Back before the emergence of independent cinema in the late 60’s, smaller productions stood out from their peers because of their more limited means.  These movies would often be in stark contrast to the major studio fare, and some of them would use that to their advantage.  One solid example of this is 1958’s Murder by Contract.

Such productions can be more adventurous than those from the big leagues, with this one having a score that is sparse electric guitar.  It isn’t as abstract as what Howard Shore did for Cronenberg’s Crash, but it brought that to my mind.  The score conveys what is one seriously subdued vibe, though I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is dour.

It provides an odd counterpoint to scenes which are quite violent for the time, even if that violence is off-screen.  Consider the first assassination performed by Vince Edwards.  It is in a barbershop.  The scene opens with a barber pole in the window rotating slowly, bringing into the frame the words “you”, “are” and “next”.  The next cut shows the three employees bound and gagged in the bathroom.  Next is a guy sitting down in the chair as Edwards, disguised as the barber, thumbs the straight razor.  We don’t see what happens next, nor do we need to. 

Edwards is a cypher, a man of great restraint who had come to Michael Granger with the desire to be a “contractor”.  The reason given for the unspecified work in question is “I want to improve my house.  I was to buy a house somewhere on the Ohio River”.  Soon, Edwards is doing such jobs as that hit in the barbershop, or disguising himself as a doctor in order to get into a man’s room and turn off his oxygen supply.  Eventually, Edwards will be ordered by whomever is Granger’s boss to take out Granger.

Then it is off to L.A. for an assignment to kill the chief witness in a federal murder trial.  He is no rush to even learn who the target is, instead tasking handlers Phillip Pine and Herschel Bernardi to chauffer him for such tourist activities as swimming in the ocean, hitting a bucket of two of balls at the driving range and visiting the zoo.

This is driving the uptight Pine to the edge of a breakdown while the soft-spoked Bernardi is intrigued by this odd character in their midst.  Both men are surprised their hired gun has never done time, and was never even in reform school.  Bernardi seems to have an odd hero worship that nearly scans as a crush, telling his partner he things of Edwards as Superman.  I like Pine’s response: “You and me.  We don’t pretend to be supermen.  I don’t even pretend to be Mighty Mouse.”  And not even Bernardi is safe from the object of his fascination if his part in the operation doesn’t go right, with Edwards saying he won’t hesitate to put a bullet in the man’s brain and how he’d hate to have to do that, given he likes the man.  With friends like these…

Edwards freaks when he learns the target is female, something he maybe should have bothered to learn about more than two days before she is due to testify.  It isn’t that he has any delusions of chivalry.  As he puts it, “I don’t like women.  They don’t stand still.  They’re not dependable.  It’s not easy when they’re not dependable.”  That lack of predictability is what he blames when his first attempt fails, when an attempt to send a high power surge through her television set is foiled by the use of a wireless remote, something I didn’t even know existed back then.  This will prompt him to violate one of his own codes, making him use a gun for the first time.

His target is Caprice Toriel, an actor who has not one other IMDB credit to her name.  I find it astonishing to see anybody on that site who doesn’t have at least a television credit.  Since her performance is acceptable, I wonder why her entire filmography is this movie.  She effectively plays somebody wound up very tightly, unplugging the vacuum cleaner when the cop protecting her is cleaning up.  I don’t think I have before seen a woman stopping a man when he was actually doing housekeeping.

Edwards, in his movie debut, is well-cast even if I found his performance less than fully credible.  He definitely has the physicality, spending his time exercising before his first contract hit.  Watching him doing chin-ups in his room brought to mind DeNiro in Taxi Driver and the remake of Cape Fear.  It is no surprise this picture was an influence on Scorsese. 

But my favorite performances were Pine and Bernardi.  This is yet another film where I would rather watch a story focused on two minor characters instead of the leads.

Aside from dialogue, the cheapest effect which can be effectively applied in a noir is photography.  Little of what is used in Murder by Contract is exceptional, except for a couple of moments.  An early two-shot of Edwards and Granger makes the bold choice to light their bodies but cast their profiled faces in a sharp diagonal shadow.  It also interesting to see L.A. capture on film, especially in a shot of a giant golf ball at the driving range, a jet emerging from behind it.  Heck, I’ll even take footage of the streets at night, such as whichever one is where Granger slides a rifle into a storm drain.  I like to think he knocked a surprised Pennywise unconscious with that.  Another curious detail is a cup full of small Nazi flags on the counter of a gun shop, which made my skin crawl.  Just think, that was probably already there in real-life.

Dir: Irving Lerner

Starring Vince Edwards, Phillip Pine, Herschel Bernardi, Caprice Toreil

Watched as part of the Powerhouse/Indicator UK (region B) blu-ray box set Columbia Noir #2