The Crooked Way [DVD] [1949]

Postwar films were festooned with amnesiac ex-GIs who found themselves mixed up with crime. In The Crooked Way, John Payne plays memory-deficient veteran Eddie Rice, who runs afoul of mobster Vince Alexander (Sonny Tufts) and police inspector Lt. Williams (Rhys Williams). Both the crooks and the cops seem to have good reason to despise Rice, and he'd like to find out why. He won't get any help from his wife Nina (Ellen Drew), however, since she is as hostile towards Rice as everyone else. Gradually, Rice puts the pieces together and discovers that he's far better off not remembering his former self. Film noir habitues Percy Helton, John Doucette and Greta Grandstedt are eminently suited to their minor roles. The Crooked Way was based on "No Blade Too Sharp", a radio drama by Robert Monroe.~Hal Erickson