RICHARD FLEISCHER'S T-MEN HEIST FILM NOIR OF 'TRAPPED'

Title: TRAPPED Year: 1949 Rating: **

It's a shame that director Richard Fleischer didn't realize how good the usual good guy Lloyd Bridges was at playing bad... in this case a counterfeiter in prison, given a deal to get out but only if he rats on past associates for the cops...

After which the best moments occur, leading to the first 30-minutes of the T-MEN style noir of TRAPPED in which several twists occur that makes Bridges a free man, quickly holed-up with former girlfriend Barbara Payton, a dive bar waitress with the potential of a femme fatale but playing a rather pathetic lovelorn starlet... 

Lloyd Bridges and John Hoyt in TRAPPED

Then there's another twist involving rich barfly John Hoyt, actually an undercover cop keeping an eye on Bridges, who they had expected to turn on them all along... both teaming up to make a big counterfeiting heist involving Bridges's former partner James Todd when, for no apparent reason and with twenty-minutes of Fleischer-style action to go, our leading man pro-antagonist completely vanishes...

Leaving a dull replacement villain for the cops to chase, and even more reason to catch Anthony Mann's T-MEN, which this is basically a remake of and that's a far superior government-backed docudrama noir.

Barbara Payton in TRAPPED

Lloyd Bridges and James Todd in TRAPPED

Lloyd Bridges in TRAPPED

Lloyd Bridges and John Hoyt in TRAPPED with James Todd

Barbara Payton and John Hoyt in TRAPPED

Barbara Payton and John Hoyt in TRAPPED with Lloyd Bridges

Barbara Payton in TRAPPED