The Big Combo, Shark's Treasure

The magic of John Alton: The Big Combo

Joseph H. Lewis' The Big Combo, from 1955, is a very good noir. Lewis is best with doomed losers on the fringes of society and Philip Yordan's script suits him pretty well. John Alton's cinematography recalls his work with Anthony Mann (who frequently worked with Yordan) and is as impressive as in those films: T-Men, Raw Deal, The Black Book and Border Incident. Lewis gets career work from Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte; an achievement with limited performers. He can't quite wring a good performance from Jean Wallace, but that troubled woman was married to Wilde at the time and he was an uncredited producer on this project. Brian Donlevy is moving as a gangster down on his luck, mirroring his slide out of A pictures. Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman are especially memorable as two thugs in a same sex relationship.

Through a set of circumstances too convoluted to recount here, my parents once spent an evening dining and dancing with Mr. Wilde and his retinue. He struck them both as vain, but possessing undeniable charisma. When the Maitre D showed their party a table not to Mr. Wilde's liking, he uttered those immortal words, "Do you know who I am?" My mother, who was and is a swell looking babe, recounted to me with kittenish delight that my father watched with pique as Wilde glided her around the dance floor, bending his head ever so close to her as he burbled sweet nothings.

Because of this encounter, my Mom ushered my siblings and I to Wilde's next picture, an unmemorable Jaws ripoff named Shark's Treasure. I do admire Wilde's tenacity at keeping himself in the game even as his fortunes declined. When no one would cast him, he produced and directed himself. The Naked Prey and Beach Red have their moments. Overall, as a director, Wilde was more earnest craftsman than inspired artist.