Cornered

Cornered is a film noir starring Dick Powell and directed by Edward Dmytryk. This is the second teaming of Powell and Dmytryk . Many scenes shot by cinematographer Harry J. Wild and Dmytryk stand out as classic film noir. The screenplay was written by John Paxton with uncredited help from Ben Hecht. After the end of World War II, a former P.O.W., Canadian RCAF flyer Laurence Gerard , returns to France to discover who ordered the killing of his bride of only 20 days, a member of the French Resistance. His father-in-law Etienne Rougon identifies Vichy collaborator Marcel Jarnac. He supposedly... died in 1943, but Rougon has strong doubts. Jarnac was so careful about maintaining his anonymity, there is not even a description of him on record. Gerard finds the partially burned front page of a dossier on Jarnac and an envelope addressed to Madame Jarnac in the rubble of the home of Jarnac's closest associate. The return address on the envelope indirectly allows Gerard to track the widow to Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he arrives, Gerard is met at the airport by Melchior Incza , a stranger who appears to know all too much about him.
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