Cornered / To the Ends of the Earth

CORNERED, 1945, Warner Bros., 102 min. Dick Powell stars in this post-war tale of a demobilized Canadian flyer seeking the collaborator who killed his French wife. Traversing a blind alley from Paris to Buenos Aires while hot on the trail of the elusive Marcel Jamac (Luther Adler), Powell contends with the sinister bulk of Walter Slezak, and the elegant cool of Morris Carnovsky while being alternately soothed by Micheline Cheirel and menaced by Jack La Rue. Directed and produced by Edward Dmytryk and Adrian Scott before both men were frog-marched to Washington and blacklisted, this rarely seen picture remains a visual feast for noir aficionados.

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH, 1948, Sony Repertory, 109 min. Dir. Robert Stevenson. In true “docu-noir” style, Treasury agent Dick Powell trots the globe trying to pin down the leader of a diabolical heroin ring with a series of surprising occurrences culminating in a stunning denouement.