D.O.A. (1950 film)

D.O.A. a film noir drama film directed by Rudolph Maté, is considered a classic of the genre. The frantically-paced plot revolves around a doomed man's quest to find out who has poisoned him – and why – before he dies.

Leo C. Popkin produced the film for his short-lived Cardinal Pictures, but failed to renew the copyright in 1977, so that it has fallen into the public domain. The Internet Movie Database shows that 22 companies offer the VHS or DVD versions, and the Internet Archive (see below) offers an online version.

Plot

The film begins with a scene called "perhaps one of cinema's most innovative opening sequences" by a BBC reviewer. The scene is a long, behind-the-back tracking sequence featuring Frank Bigelow (O'Brien) walking through a hallway into a police station to report a murder: his own. Disconcertingly, the police almost seem to have been expecting him and already know who he is.

The flashback that follows begins with Bigelow's deciding to take off from his hometown of Banning, California, where he is an accountant and notary public, for a one-week vacation in San Francisco. This does not sit well with Paula (Britton), his "confidential secretary" and love interest, since he is not taking her along.

After crossing paths at his hotel with a group from a sales convention, Bigelow accompanies them on a night on the town. He ends up at a jazz club, where unnoticed by him, a stranger swaps his drink for another. (The nightclub scene includes one of the earliest depictions of the Beat subculture.) The next morning, Bigelow is feeling ill. He visits a doctor, where tests reveal that he has swallowed a "luminous toxin" for which there is no antidote. (Its luminosity and later references to iridium imply a form of radiation poisoning.) A second opinion confirms the grim diagnosis.

With at most a few days to live, Bigelow sets out to untangle the events behind his imminent demise, interrupted occasionally by phone calls from Paula. She provides the first clue; a Eugene Philips had been trying to contact him, but had died the previous day. Bigelow travels to Philips' import-export company, meeting Miss Foster (Beverly Garland), the secretary, and Mr Halliday (William Ching), the comptroller, who tells him that Eugene committed suicide. From there, the trail leads to the widow, Mrs Philips (Lynn Baggett), and Eugene's brother Stanley (Henry Hart).

The key to the mystery is a bill of sale for what turns out to be stolen iridium; Bigelow had notarized the document for Eugene Philips six months earlier. Bigelow connects Eugene's mistress, Marla Rakubian (Laurette Luez), to gangsters led by Majak (Luther Adler). They capture Bigelow and, as he knows too much about the theft, Majak orders his psychotic henchman Chester (Neville Brand) to dispose of him. However, Bigelow manages to escape.

At first, Bigelow thinks that Stanley and Miss Foster are his killers, but when he confronts them, he finds that Stanley has been poisoned as well. However, in Stanley's case, prompt treatment may be able to save his life. Stanley points Bigelow to the real poisoner: Halliday. He had engineered the theft and had also been carrying on an affair with Mrs Philips. When Eugene found out, he struggled with Halliday and was pushed over a balcony to his death. Halliday had to dispose of Bigelow to tie up the loose ends. Bigelow tracks him down and shoots him to death in an exchange of gunfire.

The flashback comes to an end, Bigelow finishes telling his story at the police station, and dies, his last word being "Paula". The police detective taking down the report instructs that his file be marked "D.O.A.", or "dead on arrival".

Cast

	Edmond O'Brien as Frank Bigelow		Pamela Britton as Paula Gibson
	Luther Adler as Majak		Lynn Baggett as Mrs. Philips
	William Ching as Halliday		Henry Hart as Stanley Philips
	Beverly Garland as Miss Foster		Neville Brand as Chester
	Laurette Luez as Marla Rakubian		Virginia Lee as Jeannie

Critical response

The New York Times, in its May 1950 review, described it as a "fairly obvious and plodding recital, involving crime, passion, stolen iridium, gangland beatings and one man's innocent bewilderment upon being caught up in a web of circumstance that marks him for death"; O'Brien's performance was said to have had a "good deal of drive", while Britton added a "pleasant touch of blonde attractiveness.

In a 1981 book, Foster Hirsch continued a trend of more positive reviews, calling Bigelow's search for his own killer noir irony at its blackest. He wrote, "One of the film's many ironies is that his last desperate search involves him in his life more forcefully than he has ever been before. The as is so. Tracking down his killer just before he dies — discovering the reason for his death — turns out to be the triumph of his life.

Critic A. K. Rode notes Rudolph Maté's technical background, writing, "D.O.A. reflects the photographic roots of director Rudolph Maté. He compiled an impressive resume as a cinematographer in Hollywood from 1935 (Dantes Inferno, Stella Dallas, The Adventures of Marco Polo, Foreign Correspondent, Pride of the Yankees, Gilda among others) until turning to directing in 1947. The lighting, locations, and atmosphere of brooding darkness were captured expertly by Mate and director of photography Ernest Lazlo.

Michael Sragow, in a review of a DVD release of the film, characterized it as a "high-concept movie before its time.

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 94% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 18 reviews.

In 2004, D.O.A. was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Production

The shot of Edmond O'Brien running down Market Street (between 4th and 6th Streets) in San Francisco was a "stolen shot," taken without city permits, with some pedestrians visibly confused as O'Brien bumps into them. The Bradbury Building featured in the film still exists at 304 South Broadway in Los Angeles.

After "The End" and before the listing of the cast, a credit states the medical aspects of this film are based on scientific fact, and that "luminous toxin is a descriptive term for an actual poison."

Remakes

The film was remade in 1969 as the Australian Color Me Dead directed by Eddie Davis. In 1988 it was filmed again as D.O.A. directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, with Dennis Quaid as the protagonist.

Notes

External links

• D.O.A. at the Internet Archive, downloadable in various formats
• D.O.A. at Film Noir of the Week
• D.O.A. at DVD Beaver (includes images)