Dillinger (1945 film)

Dillinger (1945 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a useless prelude here in which a movie audience watches newsreel about John Dillinger the gangster before Dillinger’s father shuffles out on the stage to deliver his own information about the man.  It actually promises to be boring.

The prelude belongs to the 1945 Dillinger, which isn’t boring, starring a very limited Lawrence Tierney as the ever-active bank robber and murderer.  The screenplay by Philip Yordan is intermittently dopey—the movie, in point of fact, is near-trash—but not without heat and punch.  Max Nosseck (who?) directed with only modest ability, notwithstanding he gives us a nifty scene where Dillinger, after having a tooth pulled, wakes up from the anesthesia only to be nabbed by waiting police officers.

I’m glad I saw Dillinger, but I can’t value it much. . .  Speaking of very limited acting, Anne Jeffreys plays Dillinger’s love interest, and is one of the most beautiful blondes in American cinema.