The chief interest of this film is the appearance of Robert Taylor as a double and complicated character, part gangster, part renegade, who desperately tries to behave and get ordinary for society standards, as he loves Lana Turner with a father in a very high position - Edward Arnold at his hardest. Robert is not altogether successful in leaving his gangster life behind and trying to scrap it for the sake of Lana, but his ambiguous situation turning into a tragedy is saved by Van Heflin, a drunkard, as his only friend, as it proves, when all is lost. Van Heflin actually saves the film and makes it more than interesting - it's a true noir but very early as such, and Robert Taylor is surprisingly good as the opposite of all you have seen him in before - the stately perfect gentleman and saviour of the world, like the perfect knight in shining armour, here just one case for the gutter among many.
Review of Johnny Eager
Johnny Eager
(1941)
Robert Taylor driving cabs in the hope of Lana Turner but only wins Van Heflin
31 October 2018