Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Alex da Silva Lawyer Edmond O'Brien (Regan) bursts into the office of business magnate Vincent Price (Colby) to serve him with a notice to pay his client for damages incurred in a road incident. Price is impressed by the determination and loyalty that O'Brien shows and hires him as a bodyguard. In his new role, O'Brien shoots and kills someone but begins to suspect that he has been manipulated into this killing. The story unfolds and Price ain't no good guy.The cast are all good in this offering and we watch as it dawns on O'Brien that things aren't what they seem. Credit to Police Lieutenant William Bendix (Damico) – he's on the right track and yet sort of wrong. The plot works out fine and it is easy to follow. We have two strong character actors in Price and Bendix. They own their characters just by speaking. That's their key identifier in any role that they play. The film is no great shakes but it's on the better side of OK.

Robbmonster Saw this film for the first time last night. Nice little noir, and I genuinely liked the character played by Vincent Price. I mean I actually liked the guy, and I'm usually someone who goes for the good guys.Good performances all around, actually. Ella Raines was effective as the femme anti-fatale, William Bendix was great in a performance that reminded me of the work James Gandolfini would be doing 50-60 years later, and Edmond O'Brien was always a solid noir lead, without ever truly setting the world on fire.Two things bothered me. One was the ending, with the gambit about the dead body. It just didn't quite work for me.The other was the trick of using the friend to impersonate the late Victor Bruno and then simply assuming Colby wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't him. I understand it was different times, but it did seem to have a racist and xenophobic quality to it, relying as it did on the basic conceit that all 'foreigners' sound the same. The idea of getting anyone with any accent to impersonate a 'foreigner' - who you never heard speak and haven't the faintest idea what his voice sounded like - , and then just assuming the baddie won't be able to tell the difference, well, stupid writing, stupid characters, maybe hoping for a stupid audience, or maybe all three.But in all, a cool little movie, certainly a bit far-fetched, but nice atmosphere, brisk pace, and wonderful performances.

howardmorley My wife and I visited our vintage DVD store at Camden Lock, north London the other day, for my Easter 2014 treat which was to buy some more dvds for my collection of mainly 1940s & 50s film dramas.I am thinking now of promoting the lovely Ella Raines to one of my favourite screen goddesses after seeing "The Web"(1947).By the way, I especially collect Margaret Lockwood, Vivien Leigh, Jean Simmons,Gene Tierney,Jennifer Jones, Ava Gardner & Hedy Lamarr films.So far I have "Impact" (1949), "La Dama Desconocida","Tall in the Saddle","The Suspect" all from (1944) and now I have "The Web" (1947).Ella always brilliantly and naturally plays the true American heroine in her movies and she has the most engaging smile which melts my heart whenever I see her act on screen.I will definitely look out for more vintage movies of Ella.As to the film I award it 7/10 as it is well written with a fine cast which includes arch horror actor Vincent Price as a youngish actor.I do not see Edmund O'Brian as a particularly romantic lead however.There are a few "red herrings" in the script but the viewer soon ascertains who is the true villain.I believe the complete film is now available on www.youtube.com

ackstasis Michael Gordon's 'The Web (1947)' is an obscure crime thriller, but you wouldn't have guessed it from the cast list. Edmond O'Brien can always play an unconventional noir hero – not the sort who is continually in control, but one with a accidental tendency to get into more trouble than he can handle. Vincent Price originally made his name with a string of devious supporting roles in 1940s dramas, including 'Laura (1944)' and 'Dragonwyck (1946).' William Bendix is, of course, a staple of the film noir movement, and here he proves that his range extends beyond playing sadistic brutes and weak-willed buffoons. Femme fatale Ella Raines is less well-known than her co-stars, but, based on this film and her comedic turn in 'The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947),' she had quite a bit of talent. It's not just the cast that is excellent, though. The screenplay by William Bowers and Bertram Millhauser (the latter of whom penned a number of Basil Rathbone's "Sherlock Holmes" mysteries) has plenty of unexpected surprises around the corner.Bob Regan (O'Brien) is a two-bit lawyer with the bluster of a high-price attorney. In his first scene, Regan sidles through a busy reception office, offends a secretary (Raines) with some surprisingly-forward sexual banter, before busting in on millionaire businessman Andrew Colby (Price) and demanding the sum of exactly $68.72. Impressed with Regan's passion for the job, Colby hires him for a high-paying, two-week stint as a personal bodyguard. However, when Regan guns down Leopold Kroner (Fritz Leiber), a former associate of Colby's who was recently released from prison, he finds himself in hot water with detective Damico (Bendix), who scents murder. Desperate to clear his name, Regan begins to investigate Colby's shady dealings, reluctantly exploiting the affections of secretary Noel Faraday for information. Meanwhile, Vincent Price's articulate, calculating Colby plots the coup de grâce of his high-stakes crime spree, culminating in a murder frame-up that initially seems so airtight that I couldn't imagine any way for our hero to get out of it.Though it doesn't necessarily offer any new material for the film noir lexicon, nor does 'The Web' feel contrived. The romance between O'Brien and Raines could easily have been squandered with melodrama, but the film always keeps their relationship edgy. Noel's affections, for one, are clearly split between Regan and Colby, whose association with her visibly extends beyond the professional realm ("I recognise him when I see him"). Regan himself, while essentially good-hearted, has a clumsy crudeness about him where women are concerned, in contrast with Colby, who always knows what to say and how to say it. There's something subtly fascinating about Price's 1940s performances; it has to do with how he speaks. When his character is telling an untruth, he does so in a manner that, to us, reeks of deception, and yet we can perfectly understand why the film's characters – say, a policeman – swallow the lie whole. He toes a fine line, and yet manages to suspend the audience's disbelief. Maybe that's why Price got away with starring in so many awful movies.