Framed

""I didn't ask you to come into my life!""

1947 1h 22m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 47

CrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Truck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame Lambert.

“"I didn't ask you to come into my life!"”

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Where to watch · US

Criterion ChannelSubscription

Cast

Glenn Ford
Mike Lambert
Janis Carter
Paula Craig
Barry Sullivan
Steve Price
Edgar Buchanan
Jeff Cunningham
Karen Morley
Beth
Jim Bannon
Jack Woodworth
Art Smith
Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Lillian Wells
Girl in Coffee Shop (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Richard Wallace
Writers: John Patrick, Ben Maddow
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

82 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

79 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Richard Wallace, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Marlin Skiles. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Richard Fantl shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Glenn Ford and Janis Carter and Barry Sullivan carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: ""I didn't ask you to come into my life!"".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0039396 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Richard Wallace directs. Burnett Guffey behind the camera. Marlin Skiles scores. Richard Fantl cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

182 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
279 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Richard Wallace, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Marlin Skiles. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Richard Fantl shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Glenn Ford and Janis Carter and Barry Sullivan carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: ""I didn't ask you to come into my life!"".
8IMDB entry: tt0039396 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 47 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Original score: Marlin Skiles
Editing: Richard Fantl
Costume design: Jean Louis
Runtime: 82 min · 1h 22m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Framed (1947)

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Richard Wallace

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2017-02-04
★ 8/10
I'm right back where I started. Nowhere!! Framed (AKA: Paula) is directed by Richard Wallace and adapted to screenplay by Ben Maddow from a story written by Jack Patrick. It stars Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan and Edgar Buchanan. Music is by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by Burnett Guffey. Mike Lambert (Ford), down on his luck and fed up of getting nowhere in life, meets sultry waitress Paula Craig (Carter) and things will either get better or worse? There's a road sign in this that grabs the attention, it reads DANGEROUS CURVES! Now that initially is in reference to a perilous road - with roads featuring prominently as dangerous parts of the play - but it quite easily could be, and in all probability is, a sneaky reference to Janis Carter's femme fatale. Paula Craig in Carter's hands dominates the film, not that Ford or Sullivan are pointless fodder, but it is both the actress and her character's show. After a burst of pacey excitement opens the pic, action moves on to a cafe, from where we are introduced to Guffey's talents, from this point on almost everything is atmospherically shot. Slats and shads, lamps and cell bars, all get the Guffey lens treatment that's sitting superbly with the unfolding psychological dynamics. Very early on we are delivered two characters who basically are a cheater and a viper, while the main man of our story is a guy who's struggling with his identity in life. He also likes a drink, but with that comes memory loss, which is never a good thing when you are holed up in a noirville town. Stripping it back for examination you find the story is very simple, which is surprising and a little disappointing given the screenplay writer also did The Asphalt Jungle. Yet the characters and the actors performances, helped by some classy tech work, more than compensates - that is until the finale, which for some (me for sure) is a bad choice for character tone. But it's not a film killer, for we get everything from orgasmic glee shown in the process of a callous crime being committed, to characters either in need of a soul or facing their days of judgement. 7/10
CinemaSerf2022-07-07
★ 6/10
Glenn Ford is the penniless mining engineer "Mike" with a penchant for the whisky, who arrives in a small town and is soon ensnared in the intriguing web of "Paula" (Janis Carter) who wants to use him to help her and bank manager boyfriend "Price' (Steve Sullivan) to hoodwink the genial old prospector "Cunningham" (Edgar Buchanan) who might just have discovered a large vein of silver. Things don't quite go to plan for our femme-fatale as she really starts to fall for "Mike", and when her boyfriend is found coshed to death, and the old man is charged (we know all along who did what to whom) - some tough choices have to be made by both of them. It's an OK film, this - but it all just takes too long to get going; the story moves along in slightly repetitive fits and starts before an ending I found rather underwhelming. There isn't much chemistry between Ford or Carter - whose character starts out strongly but reverts to a rather flimsy type by the end - and but for a few typically lively efforts from Buchanan, this film is pretty unmemorable.