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Community Corner

Desperate, Anthony Mann (U.S., 1947)

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Neighbor

Smooth-featured Steve Randall (Steve Brodie) is a model of optimism—a gainfully employed WWII vet married to a pregnant beauty (Audrey Long) and living in a city that reflects his dreams of prosperity—until, that is, he is unwittingly dragged into a warehouse robbery. When the heist goes sour, sanguine Steve finds himself pursued by a gang of goons, led by a darkly determined Raymond Burr. Desperate sends Steve and wife fleeing to the countryside, a supposed haven from big-city woes. But in Mann’s grim vision the heartland can’t resist the spread of urban blight.

—Steve Seid

• Written by Harry Essex, Martin Rackin, from a story by Dorothy Atlas, Mann. Photographed by George E. Diskant. With Steve Brodie, Audrey Long, Raymond Burr, Douglas Fowley. (73 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Warner Bros.)

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