RKO Radio Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Crack-Up
Could I KILL ... and not remember?
Art curator George Steele experiences a train wreck...which never happened. Is he cracking up, or the victim of a plot?
- Original title
- Crack-Up
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Jul 7, 2022 · via TMDB
If only Irving Reis had cast his net a bit wider when casting his leading man, here - then we could have ended up with a quality, sophisticated crime drama. Sadly, he didn't and we are stuck with a really quite dreary performance from Pat O'Brien as "George", an art critic who finds himself caught up in a train crash (or was it!?) and a well planned, psychologically driven, plot involving art fraud after he had suggested that modern day X-ray techniques be used to verify the authenticity of old masters on loan to a museum - including a Gainsborough and a Dürer. Luckily for him, Claire Trevor "Terry" and Herbert Marshall ("Traybin") are on hand to get to the bottom of it. At times it's quite gripping, and the intricacies of the plot - and of the manipulation it suggests, are clever and quite original but it's far too long, and the sagging in the middle is almost hammock-like. Still, the use of sound is effective and the film is certainly worth catching up with with some tea and a bit of carrot cake.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Pat O'Brien
George Steele
Claire Trevor
Terry Cordell
Herbert Marshall
Traybin
Ray Collins
Dr. Lowell
Wallace Ford
Lt. Cochrane
Dean Harens
Reynolds
Damian O'Flynn
Museum Curator Stevenson
Erskine Sanford
Museum Director Barton
Mary Ware
Mary
Gertrude Astor
Nagging Wife on Train (Uncredited)
Al Bain
Arcade Patron (Uncredited)
Robert Bray
Man with Drunk (Uncredited)
Jack Cheatham
Museum Attendant (Uncredited)
Ellen Corby
Reynold's Maid (Uncredited)
Kernan Cripps
First RR Ticket Clerk (Uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum
Man on Train (Uncredited)
Edward Gargan
Cop in Arcade (Uncredited)
Jack Gargan
Second Railroad Ticket Agent (Uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton
Man in Ticket Line (Uncredited)
Harry Harvey
'Dad' Moran, Museum Custodian (Uncredited)
Al Hill
Card Player on Train (Uncredited)
John Ince
Man (Uncredited)
Colin Kenny
Lecture Guest (Uncredited)
Sam Lufkin
Detective (Uncredited)
Sam McDaniel
Porter (Uncredited)
Charles Meakin
Lecture Guest (Uncredited)
Frank Moran
Bartender (Uncredited)
Horace Murphy
Train Conductor (Uncredited)
Tommy Noonan
Bonbon Vendor (Uncredited)
Eddie Parks
Drunk in Arcade (Uncredited)
Shimen Ruskin
Dissenter at Art Lecture (Uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre
Diner in Restaurant (Uncredited)
Frank Shannon
Train Station Gateman (Uncredited)
Harry Shannon
Cop (Uncredited)
Cap Somers
Cop (Uncredited)
Dorothea Wolbert
Old Lady (Uncredited)
Albert S. D'Agostino
Art Direction
Renié
Costume Design
Irving Reis
Director
Leigh Harline
Original Music Composer
Nine Queens
Kiss Me Deadly
An Inspector Calls
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Cat People
The Last Seduction
Shadow on the Wall
The Sniper
The Great Hypnotist
Split Second
Slightly Scarlet
The Bribe
Suspense
Quicksand
Impact
Without Warning!
Cut Bank
Appointment with Danger
Auxiliary Man
The Girl with the Golden Chain
Vertigo
Double Indemnity
Spellbound
The Woman in the Window
Murder on the Orient Express
The Web
No Man of Her Own
Nightfall
The Unholy Three
T-Men
The Glass Key
They Made Me a Fugitive
Caught
Fallen Angel
Union Station
Whirlpool
Sleep, My Love
Lady in the Lake
Black Angel
The Dark Past
Sep 6, 1946
