[Inspector Abberline]

Doa (1950)
In 2006 Alexander Litvinenko was killed by radioactive polonium-210, believed to have been administered in a cup of tea,by a couple of KGB agents .Now this in itself would make a great thriller,it has all the hallmarks of the start of a great cold war spy thriller,well it would of been,if it had not already been done some 46 years previously in the film D.O.A. (1950).
Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) has been poisoned by some luminous "luminous toxin" substance that has been put into a drink at a nightclub.The clever angle is that Bigelow knows that he's been poisoned after visiting two doctors,and the diagnose is that he has been murdered.Now the trick is to find out who and why this has happened to Bigelow before he dies. DOA is a pretty sombre affair,which makes some of the earlier scenes abit odd,Bieglow decides to go on vacation in San Francisco,leaving his girlfriend Paula Gibson (Pamela Britton) behind,which does not go down to well with her,while in San Francisco every time Bieglow see's an attractive lady,there was this cheesy wolf whistle on the soundtrack,at first I thought it was my hearing playing up,but when I re-watched the scenes again it was still there,kind of whimsical for such a down beat movie.The reason for the poisoning is all abit long winded and a little bit hard to believe,but I suppose people have been murdered for less.Edmond O'Brien who I fondly remember as Freddie Sykes in Sam Peckinpahs absolutely dynamite The Wild Bunch,is ok here,but doesn't really convey allot of emotion considering he has been poisoned and is dieing.The real star of the film is the story,you wonder why no one had thought of it before (perhaps they had) its a cool gripping tale,it kind of reminded of an EC comic story,and would make a good horror story if filmed the right way.I would give the film higher praise but the print I watched was a little on the soft side picture quality wise,reason being it languishes in public domain hell at the moment,so hopefully we will see a better print one day.Also look out for earlier screen role for that alligator loving Neville Brand as a rather nasty heavy.