Crack-Up (1946)
Overview
Art curator George Steele experiences a train wreck...which never happened. Is he cracking up, or the victim of a plot?
Cast
Pat O’Brien
George Steele
Claire Trevor
Terry Cordell
Herbert Marshall
Traybin
Ray Collins
Dr. Lowell
Wallace Ford
Lt. Cochrane
Dean Harens
Reynolds
Damian O'Flynn
Museum Curator Stevenson
Erskine Sanford
Museum Director Barton
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CinemaSerf
If only Irving Reis had cast his net a bit wider when casting his leading man, here - then we could have ended up with a quality, sophisticated crime drama. Sadly, he didn't and we are stuck with a really quite dreary performance from Pat O'Brien as "George", an art critic who finds himself caught up in a train crash (or was it!?) and a well planned, psychologically driven, plot involving art fraud after he had suggested that modern day X-ray techniques be used to verify the authenticity of old masters on loan to a museum - including a Gainsborough and a Dürer. Luckily for him, Claire Trevor "Terry" and Herbert Marshall ("Traybin") are on hand to get to the bottom of it. At times it's quite gripping, and the intricacies of the plot - and of the manipulation it suggests, are clever and quite original but it's far too long, and the sagging in the middle is almost hammock-like. Still, the use of sound is effective and the film is certainly worth catching up with with some tea and a bit of carrot cake.
