Desert Fury / Dead Reckoning

DESERT FURY, 1947, Universal, 96 min. Dir. Lewis Allen. Lizabeth Scott is one of the over-the-top treats in this very strange crime drama. Mary Astor seems a bit too enamored of her own daughter (Liz), Wendell Corey is murderously miffed at being tossed aside by partner-in-crime John Hodiak, and beefcake lawman Burt Lancaster seems oblivious to the mix-and-match sexuality surging around him.

DEAD RECKONING, 1947, Sony Repertory, 100 min. Dir. John Cromwell. Colonel Humphrey Bogart knows something’s fishy when his best friend, Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince), jumps off his train rather than continue on his way to receive a much-publicized Medal of Honor. Bogart follows his trail to southern Gulf City, only to find his pal burnt to a crisp on a morgue slab. Things can only go downhill from there. Before long, other bodies pile up, and Bogart does some fancy footwork to keep out of a murder frame.