If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

For an independent film produced on a dental floss wide budget, For You I Die will leave quite the indelible impression. That is mostly due to the moody atmosphere of the film and the sincere playing of the leads Cathy Downs and Paul Langton.Langton is a prisoner who was forced to participate at gunpoint to accompany Don C. Harvey on a break. Harvey's a vicious killer and Langton is intimidated by him. They split up with Harvey telling Langton to go to an out of the way motel camp run by Marian Kerby and her husband Roman Bohnen.But when he gets there after a few false starts, Langton finds a strange contentment and a bit of romance with Cathy Downs who is a waitress in their small restaurant. The place is so isolated it kind of brings on a strange kind of peace. But always hanging over their heads is the threat of Harvey's return.Cheap hardly describes For You I Die. But the performances are great and the atmosphere created so fits what the actors are doing.This one's a sleeper and a keeper.

Its basically the old story of some prisoners on the run but manages to rise above what you would expect. The leads, little known Paul Langton and beautiful smoky-voiced Cathy Downs, are terrific together and deliver quality performances. All of the acting is generally good and as the film progresses you will get interested in the characters and what happens to them.Much is said about the darkness of the film's available prints but it takes place mostly at night and to me the dark nature of the story is suitable for old faded dark film stock, but yes it does need a good restoration someday. The copy I bought was viewable and good enough.Somehow this film, rather than the usual claustrophobic look of many studio-bound cheaply made films of the era, has managed to convert the closeness and night into an intimacy and immediateness that uses the "smallness" to its advantage. Very few small films are able to achieve this.Taught and well-acted by an ensemble cast, "For You I Die" breaks out of the black and white cheapie mold and is far above being just another obscure second bill throwaway.

This surprisingly excellent film noir mixes every element of the classic noir, mixing a prison break, a reluctant participant forced at gunpoint to aid the escapee, a trashy vixen, an innocent young girl wrongly accused of being a robbery accomplice, a tough-talking restaurant owner obsessed with religion, and a confrontation between the two convicts, all in a rustic setting. There are also assorted locales, including two cops who frequent the restaurant and a married couple who live like gypsies, popping in and out to entertain the owner and staff of the roadside dive which has cabins where the misunderstood convict hides out. Other than Mischa Auer, who plays the traveling actor husband, the cast is filled with obscure unknowns who all deliver totally believable performances that are naturalistic and sharp.Paul Langton, a veteran T.V. actor, plays a prison trustee forced to aid another prisoner in his escape attempt. Knowing that his attempt to return to prison could mean his death, he decides to hide out in the tough Marian Kerby's roadside inn, doing odd jobs and ultimately becoming a part of Kerby's extended family. That clan includes two nieces as different as night and day (Cathy Downs as the noble one; Jane Weeks as the trampy one) and the alcoholic chef (Roman Bohnen) whose affection for Downs is based upon his own abandonment of his family and his realization that Downs would be the same age as his own daughter.Kerby's Aunt Maggie is a tough old broad, greeting her customers with home-spun friendliness, but harping at Bohnen for his drinking, Weeks for her floozy ways, and Langton for reading the Sunday paper instead of going with her to church. In short, she's a big-hearted doll who uses tough love on the people around her, although she definitely is tired of Weeks' philandering. In the scene where she finds out the reason behind Bohnen's dependency on alcohol, she shows what really lies behind all that sweet talk and harping. While she only made three films, Kerby's performance is that of a pro, and you will find yourself rooting for her, especially when she makes her feelings towards Langton known after discovering the truth.The performance of Jane Weeks as the slutty Georgie reminds me of Gloria Grahame. She is obviously no good, and any association with Langton would lead him to the same fate of the anti-hero in the low budget noir classic "Detour" where Ann Savage was just as sexually manipulative and twice as devious. Downs is feisty, if a lot more realistic and down to earth, yet not too sweet, as the ingénue who was briefly involved with the mastermind behind the prison escape (Rory Mallinson). Bohnen is excellent as Smitty, whether confiding his past to Kerby or drunkenly giving Downs a bowl filled with goldfish. Auer goes a bit too over the top and his character seems rather out of place.While the print of the available DVD is extremely grainy, the sound is good enough to listen to, and the film itself is extremely fast moving, so the print quality should not be a factor. The characters are all fascinating, even if a few of them (particularly Weeks and Auer) deserve a good slap down. The excellent screenplay builds up tension towards the exciting climax which ends on a promising note for one, but an untimely end for another.

Unless you're a Mischa Auer fan (I'm not), your enjoyment of this minor 1947 film noir will depend on how eager you are to see every noir escapade that Hollywood ever made. True, the lovely Cathy Downs does make her presence felt when she's on screen, but that doesn't happen very often. Mostly the script focuses on the lead man, Paul Langton (competent but somewhat lacking in personality), or the garrulous Marion Kerby. Yes, super-sexy Jane Weeks gets an occasional close-up, and Mischa Auer certainly manages to waste a fair amount of our time with pointless "comedy relief", but it's mostly Langton's film and he lacks the charisma to carry it. Dull direction by John Reinhardt doesn't help, but cameraman William Clothier does his best to give this minor entry an appropriately dark, noirish atmosphere.