Robert Ryan was one of the most convincing actors of Hollywood’s golden age whenever you needed a psychopath or a staunch bigot.  The irony is, in real life, he was gentle, generous, and very liberal.  He was a strong supporter of civil rights and a vocal opponent to McCarthy’s Community witch-hunt, at the times when such stances were extremely dangerous to hold.

He is perfectly cast in 1952’s Beware, My Lovely as the villain, especially since he gets to tap into those seemingly irreconcilable sides of that personality divide.  Although we are never given the full story of his condition, or how he came to be this way, his character here can commit murder one minute, only to suddenly forget he has done so.  When he isn’t paranoid and mercurial, he is soft-spoken and meek.  You just never know when that switch is going to be flipped.

Ida Lupino is a war widow who has hired the transient Ryan to do some odd jobs around a house large enough for her to take in a boarder.  It isn’t long before she discovers just how sensitive he is, as well as his propensity for sudden violence.  A photo of her husband in uniform sends him on a rant about how inferior she must find him in comparison to her deceased spouse, as the military rejected Ryan for service.  Her making an innocuous phone call has him convinced she is deriding him to strangers. 

Just as thoroughly convincing as I found Ryan here, I failed to believe Lupino as this cowering, mousy captive of Ryan’s.  Perhaps that is because she has played so many strong characters in the majority of pictures I have seen her in.  Then there’s her life behind the camera, where she was one of the few women directing American films at the time.  But here, she is way too slow to pick up on something being wrong, and when she does, her first reaction is to ask him to confide in her, believing him talking about his problems will ease whatever burdens he’s carrying.

One character who only exacerbates the tension is Barbara Whiting in a small role.  I wasn’t sure if the actress was older and playing too young, or young but rather…um, an early and robust developer.  Either way, something feels off about this buxom young woman wearing a sailor’s outfit (no joke).  She serves little purpose here but to sow the seeds of discord, such as dumping potato chips all over the floor Ryan is polishing and then emasculating him by saying he is doing women’s work.

I am inherently bothered by home invasion films, and this one was no exception.  Still, I’m not sure this sub-genre really makes for good storytelling.  There’s only a few directions in which the story could possibly go, and the constraints from the production code of the time limit the number of potential outcomes even further.

There is little to recommend in this film.  One of the few touches I appreciated is an interesting effects shot where Lupino sees reflected in some Christmas ornaments Ryan descending the stairs behind her.  Did I forget to mention this is set during the holiday season?  It doesn’t matter, as that element impacts the story in no way whatsoever that couldn’t be covered through other, similar plot devices.

And so, in the end, Beware, My Lovely follows one of the few most likely pathways to its conclusion.  I wonder if Lupino learned anything from this experience where she hired a stranger.  Even before seeing this, I know I wouldn’t hire a hobo to do work around the house.  But Ryan goes one step further by rearranging the furniture in the living room to better balance out the room.  Great—here I thought he was only a psychopath, but it turns out he is also into feng shui.  Now that is scary.

Dir: Harry Horner

Starring Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan

Watched as part of the Kino Lorber blu-ray box set Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema XIX