The Pushover Review
Aficionados will doubtlessly argue whether The Pushover should be classified as film noir or merely as a suspense film, but whichever its category, this overlooked movie deserves to be better known. Not that it's a great film, for it's not -- the characters don't develop fully enough, remaining just film types rather than flesh and blood people, the themes of the film are not explored deeply enough to have resonance, and there's a late development that asks the audience to change its mind about the leading lady that just doesn't work. Still, it's immensely entertaining, skillfully directed by Richard_Quine with the requisite suspense trappings (and a wonderfully unsettling sense of voyeurism), and covering a lot of territory in its 88 minutes. The casting of Fred MacMurray unfortunately brings inevitable comparisons to Double_Indemnity, but if that superior film can be put out of the viewer's mind, he'll find The Pushover more than decent entertainment. MacMurray doesn't leave the indelible impression that he did in Indemnity, but he's quite good; and if Kim_Novak is no Barbara_Stanwyck, she's still more than acceptable as the kind of femme fatale that could test almost any man's morals. Judged on its own merits, The Pushover is very decent, and at times quite good. Craig Butler, Rovi
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