FORCE OF EVIL (1948)

Joe Morse (John Garfield), cocky young lawyer, is providing a "legal" front for "The Syndicate" to monopolize the numbers racket by squeezing out small bankers. One of them is Leo Morse (Thomas Gomez), Joe's brother. But, Leo rejects Joe's help because he sees himself as a pillar of virtue in the racket(!), while his brother is just-plain corrupt. This is one of several absurdities in this rather feeble film noir. Another is Joe wooing and winning Doris Lowry (Beatrice Pearson), a comely protege of Leo's who starts out detesting him. I tuned into this movie because I spotted Marie Windsor, my favorite Femme Fatale of the Fabulous Forties and Fifties, who plays the wife of the Syndicate boss and tries to seduce Joe. Alas, she has only two small scenes. She's up to her usual par in the second one, but it's not worth the price of admission. Garfield is energetic as usual, but he's strictly a one-and-a-half-note actor. Gomez is pretty good. Skip it.