High Wall (1947) User Reviews

Not great but well worth a look

[Handlinghandel · 7/10 · 6 October 2006]

This is probably Robert Taylor's first real film noir. He is revered in some circles for work a decade later such as Nicholas Ray's "Party Girl." I think he is excellent in "High Wall." He plays a decorated war vet who is accused of murder. Not just accused of murder but also but into a psychiatric hospital. Yikes. No fun at all. Except that the hypnotherapist assigned to his case is a beautiful woman who kind of likes him.

Cast in the role of the psychiatrist is one of the great staples of film noir, Audrey Totter. She is as always good. Better than good. What's intriguing here is that she is cast not as a femme fatale but as a career woman who is in every sense on the right side of the angels and the law.

Herbert Marshall turns in a superbly creepy performance also. I won't say much about his role other than that this is not really a whodunit. We know the answer to that very early.

It's an unusual, brave movie. It has flaws but is nevertheless very good.

A Legal Conundrum

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 11 March 2008]

Robert Taylor in High Wall finds himself accused of wife Dorothy Patrick's murder. A head injury resulting from service as a pilot in the China-Burma-India Theater has rendered him susceptible to blackouts. When Patrick is strangled Taylor is a prime suspect, especially after he's caught racing from the crime scene.

It's a legal conundrum he's in. That head injury may just make him temporarily insane and Taylor's committed to a mental institution. There he meets psychiatrist Audrey Totter who's committed to rehabilitating him and loving him, not necessarily in that order in a given time in the film.

Though the story tends to go into the melodramatic the cast, especially Taylor give fine performances. I'm sure Taylor's background in the Navy during World War II helped him appreciate the plight of returning veterans like himself. Look also for great performances by Herbert Marshall as Patrick's boss and Vince Barnett as a blackmailing janitor with arthritis.

High Wall was Taylor's second film upon returning to MGM and it marked a step up from his first film Undercurrent. It still holds up well today.

great performance by Taylor

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 3 September 2006]

Robert Taylor is Steven Kenet, accused of killing his unfaithful wife in "High Wall," a 1947 film noir also starring Audrey Totter and Herbert Marshall. In our first glimpse of Steve, he's in a car with a dead woman careening down the road to get rid of her. The problem is, due to a brain injury suffered during the war, he can't remember what happened. He is institutionalized for psychiatric evaluation to see if he can stand trial as a sane person. Audrey Totter is Ann, the psychiatrist who takes in Steve's small son as well as works with her patient to try and uncover the truth. Herbert Marshall plays his dead wife's boss.

After World War II, Hollywood began to explore mental and emotional disorders and the use of psychiatry to unlock the traumas of the mind. "Possessed," "Spellbound," and "The Snake Pit" are just a few of the dozens of films employing the use of psychiatry, mental hospitals, and/or psychotropic drugs. In "High Wall," the psychiatry seems to be more of a plot device than something that is actually used to help the patient. It's there to provide flashbacks. Meanwhile, the Taylor character, once he has surgery, has a mind of his own and is constantly slipping out or in the psychiatrist's office window, hiding in her car, and visiting the scene of the crime. The biggest problem is that the character of the murder victim is never developed, and the reasons for her behavior are never made clear. Nevertheless, the film manages to hold one's interest, has a great atmosphere and a couple of really shocking moments. There are also some very funny bits throughout, including a scene where Steve meets the public defender.

This is one of Robert Taylor's best performances. After "Johnny Eager," one of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs began to play more complex roles and more bad guys. It was a good move; he played them very well. He doesn't get much support from Audrey Totter, who turns in a dull, somewhat cold performance in an attempt to be a professional woman. She doesn't give the role a lot of shading. Herbert Marshall seems somewhat miscast and is too lethargic for a role that requires some emotional range.

Very watchable for handsome Taylor's excellent performance.

Much more than an overrated 'B' movie...

[Doylenf · 21 October 2003]

THE HIGH WALL gives Robert Taylor a chance to demonstrate that he was a very capable actor and much more than just a pretty face. Audrey Totter, as a psychiatrist who decides to help him prove he did not kill his wife, makes a strong impression opposite him. And Herbert Marshall is quietly effective as a mysterious man who knows the truth.

All of it is directed in brisk film noir fashion by Curtis Bernhardt with the accent on dark shadows and rainy streets to give it the proper noir atmosphere.

Rather than tell the plot, I'll just say that the story moves swiftly and keeps the viewer absorbed from start to finish. It's a well-paced thriller that makes use of psychiatric trends that may date the film today--but it's all done with such authority that whatever script contrivances are present don't really matter. It's intense and absorbing all the way in true film noir style. Taylor has seldom been more convincing as the distraught bomber pilot trying to find out whether he killed his wife or not.

Melodramatic Film-Noir

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 4 August 2018]

The former WWII pilot Steven Kenet (Robert Taylor) is captured by the police after driving his car off the road into a river with his deceased wife. He confesses that he killed his wife and is sent to a psychiatric hospital for medical evaluation. Kenet has a brain injury from the war that provokes amnesia and the justice department needs to know whether he may be charged of murder or not. Dr. Ann Lorrison (Audrey Totter) is assigned to treat him and offers a surgery to cure him but refused by Kenet. When Kenet is visited by the super of the apartment building where the boss of his wife lives, he insinuates that Willard I. Whitcombe (Herbert Marshall) killed his wife in his apartment. Now Kenet wants to recover his memory and accepts to be submitted to a treatment by Dr. Lorrison.

"High Wall" is a film-noir combined with melodrama and romance. The lead story is not bad, but the romance of Kenet and Lorrison has no chemistry and is hard to believe. The black-and-white cinematography is wonderful and the happy-ending is acceptable. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Muro de Trevas" ("Wall of Darkness")

"You made a sale for yourself, Doctor. I'm buying narcosynthesis."

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 18 August 2014]

Ex-bomber pilot (Robert Taylor) with brain damage confesses to the murder of his wife and is committed to an asylum. Pretty blonde psychiatrist (Audrey Totter) tries to help prove his innocence. One of Robert Taylor's best roles. Audrey Totter is certainly attractive but her performance lacks depth. Compare her to Ingrid Bergman from the similar (but superior) Hitchcock classic Spellbound and you'll see the difference between an okay actress and a great one. Herbert Marshall is fine but gives his character one too many shifty glances to maintain any mystery. Nice support from H.B. Warner as a music lover at the loony bin and Vince Barnett as a blackmailer.

The biggest problem with the movie is its predictability. You know from the beginning that, despite his desperate appearance and confession, Taylor is not guilty of the murder. You'll easily figure out who is guilty based on his suspicious behavior. Also the predictable romance between Taylor and Totter is obvious before they even share a scene. This was made during the glamour years of Hollywood -- there's just no way the two prettiest people in the movie aren't going to get together by the end.

What it does have going for it is a dark film noir atmosphere. It is stylishly photographed with shadowy rooms, rainy streets, and dramatic close-ups. Cinematographer Paul Vogel does a great job of making a mid-level melodrama look like a top-shelf noir.

Physician Heal Thyself

[seymourblack-1 · 7/10 · 8 May 2009]

It's difficult to understand why "High Wall" remains such an overlooked and under-appreciated movie. It certainly has much to commend it, such as the creative and stylish expressionist cinematography which greatly enhances the action and the judicious use of close ups which add intensity to some of the more dramatic moments (especially those involving the two main characters). The grid-like shadows that adorn the walls, floors and patients in the Psychiatric Hospital, emphasise the perception of it being an institution where people are caged in. A high speed sequence in one of the early scenes in which Steven Kenet (Robert Taylor) drives a car recklessly and crashes with his wife's dead body in the front passenger seat, effectively grabs the audience's attention and provokes interest in what events had led to such a dramatic incident. This thriller also features one of the most casual murders imaginable where the weapon used is an umbrella handle! Equally bizarrely, there is also the spectacle of a psychiatrist who goes completely off the rails when she takes a series of actions which are seriously unprofessional.

Steven Kenet (an ex-bomber pilot) is arrested after his wife's murder but genuinely can't remember whether he killed her or not and is therefore, referred to a Psychiatric Hospital for assessment. Medical tests reveal the presence of a blood clot on his brain and it's believed that the clot is the most likely cause of his memory lapses. An operation to remove the clot is recommended but Steven initially refuses permission. Steven's six year old son had been living with his mother and one day when Dr Ann Lorrison (Audrey Totter) is trying to persuade him to change his mind about the operation, she tells him that his mother has died and that unless he has the operation, there is no possibility that he could be declared mentally fit enough to deal with his own finances and his son would then have to be admitted to the county orphanage. The operation goes ahead and is successful but still does not bring back any memory of his wife's death.

A man called Henry Cronner (Vince Barnett) tries to sell Steven useful information about his wife's death but is murdered shortly after. This leads Steven to believe that he may be innocent and he then agrees to be given the truth drug (sodium pentothal) so that he can describe to Ann all that he remembers from the night of his wife's murder. He can remember starting to attack his wife and then when he woke up she was dead.

Ann goes to her car and is surprised to find Steven is in the back seat. He gets her to take him to the murder scene where he goes through everything he can remember. One night when Ann visits Steven, he locks her in his cell and escapes. Ann searches for him and eventually finds him outside the murder scene. At the apartment where the murder took place, they meet someone they suspect may be involved and Ann administers the truth drug and carries out some questioning which gradually reveals who murdered Mrs Kenet.

Dr Lorrison had initially suspected that Kenet may be guilty and that he'd refused treatment to protect himself from prosecution. As she got more familiar with his case she started to feel more sympathetic towards him and after he'd had the operation and undergone the sodium pentothal test, her attraction to him had deepened.

Dr Lorrison is a remarkably unethical practitioner who improperly gains temporary custody of her patient's son and then, when it suits her, tells Kenet that his son is in danger of being sent to an orphanage. At a later stage she disingenuously informs Kenet that his son has been taken in by a woman called Martha Ferguson (conveniently omitting to mention that Ferguson is actually her aunt with whom she lives). After the first occasion when Kenet escaped from the hospital and forced her to go with him to the scene of the murder, she didn't report the matter to her colleagues and after his second escape she also went to join him at the same location. This time however, she readily injected the suspect with sodium pentothal despite the fact that he was confused and groggy after being savagely beaten up by Kenet!!!

Robert Taylor turns in a very good performance as a man whose condition makes him tense and truculent at times and whose predicament also makes him anguished and confused. He projects all these feelings quite powerfully and also shows a more tender side to his personality in the scenes involving his son.

Powerful noir film with excellent direction and performances

[robert-temple-1 · 9/10 · 6 July 2008]

The excellent German director Curtis Bernhardt made this powerful, brooding noir film complete with some expressionist lighting effects in the aftermath of the War. In it he expressed as well as anyone the trauma of the brain-injured returning war veterans, whose presence haunted America in the late 1940s. Robert Taylor gives a fine performance as a former colonel whose brain injury has returned, giving him headaches, partial amnesia, and violent mood swings. In this state, he returns home to find that his wife, a war bride, has become the mistress of a creepy religious publisher played to perfection with his most urbane and fastidious menace by Herbert Marshall. He falls into a rage and may or may not have strangled his straying wife. He wakes up, having collapsed, and confesses to the police. He is tormented by the death of his mother from the strain and the psychologically traumatised state of his son. He needs an emergency brain operation, and then is confined to an insane asylum for examination before being put on trial for murder. At the asylum, there is a touching portrayal of a pathetic inmate named Mr. Slocombe by H. B. Warner, the English actor who became one of Hollywood's best character actors and here surpasses himself. Into this mix comes the incomparable Audrey Totter, who added distinction to every film she was in. Here she is allowed to be a good girl rather than a bad girl. Anyone who has seen her work of two years later, 'Tension' (1949), knows she was capable of frying the audience with the passion of her acting. She plays a psychiatrist, with crisp efficient movements and a studied matter-of-factness which conceals her underlying passions. There is a wonderful uncredited cameo by Frank Jenks as a character named Pinky, who plays a character with a pivotal role in the inspired script. Will the truth be known? Can the hero be saved from someone's evil scheming? This is one of the more harrowing and nail-biting of such dramas. It is sophisticated and satisfying, and highly to be recommended. 'They don't make 'em like that any more.'

Murders and Medicinal Mania.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 11 January 2014]

High Wall is directed by Curtis Bernhardt and adapted to screenplay by Sydney Boehm and Lester Cole from the play by Alan R. Clark and Bradbury Foote. It stars Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, Dorothy Patrick and H.B. Warner. Music is by Bronislau Kaper and cinematography by Paul Vogel.

Suffering from a brain injury sustained during the war, Steven Kenet (Taylor) is further rocked by the realisation that he may have strangled his wife during one of his blackout episodes. Committed to a county asylum, Steven responds to treatment by Dr. Ann Lorrison (Totter) and comes to believe he just might be innocent of his wife's murder. But can he convince the authorities? Can he in fact get out of the asylum to find proof?

By 1947 film noir had firmly encompassed the plot strand involving returning veterans from the war. Plot would find them struggling to readjust into society, they would be battle scarred, emotionally torn or suffering some form of injury, such as a popular favourite of film makers of the time, the amnesia sufferer. High Wall is one of the better pictures from the original film noir cycle to deal with this premise. Where except for a daft method used to bring the story to its conclusion, it's a well thought out and intelligent picture.

The pairing of Taylor and Totter is one of the film's strengths, they are helped no end by having parts that requires them to veer away from roles that they were accustomed to. Bernhardt and Vogel dress the picture up superbly, the camera glides eerily around the asylum, throwing impressive shadows across the drama, and the camera technique used for Kenet's flashback sequences proves mood magnificent. Out of the asylum the visuals still remain beautiful whilst still exuding a bleakness befitting the unfolding story, with rain drenched streets the order of the night. While Kaper drifts a suitably haunting musical score across proceedings.

It's unhurried and cares about attention to details, and even though some of the ethics involved in story are dubious, this is a smart entry in the psychological film noir canon. 7.5/10

Superior cinema compared to Hollywood products of the decade

[JuguAbraham · 8/10 · 14 March 2003]

I am surprised that this film was never given its due credit for its strengths while its weaknesses have been highlighted.

It is obvious to a casual viewer that the performance of Robert Taylor is superior to most of his other films that exploited his physical attributes more than his innate talent. Taylor would have been a good material for intelligent directors but unfortunately few worked with him. Director Curtis Bernhardt, with European experience behind him, utilized the range of emotions that he could extract from Taylor and the usually "wooden" Taylor emerges as an intelligent, purposeful individual.

The obvious weaknesses is the science of psychotherapy, brain surgery and truth serums that are presented in the film, which we now know are antiquated and incorrect. Bernhardt has been criticized for his apathetic depiction of mental asylums in the film. All of this is correct but what would you do in the Forties if that is what you knew of the subject at that time.

Director Bernhardt to me is the person to be most admired in this movie, not actor Taylor. Take the sequence of the visit of the asylum staff to the house of the mother of the lead male character. You see the milk bottles and the newspapers outside the door. You have no response to the doorbell. Then you see a child peeking from behind the curtains and meekly opening the door. No word is spoken. The dead mothers feet are shown to us. Cut to another sequence. That is great cinema--good understanding of psychology, and deliberate underplaying of emotions by merely using visuals and editing the shots without resorting to emotional dialog.

The second most interesting facet of the film is the script. The rain used in the film (couldn't have been from the original play) adds so much to the atmosphere of the film. The sequences in the restaurants and bars, however short, are highlights of the strong script.

The editing, antiquated as it looks nearly 60 years after the film was made, is noteworthy for its crispness and relevance. The camera-work, exploiting shadows on frosted glasses and dark alleys, is equally remarkable.

Curtis Bernhardt could have been proud of this work despite its weakness for researching the subject inadequately. Handsome Taylor can be credited with a handful of good performances and strangely all of those performances had him playing anti-heroes. This is is one of those few.

Above-average film noir & Robert Taylor

[dfloro · 7/10 · 22 January 2021]

I've never been a particular fan of actor Robert Taylor, who seemed to be cast as a good-looking face wrapped in a good suit, over which various leading ladies swooned in movies of the '40s and '50s. Now I've seen him acting up a storm in this 1947 noir opposite the underrated Audrey Totter and the character actor Herbert Marshall. He's an ex-military flyboy whose severe headaches have grounded him, requiring neurosurgery, which may or may not explain why he can't remember if he killed his wife. Don't you hate it when that happens? And now his chief concern is for his 6-year-old son's well being. Totter plays the psych treating him who starts to think (of course) that he might NOT be a "homicidal maniac," an expression that every other medical professional and LEO uses to describe him for an hour's worth of the movie. In addition to the German expressionist look courtesy of director Curtis Bernhardt, the script has several clever observations in it, incl. the relationship between mental & physical health, and the effect on that health our secrets can have on each of us. 7/10

Departure for Robert Taylor

[judithh-1 · 10/10 · 27 June 2012]

High Wall is a departure for Robert Taylor. In the 30's he portrayed mostly handsome society boys. In 1941 he toughened up his image with Johnny Eager. This is an entirely different path. The lead character, Steven Kenet, has returned from a job flying freight in Asia after his service in WW II. He's eager to see his wife and displeased to find out she has a job. Kenet is even more displeased when he discovers she is having an affair with her boss. To complicate matters, he has a brain injury and is suffering blackouts and other symptoms. Seeing his wife in her lover's apartment triggers rage and violence. The wife is dead and Kenet is the only suspect. He confesses and is committed to a mental institution for psychiatric evaluation. The unique thing about the film to me is Taylor's ability to play vulnerability. Kenet is neither a pretty boy nor a villain. He is a man in torment. Taylor uses his shoulders beautifully to portray hopelessness. They droop in the scenes where the character is locked in solitary confinement. After his operation they are straight. The confusion on his face when he's offered an opportunity to see his son at the hospital is masterful as he passes through a range of emotions moving from delight to doubt to anger to confusion. There is a remarkable sequence in which Kenet is dragged off after attacking a visitor. Taylor's body positions change constantly--this is hardly the "wooden" acting for which he is so often condemned. Another great sequence is his walk up the stairs at the end to see his son. Kenet's face radiates joy. The camera work is stylish and the chiaroscuro is masterful. This movie was apparently not well received in its time probably because it isn't the "Robert Taylor" people expected and it is largely forgotten now. It deserves to be remembered.

Climbing the Walls

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 22 August 2014]

After a lonely drink (in a beautiful black-and-white barroom), religious book publisher Herbert Marshall (as Willard Whitcombe) goes to his office and inquires about pretty secretary Dorothy Patrick (as Helen). He is told her husband, World War II bomber pilot Robert Taylor (as Steven Kenet), has returned to the USA from Burma. Next, we see Mr. Taylor driving his apparently dead wife off the road, toppling their car. It turns out the beautiful blonde was strangled and Taylor is suffering from post-War stress and a brain injury. Taylor has a blood clot on the brain, causing some theatrical hands-on-his-headaches. Although he doesn't recall killing his wife, Taylor confesses and is committed to a psychiatric hospital. Attractive (and single) psychiatrist Audrey Totter (as Ann Lorrison) is assigned Taylor's case. She wonders if he's aiming to get off on "temporary insanity" – or, perhaps the (handsome) widower is innocent...

As of this writing, we are in an era where many filmmakers consider the "shaky camera" technique (called "hand held camera" by insiders) a high form of cinematic art. If you're dizzy after watching one of these wobbly movies, "High Wall" is a perfect antidote...

Cinematographer Paul Vogel's eloquence camera movements begin swirling through the opening bar scene, and are marvelous throughout. Guided skillfully by director Curtis Bernhardt, the camera helps tell us about the characters, and moves the story. Producer Robert Lord's team also know when to stop, as in the extra second we are given to read the words on the door of Mr. Marshall's office. Marshall gets one of the film's highlights – watch how he handles handyman Vince Barnett (Henry Cronner) with the hook of an umbrella. Marshall is worthy of a "Best Supporting Actor" award. It's also nice to see veteran H.B. Warner as a loony mental patient. The romance is routine and ending questionable, but "High Wall" is well worth scaling.

******* High Wall (12/17/47) Curtis Bernhardt ~ Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, Vince Barnett

A few terrific moments, but disappointing overall

[jxm4687 · 5/10 · 21 May 2003]

Robert Taylor grapples valiantly with an offbeat role that may be too much for his limited range. He has some good scenes as a World War II vet who sustained head injuries and whose return to civilian life is plagued by headaches--and worse, incarceration in a county mental hospital after he is suspected of murdering his wife. Did he do it? No way, this guy was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, loves his young son whom he hasn't seen for two years (while flying charter places in Burma to earn bucks for an ambitious wife), and really wants to take a research fellowship (for a measly $200 bucks a month. Besides, the movie tips its hand as to the murderer's true identity before Taylor even appears.

That first glimpse of Taylor is a stunner--he's at the wheel of a car speeding out of control, an apparently dead blonde female (his wife as it turns out) at his side, his face full of madness and anguish. Unfortunately, the movie gets bogged down in dated (and superficial) psychiatry and trite glimpses of life in a mental ward. The relationship between Taylor and his psychiatrist (Audrey Totter) strains credibility, though it does push the plot forward to a fairly exciting, if not believable, conclusion. Totter is a disappointment, drab and too serious--her performance needs more of the sharp, tart personality you get from many of her other roles.

Director Curtis Bernhardt gets in a few good film noir licks here. The rain during the extended climax is effective, and the scene where hospital staff visits Taylor's mother--only to find her dead--is extraordinary.

Do a few terrific moments make this a worthwhile 98 minutes? Maybe.

Not sure it's noir, but it is a very good film

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 6 July 2015]

This is a very interesting film, although it as one problem, Is it film noir? I'm not totally sure. To me it's just more of a mystery.

Let's begin with the problem. Audrey Totter does fairly well here, but to there is a problem with her character. Would a female doctor in a mental hospital be that friendly and casual with a patient...particularly back in the late 1940s? I think not, although it's almost necessary to make the script work.

This was a good film for Robert Taylor. Certainly different than his typical role. Here he plays a returning vet who discovers his wife apparently cheating on him. He strangles her...or does he? He is arrested and due to PTSD (of course that was not a recognized condition back then) placed in a mental institution for evaluation.

Who might an alternate suspect be? Perhaps Herbert Marshall, the probable lover. A different role for Marshall, as well. I'm quite a fan of Marshall's, and this is not one of my favorite Marshall roles.

I wasn't particularly pleased with how quickly the ending of the movie took place. However, this is a fine film and well worth watching. Recommended.

Games Narcosynthesizers Play

[SFTeamNoir · 6/10 · 10 July 2020]

Steely and enigmatic war vet Robert Taylor worsens his brain damage and kills his wife when he avoids a rural bridge and instead drives off an embankment into a river in a failed suicide attempt. However, his wife had been strangled, and he is the obvious suspect! Sharp and commanding psychiatrist Audrey Totter takes on his case at the local asylum, applying the hypnotic new practice of "Narcosynthesis." You can easily criticize the gobbledygook psychology of this film, but if they had accurately portrayed the psychiatric approaches of 1948, it would be even crazier! The looney plot is part of the charm of this film, not a real hinderance. Taylor and Totter are in top form, and Brit Herbert Marshall excels as the villain, so you get a vintage tour of a 1940s asylum life, well done noir cinematography, some amusingly trippy unconsciousness scenes, a baffling case, brisk action scenes, and an unlikely romance. All that for a 25-cent ticket!

Similar to "Spellbound" but a bit more realistic.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 20 June 2009]

The film begins with a woman being murdered and her husband (Robert Taylor) being held for it. However, they can't just put him in jail for this, as he has emotional problems that were exacerbated by a head injury. So instead he's sent to a psychiatric hospital. His therapist is played by Audrey Totter, who like Ingrid Bergman in SPELLBOUND, seems to ignore the boundary between patient and therapist. Eventually she comes to think that he might be innocent and investigates the case to find out who the true killer is--though she never takes the same risk or goes as deeply into the case as Bergman. This new-found belief in Taylor's innocence follows his undergoing "narcosynthesis"--using drugs to facilitate hypnosis--a highly dubious means for getting to the truth (this method has not proved successful over the years). And, it's very dubious in these sort of films that female therapists ALWAYS seem to ignore professional ethics and boundaries with their handsome male patients!

This is a very interesting film that, as mentioned above, is very similar to SPELLBOUND. The difference is that this film, though on shaky psychological ground, is still far more possible than SPELLBOUND--which, though a classic, is all psychological mumbo-jumbo. Here, at least, the film has some believability and is quite interesting. Plus, it has a dandy performance by the always understated Herbert Marshall.

By the way, how could Robert Taylor's character have gotten brain surgery yet not even have a bandaged head or scars immediately after this?! An odd mistake, surely.

Great film noir with outstanding performances by all players.

[mamalv · 10/10 · 25 February 2005]

The High Wall is so unique that it is hard to fathom why the critics of the era never gave it just reviews. Robert Taylor is harried and tense, and is not sure himself if he is guilty of murder. The cops think he is the Doctors think he is, but he is just not sure. Audrey Totter, plays Dr. Lorrison, the shrink in charge of his case, and she thinks he is re- pressing the fact that he did kill his wife, who he found in the apartment of her boss, ready to have a liaison with him. Had'nt he started to strangle her, when he blacked out? An old war injury he has shows up with blackouts, and headaches. Had'nt he put off the operation that would help him so he could use the injury as an excuse to kill her? Little by little we see Dr. Lorrison becoming confused, as she is drawn to Kenet, thinking maybe he is innocent. After a visit from the janitor at the bosses apartment shows up, to tell Kenet he was not alone in the flat, he decides he must have truth serum to see what he can remember. The doctor still thinks he might have done it after the session is over. Kenet fakes being asleep, and escapes, hiding in her car. He confronts her and makes her come with him to the bosses apartment. He remembers, after he tears up the room, making it look like it did that awful night. He returns to the hospital and the doctor does not tell that he was gone. When the boss, Herbert Marshall returns home, he is confronted by the same murder scene that he had cleaned up. He becomes disraught and thinks he is going to run, but instead he kills the janitor, and then confronts Kenet at the asylum, telling him he killed both the janitor and Helen. Kenet jumps him and they isolate him thinking he is really crazy now. He attacks Dr. Lorrison, grabs her car, and starts out after Marshall. The Doctor is now convinced that he is innocent, and follows him to the streets near Marshall's apartment. The scene is great noir, with their figures almost obscured by the rain, and the blackened streets. You really have to pay attention to see them and that is the greatest part of film noir. Of course they drug Marshall and he confesses leaving the Doctor and Kenet to move on and help the little son he loves so much. Robert Taylor was always an underrated actor, and this is the part that proves it. Too bad the critics never gave him his due, but the public sure did, they loved him in any role, and this is one of his best.

Well made but handicapped from the start

[bobc-5 · 7/10 · 15 April 2001]

This movie starts off with a lot of promise. An active camera follows the action through well designed film noir sets as we move in no-nonsense fashion to the main event of the film, the crime about which we will spend the rest of the film trying to discover what really happened. A man has strangled his wife and possible tried to kill himself as well. Why did he do it? Was he insane - or did he even do it at all?

Robert Taylor puts in one of the best performances of his career, and is well supported by the rest of the cast and the excellent direction. Unfortunately, the story itself is just too weak to support anything but a mediocre film. A few unbelievable events can be forgiven in a well made film, but this one just keeps throwing them at us one after the other. The twists and turns lose their punch when we are given too much information too fast. The wife's character, necessary to understand the motivations which led to the event, is never properly developed. As a final insult, the weak gimmick of truth serum is used not just once, but twice - and at the most important places in the film. It's almost as if no effort was made to clean up the script because no-one ever expected the film to be as well made as it was. That's too bad, because with a little help it could've been a classic rather than just another typical film-noir offering of the time.

High Wall-Tall Thriller ***

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 12 March 2008]

Something different for Robert Taylor. He stars as a possible insane killer who tries to prove his innocence.

The film also showcases the acting talent of Audrey Totter. For a change, she is in a major role and not relegated to the many supporting roles she did in films.

Much of the action takes place in an asylum where Taylor is committed after allegedly strangling his wife.

Marshall Thompson is wonderful as the sinister boss who is the killer.

The black and white photography depict the trouble that Taylor is in as he tries to prove his innocence. At first, Taylor did not want any help thinking that he was guilty. He thought that he could use his brain disorder on his behalf. When his mother suddenly dies, he needs to raise his 6 year old son.

Totter is the compassionate psychologist who takes the child in and gradually comes to realize that Taylor is an innocent victim.

This is a very interesting psychological thriller.

Mysterious Film

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 13 March 2008]

Robert Taylor, (Steven Kenet) plays the role as a pilot during WW II and received many medals, however, he was injured and needed brain surgery and eventually he returns home to be with his wife. Steven enters his home and sees his wife and then all of a sudden he has a severe black out and finds himself being convicted of the murder of his wife. The court of law knew that Steven was a war hero and had a good military record, decided to put him in a mental hospital because of his previous brain surgery. Dr. Ann Lorrison, (Audrey Totter) is Steven's doctor in the hospital and she tries to find out just what is wrong with him and if he really killed his wife. Willard I. Whitcombe, ( Herbert Marshall) hired Steven's wife at his law firm and offered his assistance to the hospital in order to arrange for financial aid for his young son of 6 years of age. Audrey Totter gave an outstanding performance and is a rather under rated actor who appeared in many films, as of this date, Auderey is 90 of ages. Enjoy

"How Are My Brain Waves, Doctor?"

[davidcarniglia · 8/10 · 20 November 2018]

Much better than I thought it would be. Robert Taylor plays a convincing wronged husband Steven, accused of killing his wife, and, due to the effects of his war time trauma, subsequently locked up in an asylum. Strangely, that works to his benefit, as Audrey Totter's Doctor Lorrison (Ann) providers sympathetic support. The plot finds Steve trying to clear himself, with Ann's assistance. His antagonist, Herbert Marshall as Whitcomb, gives a solid performance as a smug, scheming sadist. Flashbacks flesh things out; and cleverly, the story isn't given away all at once.

A large part of the story shows a noir romance that fits in well--Ann and Steve begin as doctor and patient, then friends, partners/accomplices, lovers--gradually and naturally. I can't figure how Steve escaped from the asylum the first time, but ok, at least the second escape is artfully done. Meanwhile, Whitcomb lurks nearby. It fits with Whitcomb's egotism that he dares to confront Steve in the asylum; a temporary setback for Steve, but Whicomb's double confession puts Ann unreservedly on Steve's side.

The asylum atmosphere suits rhe noir genre. Its look of confinement, complete with barred windows, exaggerated lighting, bizarre population, and patronizing staff makes a surreal counterpoint to the dark, dingly rooms, alleys, and streets of noir. The drunk bugging Steve and Ann in their restaurant booth is reminiscent of some of the loopy folks Steve has to deal with when he's locked up. They're able to use the guy to mask their entrance to Whitcomb's apartment where the denouement occurs. Here's a fitting use of humor in a dark movie; like the romance it's believable and adds to the plot. Until Whitcomb confesses we don't know who actually killed Steve's wife. And if Steve did kill her, we don't know if he was aware of doing so. By the time all that's revealed, we have the mystery of how, or if Whitcomb will be caught.

High Wall starts off quickly and never lets off the gas. There's a lot going on: shadow and iron bar imagery, driving and fumbling through rainy dark nights, murder, blackmail attempts, unhinged behavior in the asylum and in clandestine apartments, truth serum, good guys versus a really bad guy. The sense of good v. evil could've been treated with a bit more nuance. Maybe if Steve's wife's character had been further developed we might have something more to deal with than a stereotypical bored, straying wife. Or Whitcomb, convincing devil that he is, could've been given some upside to make him a genuine rival. Maybe he's still the murderer, but succumbs to his own touch of temporary insanity...

Having said that, High Wall is a thoroughly enjoyable noir. The elevator operator's murder is an unforgettable, quintessentially noir scene, its throwaway suddeness like a sort of official stamp. Nice pacing and acting lure the viewer into this leap in the dark. 8/10.

See What Happens When Women Join the Workforce

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 13 March 2008]

A mildly engaging if unremarkable psychodrama about a man returning from WWII with a head injury who is accused of killing his wife. He's committed to a mental institution until he's able to regain control of his faculties. Once he does, he begins to suspect that he wasn't responsible for his wife's death after all and so begins a fight with the hospital's staff to convince them that he's not a raving nutjob and merely seeks the truth of what happened.

We know he's not guilty, mostly because he's played by Robert Taylor, and the female doctor assigned to his case (played by the lovely Audrey Totter) begins to realize that too, right around the time she starts to fall in love with him. The film looks like a noir, but's its really just a piece of melodramatic hokum in noir clothing.

Taylor and Totter make a rather stiff pairing. I've come to adore Totter, a rather unknown actress who seems to have made her mark mainly in "B" offerings, but I like her better as a hotsy-totsy spitfire, like the one she played in "Tension." Here she's asked to be straight-laced and professional, and she's not nearly as much fun. Herbert Marshall makes an effectively oily villain though, and he provides the movie the majority of whatever pizazz it has.

Released shortly after WWII, the film more than anything is a laughable "warning" about what happens when men go off to war and the womenfolk stay behind. They get bored and set out to find (gasp!) jobs, but they of course eventually have affairs with their bosses and are murdered as punishment. Ah, how far we've come.....

Grade: B-

Pedestrian Film Noir (Spoilers)

[reader4 · 5/10 · 15 April 2001]

Warning: spoilers ahead (if there can be such a thing in regards to such a predictable, linear plot).

I was quite disappointed in "The High Wall." While it contains most of the qualities which classify a movie into what has become just about my favorite category, film noir, including excellent atmosphere, lighting and sets, the acting and especially the plot barely qualify it.

There are no plot twists, an element I think is essential to film noir. I guessed in the first or second scene "whodunnit," and was right. And the only reason I didn't guess the final ending was: it was so unrealistic, it never occurred to me that it might happen.

Robert Taylor is rather boring throughout the film, although enjoyable to look at with his handsome face covered with beard stubble during most of it. His lack of sorrow at the death of his wife perhaps makes him seem like the murderer (which Bernhardt desperately and futilely hopes we'll believe), but is otherwise never explained and completely out of character. His concern for his son is somewhat touching, but his actions with regard to the boy are not credibly those of a distraught father.

Herbert Marshall's acting is excellent, just like it is in every movie in which I've seen him, but even this is insufficient to boost this movie above the "so-so" category. The quiet, understated, long-suffering style that he uses to such striking effect in "The Little Foxes" and "The Letter" seems quite out-of-place here -- it's very difficult to imagine such an unassuming, gentle man to be any kind of murderer. This actually had the potential of being used to good effect were any kind of surprise associated with it, but, as I said, the plot and editing hit you over the head with fact that Marshall "did it" in the first couple of scenes, and reinforce it throughout the second half of the film.

The insane asylum is more of a gimmick than any kind of chilling locale -- Taylor might as well be staying at a hotel. He only interacts with two people there (besides psychiatrists), an orderly, who befriends him, and another inmate, who virtually steals the show with his three to four minutes of poignant appreciation of classical music. The scene of Taylor calmly smoking a cigarette while strapped into an ice-bath epitomizes the casual treatment the film gives the supposed "horrors of Bedlam."

Audrey Totter is mousy, unappealing and rather lifeless as the psychiatrist on the case, and also strains credibility past the breaking point in her complete disregard for psychiatrist/patient ethics. Not only does she become "involved" with her patient, she virtually destroys her entire career over him (at least according to real-world ethics). We're not supposed to notice this, I guess, as none of the other psychiatrists seem to give it a second thought, and she seems to be in no danger of losing her job. The reason she's fallen so heavily for Taylor that she's willing to throw everything over for him is never even mentioned, much less satisfactorily explained. It seems like Bernhardt wants us to believe she thinks Taylor is guilty -- but her actions are not those of a suspicious criminal psychologist as much as a lovesick bobby-soxer.

She temporarily "adopts" Robert Taylor's son (another thing that could never happen in real life). Once again, this is mostly a gimmick, as she's never shown interacting with the son at all. For some reason she fails to mention this "adoption" to Taylor, even though she is quite aware of his ostensible obsession with the boy's well-being.

The editing is atrocious. Herbert Marshall appears in the first couple of scenes, then vanishes completely for the next half of the film. Then he is shown once, in a completely irrelevant scene just to remind us that he's still in the story. If that's not a clue-in that he has to be the murderer, nothing is, since he's completely unrelated to the rest of the story up to that point.

The denouement must have been butchered by the editor -- I can't believe any director, no matter how inexperienced, would have deliberately done it that way. Marshall, after being the recipient of some resounding fisticuffs from Taylor, sees Audrey Totter come into the room, then suddenly he's swirling in a whirlpool. I thought he was having a flashback due to his punch-drunkenness. Only later did I realize he was confessing all under the influence of an injection of sodium pentothal which we never see administered.

During the "flashback," I thought it would be revealed that Totter had actually done the murder, and that she had been playing Marshall for a patsy, as well as framing Taylor and subsequently using her role as a psychiatrist to make sure he didn't get off. This would have made a much more interesting movie, in my opinion, and would have given the plot enough twists to at least rival a Nebraska Interstate. But no, the plot plods on to its unmotivated, uninvolving, sappy conclusion.

While I couldn't call this a bad film, I think those looking for adventures in the realm of the less-well-known film noir would much better spend their time with "The Dark Corner" or "The Fallen Sparrow" (in spite of its weak ending) or even "Woman In The Window."