User reviews

This is probably Robert Taylor's first real film noir. He is revered in some circles for work a decade later such as Nicholas Ray's "Party Girl." I think he is excellent in "High Wall." He plays a decorated war vet who is accused of murder. Not just accused of murder but also but into a psychiatric hospital. Yikes. No fun at all. Except that the hypnotherapist assigned to his case is a beautiful woman who kind of likes him.

Cast in the role of the psychiatrist is one of the great staples of film noir, Audrey Totter. She is as always good. Better than good. What's intriguing here is that she is cast not as a femme fatale but as a career woman who is in every sense on the right side of the angels and the law.

Herbert Marshall turns in a superbly creepy performance also. I won't say much about his role other than that this is not really a whodunit. We know the answer to that very early.

It's an unusual, brave movie. It has flaws but is nevertheless very good.

Robert Taylor is Steven Kenet, accused of killing his unfaithful wife in "High Wall," a 1947 film noir also starring Audrey Totter and Herbert Marshall. In our first glimpse of Steve, he's in a car with a dead woman careening down the road to get rid of her. The problem is, due to a brain injury suffered during the war, he can't remember what happened. He is institutionalized for psychiatric evaluation to see if he can stand trial as a sane person. Audrey Totter is Ann, the psychiatrist who takes in Steve's small son as well as works with her patient to try and uncover the truth. Herbert Marshall plays his dead wife's boss.

After World War II, Hollywood began to explore mental and emotional disorders and the use of psychiatry to unlock the traumas of the mind. "Possessed," "Spellbound," and "The Snake Pit" are just a few of the dozens of films employing the use of psychiatry, mental hospitals, and/or psychotropic drugs. In "High Wall," the psychiatry seems to be more of a plot device than something that is actually used to help the patient. It's there to provide flashbacks. Meanwhile, the Taylor character, once he has surgery, has a mind of his own and is constantly slipping out or in the psychiatrist's office window, hiding in her car, and visiting the scene of the crime. The biggest problem is that the character of the murder victim is never developed, and the reasons for her behavior are never made clear. Nevertheless, the film manages to hold one's interest, has a great atmosphere and a couple of really shocking moments. There are also some very funny bits throughout, including a scene where Steve meets the public defender.

This is one of Robert Taylor's best performances. After "Johnny Eager," one of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs began to play more complex roles and more bad guys. It was a good move; he played them very well. He doesn't get much support from Audrey Totter, who turns in a dull, somewhat cold performance in an attempt to be a professional woman. She doesn't give the role a lot of shading. Herbert Marshall seems somewhat miscast and is too lethargic for a role that requires some emotional range.

Very watchable for handsome Taylor's excellent performance.

Robert Taylor in High Wall finds himself accused of wife Dorothy Patrick's murder. A head injury resulting from service as a pilot in the China-Burma-India Theater has rendered him susceptible to blackouts. When Patrick is strangled Taylor is a prime suspect, especially after he's caught racing from the crime scene.

It's a legal conundrum he's in. That head injury may just make him temporarily insane and Taylor's committed to a mental institution. There he meets psychiatrist Audrey Totter who's committed to rehabilitating him and loving him, not necessarily in that order in a given time in the film.

Though the story tends to go into the melodramatic the cast, especially Taylor give fine performances. I'm sure Taylor's background in the Navy during World War II helped him appreciate the plight of returning veterans like himself. Look also for great performances by Herbert Marshall as Patrick's boss and Vince Barnett as a blackmailing janitor with arthritis.

High Wall was Taylor's second film upon returning to MGM and it marked a step up from his first film Undercurrent. It still holds up well today.

THE HIGH WALL gives Robert Taylor a chance to demonstrate that he was a very capable actor and much more than just a pretty face. Audrey Totter, as a psychiatrist who decides to help him prove he did not kill his wife, makes a strong impression opposite him. And Herbert Marshall is quietly effective as a mysterious man who knows the truth.

All of it is directed in brisk film noir fashion by Curtis Bernhardt with the accent on dark shadows and rainy streets to give it the proper noir atmosphere.

Rather than tell the plot, I'll just say that the story moves swiftly and keeps the viewer absorbed from start to finish. It's a well-paced thriller that makes use of psychiatric trends that may date the film today--but it's all done with such authority that whatever script contrivances are present don't really matter. It's intense and absorbing all the way in true film noir style. Taylor has seldom been more convincing as the distraught bomber pilot trying to find out whether he killed his wife or not.

The former WWII pilot Steven Kenet (Robert Taylor) is captured by the police after driving his car off the road into a river with his deceased wife. He confesses that he killed his wife and is sent to a psychiatric hospital for medical evaluation. Kenet has a brain injury from the war that provokes amnesia and the justice department needs to know whether he may be charged of murder or not. Dr. Ann Lorrison (Audrey Totter) is assigned to treat him and offers a surgery to cure him but refused by Kenet. When Kenet is visited by the super of the apartment building where the boss of his wife lives, he insinuates that Willard I. Whitcombe (Herbert Marshall) killed his wife in his apartment. Now Kenet wants to recover his memory and accepts to be submitted to a treatment by Dr. Lorrison.

"High Wall" is a film-noir combined with melodrama and romance. The lead story is not bad, but the romance of Kenet and Lorrison has no chemistry and is hard to believe. The black-and-white cinematography is wonderful and the happy-ending is acceptable. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Muro de Trevas" ("Wall of Darkness")

I am surprised that this film was never given its due credit for its strengths while its weaknesses have been highlighted.

It is obvious to a casual viewer that the performance of Robert Taylor is superior to most of his other films that exploited his physical attributes more than his innate talent. Taylor would have been a good material for intelligent directors but unfortunately few worked with him. Director Curtis Bernhardt, with European experience behind him, utilized the range of emotions that he could extract from Taylor and the usually "wooden" Taylor emerges as an intelligent, purposeful individual.

The obvious weaknesses is the science of psychotherapy, brain surgery and truth serums that are presented in the film, which we now know are antiquated and incorrect. Bernhardt has been criticized for his apathetic depiction of mental asylums in the film. All of this is correct but what would you do in the Forties if that is what you knew of the subject at that time.

Director Bernhardt to me is the person to be most admired in this movie, not actor Taylor. Take the sequence of the visit of the asylum staff to the house of the mother of the lead male character. You see the milk bottles and the newspapers outside the door. You have no response to the doorbell. Then you see a child peeking from behind the curtains and meekly opening the door. No word is spoken. The dead mothers feet are shown to us. Cut to another sequence. That is great cinema--good understanding of psychology, and deliberate underplaying of emotions by merely using visuals and editing the shots without resorting to emotional dialog.

The second most interesting facet of the film is the script. The rain used in the film (couldn't have been from the original play) adds so much to the atmosphere of the film. The sequences in the restaurants and bars, however short, are highlights of the strong script.

The editing, antiquated as it looks nearly 60 years after the film was made, is noteworthy for its crispness and relevance. The camera-work, exploiting shadows on frosted glasses and dark alleys, is equally remarkable.

Curtis Bernhardt could have been proud of this work despite its weakness for researching the subject inadequately. Handsome Taylor can be credited with a handful of good performances and strangely all of those performances had him playing anti-heroes. This is is one of those few.

After a lonely drink (in a beautiful black-and-white barroom), religious book publisher Herbert Marshall (as Willard Whitcombe) goes to his office and inquires about pretty secretary Dorothy Patrick (as Helen). He is told her husband, World War II bomber pilot Robert Taylor (as Steven Kenet), has returned to the USA from Burma. Next, we see Mr. Taylor driving his apparently dead wife off the road, toppling their car. It turns out the beautiful blonde was strangled and Taylor is suffering from post-War stress and a brain injury. Taylor has a blood clot on the brain, causing some theatrical hands-on-his-headaches. Although he doesn't recall killing his wife, Taylor confesses and is committed to a psychiatric hospital. Attractive (and single) psychiatrist Audrey Totter (as Ann Lorrison) is assigned Taylor's case. She wonders if he's aiming to get off on "temporary insanity" – or, perhaps the (handsome) widower is innocent...

As of this writing, we are in an era where many filmmakers consider the "shaky camera" technique (called "hand held camera" by insiders) a high form of cinematic art. If you're dizzy after watching one of these wobbly movies, "High Wall" is a perfect antidote...

Cinematographer Paul Vogel's eloquence camera movements begin swirling through the opening bar scene, and are marvelous throughout. Guided skillfully by director Curtis Bernhardt, the camera helps tell us about the characters, and moves the story. Producer Robert Lord's team also know when to stop, as in the extra second we are given to read the words on the door of Mr. Marshall's office. Marshall gets one of the film's highlights – watch how he handles handyman Vince Barnett (Henry Cronner) with the hook of an umbrella. Marshall is worthy of a "Best Supporting Actor" award. It's also nice to see veteran H.B. Warner as a loony mental patient. The romance is routine and ending questionable, but "High Wall" is well worth scaling.

******* High Wall (12/17/47) Curtis Bernhardt ~ Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, Vince Barnett

The excellent German director Curtis Bernhardt made this powerful, brooding noir film complete with some expressionist lighting effects in the aftermath of the War. In it he expressed as well as anyone the trauma of the brain-injured returning war veterans, whose presence haunted America in the late 1940s. Robert Taylor gives a fine performance as a former colonel whose brain injury has returned, giving him headaches, partial amnesia, and violent mood swings. In this state, he returns home to find that his wife, a war bride, has become the mistress of a creepy religious publisher played to perfection with his most urbane and fastidious menace by Herbert Marshall. He falls into a rage and may or may not have strangled his straying wife. He wakes up, having collapsed, and confesses to the police. He is tormented by the death of his mother from the strain and the psychologically traumatised state of his son. He needs an emergency brain operation, and then is confined to an insane asylum for examination before being put on trial for murder. At the asylum, there is a touching portrayal of a pathetic inmate named Mr. Slocombe by H. B. Warner, the English actor who became one of Hollywood's best character actors and here surpasses himself. Into this mix comes the incomparable Audrey Totter, who added distinction to every film she was in. Here she is allowed to be a good girl rather than a bad girl. Anyone who has seen her work of two years later, 'Tension' (1949), knows she was capable of frying the audience with the passion of her acting. She plays a psychiatrist, with crisp efficient movements and a studied matter-of-factness which conceals her underlying passions. There is a wonderful uncredited cameo by Frank Jenks as a character named Pinky, who plays a character with a pivotal role in the inspired script. Will the truth be known? Can the hero be saved from someone's evil scheming? This is one of the more harrowing and nail-biting of such dramas. It is sophisticated and satisfying, and highly to be recommended. 'They don't make 'em like that any more.'

High Wall is directed by Curtis Bernhardt and adapted to screenplay by Sydney Boehm and Lester Cole from the play by Alan R. Clark and Bradbury Foote. It stars Robert Taylor, Audrey Totter, Herbert Marshall, Dorothy Patrick and H.B. Warner. Music is by Bronislau Kaper and cinematography by Paul Vogel.

Suffering from a brain injury sustained during the war, Steven Kenet (Taylor) is further rocked by the realisation that he may have strangled his wife during one of his blackout episodes. Committed to a county asylum, Steven responds to treatment by Dr. Ann Lorrison (Totter) and comes to believe he just might be innocent of his wife's murder. But can he convince the authorities? Can he in fact get out of the asylum to find proof?

By 1947 film noir had firmly encompassed the plot strand involving returning veterans from the war. Plot would find them struggling to readjust into society, they would be battle scarred, emotionally torn or suffering some form of injury, such as a popular favourite of film makers of the time, the amnesia sufferer. High Wall is one of the better pictures from the original film noir cycle to deal with this premise. Where except for a daft method used to bring the story to its conclusion, it's a well thought out and intelligent picture.

The pairing of Taylor and Totter is one of the film's strengths, they are helped no end by having parts that requires them to veer away from roles that they were accustomed to. Bernhardt and Vogel dress the picture up superbly, the camera glides eerily around the asylum, throwing impressive shadows across the drama, and the camera technique used for Kenet's flashback sequences proves mood magnificent. Out of the asylum the visuals still remain beautiful whilst still exuding a bleakness befitting the unfolding story, with rain drenched streets the order of the night. While Kaper drifts a suitably haunting musical score across proceedings.

It's unhurried and cares about attention to details, and even though some of the ethics involved in story are dubious, this is a smart entry in the psychological film noir canon. 7.5/10

High Wall is a departure for Robert Taylor. In the 30's he portrayed mostly handsome society boys. In 1941 he toughened up his image with Johnny Eager. This is an entirely different path. The lead character, Steven Kenet, has returned from a job flying freight in Asia after his service in WW II. He's eager to see his wife and displeased to find out she has a job. Kenet is even more displeased when he discovers she is having an affair with her boss. To complicate matters, he has a brain injury and is suffering blackouts and other symptoms. Seeing his wife in her lover's apartment triggers rage and violence. The wife is dead and Kenet is the only suspect. He confesses and is committed to a mental institution for psychiatric evaluation. The unique thing about the film to me is Taylor's ability to play vulnerability. Kenet is neither a pretty boy nor a villain. He is a man in torment. Taylor uses his shoulders beautifully to portray hopelessness. They droop in the scenes where the character is locked in solitary confinement. After his operation they are straight. The confusion on his face when he's offered an opportunity to see his son at the hospital is masterful as he passes through a range of emotions moving from delight to doubt to anger to confusion. There is a remarkable sequence in which Kenet is dragged off after attacking a visitor. Taylor's body positions change constantly--this is hardly the "wooden" acting for which he is so often condemned. Another great sequence is his walk up the stairs at the end to see his son. Kenet's face radiates joy. The camera work is stylish and the chiaroscuro is masterful. This movie was apparently not well received in its time probably because it isn't the "Robert Taylor" people expected and it is largely forgotten now. It deserves to be remembered.

Robert Taylor grapples valiantly with an offbeat role that may be too much for his limited range. He has some good scenes as a World War II vet who sustained head injuries and whose return to civilian life is plagued by headaches--and worse, incarceration in a county mental hospital after he is suspected of murdering his wife. Did he do it? No way, this guy was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, loves his young son whom he hasn't seen for two years (while flying charter places in Burma to earn bucks for an ambitious wife), and really wants to take a research fellowship (for a measly $200 bucks a month. Besides, the movie tips its hand as to the murderer's true identity before Taylor even appears.

That first glimpse of Taylor is a stunner--he's at the wheel of a car speeding out of control, an apparently dead blonde female (his wife as it turns out) at his side, his face full of madness and anguish. Unfortunately, the movie gets bogged down in dated (and superficial) psychiatry and trite glimpses of life in a mental ward. The relationship between Taylor and his psychiatrist (Audrey Totter) strains credibility, though it does push the plot forward to a fairly exciting, if not believable, conclusion. Totter is a disappointment, drab and too serious--her performance needs more of the sharp, tart personality you get from many of her other roles.

Director Curtis Bernhardt gets in a few good film noir licks here. The rain during the extended climax is effective, and the scene where hospital staff visits Taylor's mother--only to find her dead--is extraordinary.

Do a few terrific moments make this a worthwhile 98 minutes? Maybe.

Steely and enigmatic war vet Robert Taylor worsens his brain damage and kills his wife when he avoids a rural bridge and instead drives off an embankment into a river in a failed suicide attempt. However, his wife had been strangled, and he is the obvious suspect! Sharp and commanding psychiatrist Audrey Totter takes on his case at the local asylum, applying the hypnotic new practice of "Narcosynthesis." You can easily criticize the gobbledygook psychology of this film, but if they had accurately portrayed the psychiatric approaches of 1948, it would be even crazier! The looney plot is part of the charm of this film, not a real hinderance. Taylor and Totter are in top form, and Brit Herbert Marshall excels as the villain, so you get a vintage tour of a 1940s asylum life, well done noir cinematography, some amusingly trippy unconsciousness scenes, a baffling case, brisk action scenes, and an unlikely romance. All that for a 25-cent ticket!

I've never been a particular fan of actor Robert Taylor, who seemed to be cast as a good-looking face wrapped in a good suit, over which various leading ladies swooned in movies of the '40s and '50s. Now I've seen him acting up a storm in this 1947 noir opposite the underrated Audrey Totter and the character actor Herbert Marshall. He's an ex-military flyboy whose severe headaches have grounded him, requiring neurosurgery, which may or may not explain why he can't remember if he killed his wife. Don't you hate it when that happens? And now his chief concern is for his 6-year-old son's well being. Totter plays the psych treating him who starts to think (of course) that he might NOT be a "homicidal maniac," an expression that every other medical professional and LEO uses to describe him for an hour's worth of the movie. In addition to the German expressionist look courtesy of director Curtis Bernhardt, the script has several clever observations in it, incl. the relationship between mental & physical health, and the effect on that health our secrets can have on each of us. 7/10

Robert Taylor, (Steven Kenet) plays the role as a pilot during WW II and received many medals, however, he was injured and needed brain surgery and eventually he returns home to be with his wife. Steven enters his home and sees his wife and then all of a sudden he has a severe black out and finds himself being convicted of the murder of his wife. The court of law knew that Steven was a war hero and had a good military record, decided to put him in a mental hospital because of his previous brain surgery. Dr. Ann Lorrison, (Audrey Totter) is Steven's doctor in the hospital and she tries to find out just what is wrong with him and if he really killed his wife. Willard I. Whitcombe, ( Herbert Marshall) hired Steven's wife at his law firm and offered his assistance to the hospital in order to arrange for financial aid for his young son of 6 years of age. Audrey Totter gave an outstanding performance and is a rather under rated actor who appeared in many films, as of this date, Auderey is 90 of ages. Enjoy

This movie starts off with a lot of promise. An active camera follows the action through well designed film noir sets as we move in no-nonsense fashion to the main event of the film, the crime about which we will spend the rest of the film trying to discover what really happened. A man has strangled his wife and possible tried to kill himself as well. Why did he do it? Was he insane - or did he even do it at all?

Robert Taylor puts in one of the best performances of his career, and is well supported by the rest of the cast and the excellent direction. Unfortunately, the story itself is just too weak to support anything but a mediocre film. A few unbelievable events can be forgiven in a well made film, but this one just keeps throwing them at us one after the other. The twists and turns lose their punch when we are given too much information too fast. The wife's character, necessary to understand the motivations which led to the event, is never properly developed. As a final insult, the weak gimmick of truth serum is used not just once, but twice - and at the most important places in the film. It's almost as if no effort was made to clean up the script because no-one ever expected the film to be as well made as it was. That's too bad, because with a little help it could've been a classic rather than just another typical film-noir offering of the time.