a very good example of the documentary- styled noir film. Lloyd Bridges gives an energetic performance as a greedy and cunning counterfeiter whose brains are not equal to his ambitions. The film also features tragic sex bomb Barbara Payton in her first major role and she also scores as a somewhat naive, yet ruthless, partner to Bridges. Richard Fleischer directs with his usual stylishness and the look of the film will satisfy the diehard noir fan. Very enjoyable.

Spare, Rough Eagle-Lion Noir

[Handlinghandel · 7/10 · 22 January 2008]

This is a fine, dark, nasty little movie. It's very well directed by Richard Fleischer. It takes place in a scary night town version of San Francisco.

Lloyd Bridges plays a character with the unusual first name Tris. Short for Tristan, I suppose. Real-life bad-girl Barbara Payton is no Isolde. Payton is good as his romantic interest, though.

The film begins with a scene in which someone is discovered to have counterfeit money. Bridges is in prison but is tapped by the Feds to help break up the counterfeiting ring. And it takes off from there.

There are double-crosses, confused identities. The supporting cast is excellent. Crime may not pay but we have some pretty interesting criminals in this story.

All of the non-descript supporting players hurt this one...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 9 February 2022]

... because they all look so much alike! There are a bunch of double crosses and reveals in this fast moving film about a convicted counterfeiter (Lloyd Bridges) who promises to help the feds root out another counterfeiter in return for early release but then double crosses them and escapes. However, it is made somewhat confusing by the fact that all of the male supporting cast looks alike! This was an independent and thus probably a low budget production and I recognize John Hoyt, Barbara Payton, and of course Lloyd Bridges easily enough, but when it looks like yet another double cross or plot twist has been revealed I have to rewind and find out who this other person is - fed or bad guy - before I can determine the significance of what is happening.

This makes me really appreciate the stable of contract supporting cast that the major studios had. Warner Brothers' contract players for sure did not have looks to die for, but I could always tell the difference between Frank McHugh, Arthur Hoyl, and Robert Barrat. And over at MGM, nobody was ever going to confuse Felix Bressart with anyone else.

Lloyd Bridges really shows his penchant for being able to play a nasty amoral character here, two years before he plays a working class hero in "The Whistle at Eaton Falls". John Hoyt would not have been my first choice for the lead protagonist, but he carries his part off believably. This is a rare chance to see Barbara Payton in a lead role since her personal life will begin to disintegrate rather spectacularly in 1951 and take her acting hopes with it.

There is not much time for probing character development in this one, and it would have been interesting to find out why Payton's character has so much misplaced sympathy for Bridges' character, but I would still recommend it.

A run of the mill crime thriller about counterfeiters

[robert-temple-1 · 7/10 · 16 September 2012]

This is not a film noir per se, though it has some nourish undercurrents and atmosphere. It is a bit of a downer because the lead is a scoundrel, his girl friend is a dolt, and there is not really anyone to admire. Lloyd Bridges plays the lead, and is more or less convincing, though hardly brilliant. But then the part gave him little scope anyway. The dame is Barbara Payton, who is not particularly enthralling. Payton had a terribly tragic life, dying at the age of only 39, after episodes of drug addiction, shop-lifting, and other symptoms of someone who was pretty totally messed-up. This film contains two remarkable and interesting film sequences, both shot on location. The first is inside the US Treasury in Washington, showing money being designed, processed and printed. (No mention of the Federal Reserve, so this is a bit puzzling.) The other is inside the large Los Angeles streetcar depot, where a dramatic chase and shootout take place. Streetcars must have been phased out not long afterwards, so this is rare footage. Bridges plays a jailed counterfeiter who is let out on condition that he exposes the people who are now 'using his plates' to print twenty dollar bills. A bewildering series of double-crosses and turning of tables takes place, all keeping one's attention, what with cops pretending to be crooks, and no one really knowing who is straight and who is not. John Hoyt is in this picture, as he was in so many others. He was a very nice man and did me a big favour when I was young. I was introduced to him by my very good aged friend of those days, Homer Croy, who wrote the Will Rogers movies, as Homer and Hoyt were old chums. Hoyt really did go out of his way to help people and was such a personable and pleasant person. I remember he wore a bow tie and was concerned to look smartly dressed. When I met him I had no idea of his film career, since there were no videos or DVDs in those days and hence no way to see old movies. Homer told me he was a well-known actor, but I had never heard of him at that time, since once a movie was out of the cinemas, it was gone gone gone. Even the stars rarely had cans of 35 mm of their finest work. Everything just disappeared into the vaults of the majors. I'm glad this film is no longer trapped in the vaults, despite its title. It was ably directed by Dick Fleischer and belongs in the canon along with the others.

Barbara Payton does well as the good looking moll

[christopher-underwood · 6/10 · 17 January 2010]

The opening of the film is a prolonged ode to the US Treasury in all its offices but particularly its role in the issuing of bank notes and prevention of counterfeit dosh. Then off we go with our hero released from jail (for counterfeiting) so he can help find who is now using his marvellous plates. This is no great noir but it is interesting enough and has its moments on the streets of LA. The finale in a tram shed containing LA electric street cars is effective and there are other set pieces making this worth a view. Bridges is most effective and Barbara Payton does well as the good looking moll. Predictable in parts but the action switches enough to maintain attention.

Don't mess with the feds...especially when it comes to the government's money!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 22 February 2014]

Money counterfeiting is the subject of this enjoyable, if predictable, crime drama where a convicted counterfeiter (Lloyd Bridges in a very serious role) is offered the possibility of early parole if he helps the Department of the Treasury capture and convict those who have continued Bridges' counterfeiting racket while he's been behind bars. Of course, Bridges isn't on the up and up as he utilizes this plan to escape from prison and reconcile with his former girlfriend (the gorgeous Barbara Payton) who has divided loyalties of her own.

Practically every government bureau has been a part of a documentary style crime drama or film noir where it is obvious that the writers are showing that "You can't get away with it", and here, that is obvious from the start as to the theme of the movie. The film starts off with the plight of a struggling restaurant owner who discovers that the $20 bill she took in earlier was a fake and how that money could make or break her. It is obvious that when the feds confront Bridges in prison to bargain with him that he won't follow through with his agreement and that adds a sense of falsehood to the plot.

There's a few exciting chase sequences and some wonderful moments of dialog between Bridges and the bleach-blonde Payton, some tense moments where the undercover fed's cover is blown, and a stunningly violent conclusion. This makes the film overall acceptable, but it has been done many times before and since, and much better.

GOOD FAST MOVING COUNTERFEIT YARN...!

[masonfisk · 8/10 · 15 October 2019]

A 1949 film noir/thriller starring John Hoyt & LLoyd Bridges directed by Richard Fleischer (Fantastic Voyage/The Boston Strangler). A counterfeit ring is circulating currency that a jailed convict was floating upon his arrest. The Treasury department hoping to nab the new players release Bridges (in a great villainous turn) to make contact w/them & to set up a buy. Hoyt (who I mentioned was the original doctor under Captain Pike on Star Trek & for more recent viewers the grandfather on the Nell Carter sitcom Gimme a Break in the 80's) plays the undercover money man who'll front the real cash to purchase the suspect funny money. Brokering the relationship between Bridges & Hoyt is his ex, played Barbara Payton, who is loyal to a fault. With a brisk running time, this yarn moves at a clip keeping this viewer on the edge of his seat as the crosses & double crosses stack upon each other culminating in a tense gunfight as the bad guy gets his. This would be a good double bill w/1985's To Live & Die in La to see how similar crimes told from different time periods resemble each other.

B movie

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 19 April 2013]

"Trapped" is a typical late '40s B movie. This one concerns a sting organized by the Treasury Department in order to track down some counterfeit plates.

The 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. He's established an identity in the club where Meg works. Once Stewart tracks down the plates, he learns they've been sold, and it will cost him $25,000 to buy them back.

It'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, it's almost Superman music. He was certainly a hunky young man as well as a handsome older one.

Barbara 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.

Despite this being formulaic, it will hold your interest.

No-Nonsense Crime Drama.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 29 May 2008]

Lloyd Bridges had a face made for the camera, full of smooth, bony planes, a clean forehead, all dominated by a couple of deep-set eyes that seemed to glimmer in the shadows of his brows. And he had, throughout his career, the quick, nervous energy of a small predator, maybe a ferret. Even in the ripeness of his age, in the Hot Shot movies where he was a comic admiral.

He made some decent movies but never achieved major stardom. Even here, in a relatively low-budget drama about counterfeiting and the Secret Service, he is a central figure but only a quasi-star.

The police deliberately allow Bridges to escape from the slams in hopes that he will lead the Secret Service, personified mostly by John Hoyt, to the people who now are beginning to grind out money that is "queer" on plates that Bridges used to own. The escape was engineered because the Secret Service knows that Bridges has no place to go except to his ex girl friend in L.A. They have accordingly bugged her apartment and insinuated an undercover agent into her life. Hoyt is the undercover agent who allows himself to be sucked into funding a plan to produce the queer money. The specific idea to to capture Bridges and his accomplices the moment the money changes hands.

That may be a little confusing, I know, but the plot is a little complicated. And besides, my mind couldn't quite wrap itself around John Hoyt as a serious undercover agent of social control. I kept seeing him as the three-armed Martian in a "Twilight Zone" episode. That image sometimes became a bit blurry and Hoyt would appear in a toga as one of the conspiratorial Senators from MGM's "Julius Caesar." Anyway, the plot zooms forward as if self propelled. There are fist fights, shoot outs. Before the end, Bridges is back in the slams. Hoyt tells the desk sergeant, "Let's keep this quiet. Book him under another name." Desk Sergeant: "How does 'Briggs' sound"? Hoyt: "As good as any." Desk Sergeant: "It's my mother-in-law's name. I just wanted to see what it looks like on a police blotter." That's about the only example of witty dialog in the movie. Almost all the rest is spare and functional, along the lines of Bridges', "If anybody gets hurt, it ain't gonna be me cause I got the gun. Just remember to get this heap started when you see me comin'." It's not a bad movie, just a routine one. Richard Fleischer directed a number of small-budget dramas like this before going on to bigger and better things like "Doctor Doolittle." Well -- bigger, anyway.

Want to see a funny movie about counterfeiting? Try "Mister 880." A more sophisticated movie about counterfeiting? "To Live and Die in L.A."

Average

[dougdoepke · 24 March 2008]

Ordinarily you'd expect Lloyd Bridges to be tracking down perennial villain John Hoyt. But here the usual roles are reversed-- Hoyt's the government agent and Bridges the small time hood. The movie itself is pretty typical of the docu-dramas of the period. It's the Treasury Department's turn to get the Hollywood treatment with the usual glowing introduction and stentorian narration. Though, like the stellar docu-drama T-Men (1947), the docu part soon gives way to big city noir. However, this film lacks importantly the former's grotesque air of nerve-wracking suspense.

Director Fleischer and the writers manage a couple of nice twists, particularly at the beginning. Nonetheless, the script makes a basic error in switching the action from Stewart (Bridges) to Sylvester (James Todd) in the climactic part. (Was Bridges taken ill or otherwise made unavailable.) Unfortunately, Todd simply lacks the screen presence to intimidate an audience or make us loathe him, whereas Bridges can snarl and menace with the best of them. Thus the last third fails to generate the kind of mounting dread required of an A-grade suspenser. Then too, Hoyt's basically cold demeanor and cruel looks don't arouse much natural sympathy that would encourage you to identify with him. Thus, the suspense is further weakened by what should be an emotional interest in the treasury agent's fate. The casting here really is a departure from the expected and to the movie's detriment.

Note how the culminating shootout takes place at an industrial site-- the overnight barn for LA's late, lamented trolley system, where we get a look at what could have eased LA's horrendous traffic problem. Actually, industrial sites crop up in the climax of a number of crime dramas of the period-- White Heat (1949), 7-11 Ocean Drive (1950), Union Station (1950), et al. I guess producers of the time figured running around big machines and shooting at each other would make for colorful audience excitement. Of course, the movie's also notable for the presence of notorious Hollywood bad-girl Barbara Payton, who was involved in several tawdry Hollywood scrapes and apparently ended her brief life as something of a cut-rate call girl ("Hollywood Babylon"). Whatever the direction of her private life, she's quite good here as Bridges' shapely blonde moll.

Anyway, for its type, the movie's average at best.

Counterfeit Film Noir

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 29 April 2004]

****SPOILERS**** Semi-documentary movie about a convicted counterfeiter Tris Stewart, Lloyd Bridges, allowed to escape from custody as he was being transferred from Atlanta to Kansas City in order to have him unwittingly help the FBI and police find the counterfeit ring using the plates that he had hidden to flood the West cost with fake $20.00 bills.

Tris get in touch with his girlfriend Laurie, Barbara Payton, in L.A not knowing that her apartment is being bugged by the FBI. With the police knowing every move that Tris is making they set up a trap for him only after he finds who's printing the phony money and where the fake $20.00 bill plates are. Tris finds out from his former partner Sam Hooker, Douglas Spencer, that he sold the valuable plates to an investment consultant in L.A named Jack Sylvester, James Todd.

Going to Sylvester's office in downtown L.A Tris strikes a deal with him on getting 250 grand in fake money for 25 thousand in real money from him saying that he can have it by the next day. Laurie who works as a cigarette girl at the Chanteclair Night Club knows a big spender named Johny Hackett,John Hoyt, who's ready to lay out the cash for Tris so he can share the 250 thousand in fake money. What Laurie and Trish and Sylvester don't know is that Johnny Hackett is really John Downey Federal Agent.

Everything is going well until one night Laurie overhears at the club one of the costumers who recognizes Johnny as working for the Fed's. Laurie ends up telling Tris about Johnnys real intentions with setting up the deal in order to trap him and Sylvester. Tris instead of telling Sylvester about it kidnaps Johnny and has him drive out to a deserted beach and when he tries to shoot him Johnny turns and knocks Tris out.

With Tris behind bars Johnny now has to think fast to get Sylvester and the plates and his gang apprehended. Johnny then goes to Sylvester's office and tells him that Tris was caught by the police and is talking and not to answer any phone calls; knowing that Laurie will call him and expose him to Sylvester as a Federal Agent.

Johnny talks Sylvester into leaving his office and take him to his hideout where he has his counterfeit operation in order to seal the deal with the 250 thousand fake to 25 thousand real money switch. Sylvester in return plans to take the real money and counterfeit plates and check out of the country to Mexico. Johnny also got in touch with the police to follow him and come to his aid when he's in danger of being found out since he doesn't have the 25 thousand in real money to make the exchange.

Laurie not being able to contact Tris, in her not knowing that he's in police custody, gets it touch with one of Sylvester's hoods and they both head for his hideout. Johnny taking his time counting the money he's getting in the switch gives the police and FBI time to get there and rescue him. When Laurie arrives and tells Sylvester what Johnny is really all about all hell breaks loose and just in the nick of time the police arrive.

For what I still can't understand Sylvester shoots and kills Laurie and then makes a run for it along the railroad tracks outside his hideout. Getting on top of a train car Sylvester sees that he's trapped and puts his hands up to give himself up but there's a live wire over his head that he doesn't see and when his hands touch it Sylvester gets electrocuted.

Pretty good Film Noir movie but with one major flaw; Why did Sylvester shoot Laurie who did nothing to set him up to be caught by the police at the end of the film and not shoot Johnny who did? Lloyd Bridges and Barbara Payton really had sparks flying and electricity surging in all their scenes together and I guess the motto of the movie "Trapped" is "Crime does not pay; Even in counterfeit money!

"You don't make that kind of dough sellin' bibles."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 8 September 2012]

For the most part, this is a fairly interesting crime drama involving a counterfeit money racket, but it loses steam when the principal character Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) is put away about two thirds of the way through. Stewart's contact Sylvester (James Todd) didn't have the charisma to carry the picture to it's ultimate conclusion, and if anyone deserved to be 'trapped' at the finale, it should have been the guy at the top of the credits. Speaking of which, and I hate to nitpick the flaws here, but what happened to Sylvester's henchmen after they brought Laurie (Barbara Payton) in to expose agent Downey (John Hoyt)? They just oddly disappeared before the cops made their entrance for the shootout with Sylvester.

It's cool though when a picture manages to get clever with itself like this one did. When Hackett/Downey brings in Stewart after his arrest, he tells the desk cop to book him under another name. The cop's response - "How's the name of Bridges do"? I replayed that line just to be sure I got it right.

Anyway, there's enough of the old cross and double cross here to keep most viewers interested. Bridges and Hoyt make for an attractive couple, maybe even too attractive to be a couple of cons. As the government agent, John Hoyt appears to be on the wrong side of the badge most of the time, and one might wonder why his and Bridges' role weren't reversed. Then again, having Hoyt's character hook up with the gorgeous Barbara Payton wouldn't have worked at all.

Some good lines of dialog in the picture, my summary quote by Laurie is one of the better ones. But I also got a kick out of Sylvester's snarl at Agent Downey - "You're all washed up Copper"! It sounded like something Bugs Bunny said to a gangster once in one of those old Warner Brothers cartoons.

Lloyd Bridges as a prisoner getting a short break out of prison

[clanciai · 7/10 · 2 July 2020]

This is not a very nice thriller, but it is very well made. It's an early Richard Fleischer feature and impressing as such, especially in the final scenes of the chase. Lloyd Bridges has an interesting part, although he gets the same treatment as all the others, while you must feel sorry for Barbara Payton, who actually did nothing wrong. John Hoyt makes a difficult and very debatable part, and although he does it well you can't quite like his character but almost feel compelled to side with the others. It's a semi-documentary about the counterfeit money business in LA, and as such it can't turn out as anything else than a dark chronicle of facts where most things go wrong for most people, with only one exception: the TD.

The Stewart Case

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 8 October 2021]

Counterfeiting obviously exercised the authories greatly during the postwar period, since it's here the subject of yet another crime film. Director Richard Fleischer further enhanced his burgeoning career with this astringent, sometimes eye-wateringly violent little potboiler dramatising the problem extensively shot on location in the days when Lloyd Bridges was playing "cheap, penny-antsy grifters".

Fleischer And Felton

[boblipton · 6/10 · 6 October 2019]

Counterfeit bills show up at Treasury that are old friends. Lloyd Bridges had been passing them, but he's been in prison for several years and never squealed on his partners. Treasury cuts a deal to have him "escape" and go after the counterfeiters, but he can't work with an agent breathing on his neck, so Bridges beats him unconscious and goes after the counterfeiters on his own, via a path that leads straight through old girlfriend Barbara Payton. But is he working or the Feds or for himself?

This dark and brutal movie is a partial remake of Anthony Man's T-MEN, but it veers hither and yon, at least in part because Bridges got sick halfway through production, and producer Bryan Foy had the screenwriters redo the final third so John Hoyt became the central character. It was all one to director Richard Fleischer, working here for the first of seven times with Earl Felton. Together they would produce several legendary movies, including THE NARROW MARGIN. This isn't in the same class. Even so, it's a fine little crime drama with a shocking finish.

Docu-Drama About Counterfeiting

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 3 May 2021]

"Trapped" belongs to that sub-genre of film noir, the docu-drama. These were mostly fictional crime films but that always began with a history lesson set to stentorian narration and lauding the heroism of some government agency or other. In this one, it's the U. S. Treasury Department. Of the many things we learn about the Treasury Department is its dedication to stamping out counterfeit money, and that's the tidbit that then sends the fictional portion of the movie off and running.

Lloyd Bridges plays an excellent bad guy who's let out of prison in order to help the feds disrupt a counterfeiting racket. But he double crosses them and tries to make the whole scheme work to his advantage. John Hoyt is the undercover agent who partners with Bridges. Barbara Payton is the gangster moll who for once is served as a straight up femme fatale rather than a hard luck dame with a heart of gold. It all crackles along at a decent pace and is far more entertaining than its lackluster ratings peppered around the Internet would have you believe. There's a terrifically atmospheric shoot out at the end set in a Los Angeles electric streetcar docking station.

"Trapped" played at a film noir festival hosted by Chicago's Music Box Theatre a couple of years ago. I live in Chicago and took in quite a few of the entries, but missed out on this one. I later saw it when it made its debut on TCM. It's worth tracking down.

Grade: B+

The strings come loose

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 6 October 2019]

The Secret Service is looking for a break in a counterfeiting case and they offer gang member Lloyd Bridges who is in prison a chance to squeal on his old mob. Bridges won't talk, but does pull off an escape.

It's all a set up with the Treasury guys monitoring him and his moll Barbara Payton's every move. Like puppets on a string, but the strings come loose and they are working in the dark.

As we learn what's the ending here is not the ending planned as Bridges is taken out of the picture because in real life he got ill. What happens isn't the most satisfactory conclusion, but it had to do.

Even with making the change on the fly, Trapped is a nice satisfactory B film from Columbia with the ensemble cast fitted nicely in their parts.

Another Outstanding Film-Noir From Fleischer

[LeonLouisRicci · 8/10 · 9 February 2022]

Before He Became a Big-Movie Director of Mega-Budgeted A-List Martial, Director Richard Fleischer had a Stellar Career in the "Back Alley" World of the B's and Touched Noir with Class.

Loyd Bridges is in Hyper-Rat Mode as a Felon Manipulating the Treasury, Crime-Bosses and the Tragically Beautiful Barbara Payton.

This High-Energy Noir is Filled with Great On-Location Footage, Characters, and a Transformative Presentation of the Seedy-Side of the Underworld Life.

Slum Hotels, Nightclubs with "Cigarette Girls" who Sometimes Used Their Beauty Selling Other Things on the side. Here Payton is a Knock-Out Completely Devoted to Her Guy, Bridges.

Barbara Payton in this Flashing Example of a Shooting Star, She is Destined to Fall Before Reaching Orbit, in a Real-Life Battle that is Norish in Definition as Much as Any Fiction.

The Third-Act Counterfeited the Bridges Character, who was "Unavailable" to Continue Shooting, so the Focus was Changed to Co-Star John Hoyt as the Lead.

While Some Might Say it is Less Impactful Because the Bridges Style of Edgy Bad Guy is Very Dynamic and Hoyt is an Opposite Criminal of "Groomed" Villainy.

The Film is So Good it Actually Deflects the Criticism with Ease because of the Cracker-Jack Entirety.

A Must-See for Film-Noir Fans, for Others it's...

Worth a Watch.

Trapped Only By A Flawed Third Act

[aldo-49527 · 7/10 · 9 August 2021]

If it is true that producer Brian Foy chose to re-write the ending of the film because he did not want to wait until Lloyd Bridges recovered from an undisclosed illness then he's the culprit behind the flawed third act to this otherwise well-done crime film.

Of course, there are the first few minutes where the film fawns over the U. S. government's efforts to produce quality currency and efforts to foils counterfeiters - all of which is unnecessary, as that's what the film sets out to prove.

Nonetheless, Trapped's open and close do not nullify an excellent job by director Richard Fleischer.

For lovers of the genre, this is a must watch.

This noir is a hymn to the U. S. Treasury Department. It just doesn't capture the department's charisma

[Terrell-4 · 4/10 · 3 July 2008]

"How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of 'Trapped.'" That's Hamlet, part-time movie critic for the Elsinore Herald-Gazette, writing his review after watching this reverential dud. Trapped instructs us on the excellence of the U. S. Treasury Department's Secret Service, as its agents track down the near-perfect plates for bogus $20 bills, now starting to show up in circulation. The man who made the plates, Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges) is in prison, so he can't be the mastermind. Someone, Mr. Big, has those plates and is starting to use them. The Treasury Department works a deal with Stewart. They'll spring him from prison and make it look like a jailbreak. In return, he'll track down his former partner and find out who's responsible for the new stuff. Stewart, however, has a different idea. He'll go along with the phony jail break, but he plans to hook up with his old girl friend, Meg Dixon (Barbara Payton), cut a deal of his own with Mr. Big, then vamoose to Mexico with Meg and as much money, good or bad, that he can fool everyone out of. Only two things stand in his way. First are the shrewd, brave and dedicated men (there are no women in the movie except Payton) of the United States Treasury. Second is the shrewd, brave and dedicated Secret Service agent John Downey (John Hoyt).

Trapped is one of those documentary-seeming paeans to the government that Hollywood produced in the late Forties. For the FBI, it was The House on 92nd Street and The Street With No Name. With Trapped, we're given a seven-minute civics lesson on the many praise-worthy activities of the U. S. Treasury, with an emphasis on the reprehensible nature of counterfeiting, At the end of this stentorian, no-nonsense, deeply respectful narration honoring our government at work, I nearly wrote a check to add to my income tax payment.

The real problem with Trapped, however, is that it is dull, with journeyman direction and acting. There are one or two solid scenes, including a tough fist fight in a shadowy hotel room and a chase and shootout in the huge shed housing dozens of Los Angeles' electrified streetcars. In between is just one dull scene after another as Stewart tracks down Mr. Big and the Secret Service stays on Stewart's tail. The Secret Service may be always one step ahead of Stewart, but for most of the movie, once we catch on to how good Hollywood is going to make the Secret Service, not much suspense is left.

This was one of the first movies Richard Fleischer directed. He had a long, successful career that wasn't particularly distinguished. On the one hand he gave us such interesting or pleasurable movies as The Narrow Margin, Fantastic Voyage, 10 Rillington Place and Soylent Green. But then we have things such as Doctor Doolittle, Mandingo and The Jazz Singer.

Poignantly, we can see Barbara Payton and reflect on the lives, if they're unlucky, of lush, blonde, shallow starlets. She managed a handful of movies working with the likes of Gregory Peck, James Cagney and Gary Cooper. Within a couple of years she was enmeshed in scandal. She didn't seem to mind along as she was talked about. Another year or two and her career was over, which seemed to puzzle her. Payton's life was a sad, sordid melodrama, finishing at the age of 39 after alcoholism, public drunkenness and arrests for heroin and prostitution. She loved the attention Hollywood gives starlets, but she had little talent other than her curves.