Betrayed (1944) On DVD

Before he made Betrayed, Robert Mitchum was picking up occasional paychecks as a villain in Hopalong Cassidy flicks. Afterward, he was headed to stardom. In this chilling, iconic film noir, Mitchum plays a new bride's (Kim Hunter) former beau, who provides a strong shoulder to lean on when his ex suspects the mysterious man she married (Dean Jagger) may be a killer. Future horror innovator William Castle's inventive direction drenches the action in claustrophobic tension: the sequence with Hunter lit by flashing neon is a classic. And the scene where Mitchum loses his trademark cool in an eruption of emotion foreshadows his audience-jolting performances in The Night of the Hunter and Cape Fear.

BETRAYED is the reissue title for the classic melodrama WHEN STRANGERS MARRY. In her third film, Kim Hunter plays a waitress who comes to New York to meet her husband Dean Jagger. Kim's marriage was a whirlwind affair, and as a result she barely knows her husband. She soon discovers that Jagger may be involved in a murder -- and that he very well may be a homicidal maniac. Designated by film-historian Don Miller as the finest "B" picture ever made, BETRAYED is chock full of superb cinematic touches, courtesy of director William Castle. Best bits include the shot of Kim Hunter staring out her hotel window, her face illuminated by a flashing neon sign, and a "shock cut" straight out of Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS. Third-billed Robert Mitchum was elevated to star status on the reissue prints of WHEN STRANGERS MARRY, which unfortunately tended to give away the film's surprise ending; also in the cast in a tiny role is Mitchum's future OUT OF THE PAST co-star Rhonda Fleming. One of the most convincing performances is delivered by character actor Lou Lubin, who plays a shaking-in-his-boots murder witness. Filmed in ten days, BETRAYED was another box-office winner for the canny King Brothers producing team.