Review of The Killer Is Loose (1956) by Blake P — 17 Aug 2011
This was just OK. Leon Poole (Corey) is a bank-robber that the police are trying to catch up with. When they finally do, Detective Sam Wagner (Cotten) accidentally shoots Poole's wife when really trying to kill him.
When Poole is finally convicted, he swears to get revenge by doing to same to Wagners wife Lila (Fleming). After two years, he escapes from jail, and now Lila and Sam are fearing for their lives. I primarily saw this because excellent reviewer "The Professor" liked it so much.
Most of the movies he gives five stars are definitely great, hence my trust. However, this was the first movie is saw not feeling to good about. Though this is very different than the typical B-movie, had it been a big budget, it would have still not been not too great.
Even if you get the fantastic team of Joseph Cotten, Wendell Corey, and Rhonda Fleming doing superb jobs in their performances, this is not as exciting as it could be. Sure the ending is pretty darn climatic, but the leading up to the happening is not suspenseful at all.
Even at a short running time of 73 minutes, it still seems to be a little bit dragged on, which was unfortunate considering how much potential it had. I will praise Wendell Corey's performance however-- usually he was just the normal guy, but here he is very diverse and proves that he could be as good as the better-known Joseph Cotten.
"The Killer is Loose" is good, but not excellent.
This review of The Killer Is Loose (1956) was written by Blake P on 17 August 2011.
The Killer Is Loose has generally received mixed reviews.
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