Mr. Burns: “We’re giving you an opportunity to get yourself killed.”
Christmas Eve – usually a day of family togetherness, holy happiness and plenty of joy. . . that is, unless you’ve been picked up by the coppers and they’re putting the mighty squeeze on you. Directed by Harold D. Schuster, the 1955 crime thriller film noir Fingerman (sometimes spelled Finger Man) finds a longtime mid level thug with good street cred given a less than envious gift for the holidays – the chance to put a sting on one of the most dangerous criminal bosses thriving on rackets in at least eleven different States.
Voice-over narrated by our stuck between a rock and a hard place protagonist, Casey Martin (Frank Lovejoy – In a Lonely Place; The Hitch-Hiker), he has recently been nabbed by the Treasury Agency (A.K.A. the T-Men), with their boss, Mr. Burns (Hugh Sanders), giving him his one and only choice – help them grab one Dutch Becker (Forrest Tucker) – a wealthy criminal mastermind who has his dirty paws in everything from illegal alcohol and gambling, to night clubs and prostitution.
With Casey’s sister Lucille (Evelynne Eaton) in dire straits after being used and abused (at the very least, addicted to narcotics) by what was her longtime employer (you guessed it – Dutch), you cannot say that this isn’t quite personal for the man as well. . . plus, the agency has told him that all of his charges will be dropped if he is able to be the ‘fingerman’.
Aided by his longtime friend (that is looking for something more), Peggie Castle (Gladys Baker) – who has previously made her living off of the crime lord, it does not help that Dutch is always standing next to his right-hand man, Lou Terpe (Timothy Carey – The Killing; Crime Wave) – a man who Casey can’t stand from a stint in prison and always seems to be on the very edge of snapping.
Forced to get on the inside of Dutch’s heavily safeguarded organization, will Casey be able to use his longtime criminal reputation to weasel his way into their midst? If so, can he create a believable enough ruse that will whet the appetite of the already wealthy mobster? One also has to wonder, is it even possible for a former femme fatale to work her way out of such a soul sucking predicament? And, going hand in hand with the previous query, can two people as flawed as Casey and Peggie still find love while living in the crooked world they’ve buried themselves in?
A gritty, low budget B movie, Fingerman is filled with black and white shadowy light, ample risk of crime and punishment, as well as the threat of death round every corner. . . meaning that there is plenty to like about this thrilling film noir. Etched with a moral ambiguity that leaves the audience wondering if our two protagonists deserve a second chance at life as they attempt to extricate themselves from the world they’ve long survived in, one thing is for sure – the odds are certainly against them. Mismatched at every turn by the ultra safe Dutch and his aid Terpe, like almost every movie he appears in, character actor Timothy Carey steals the show – with every twitch, hair pull, and menacing grimace wholly believable as a man who seems to have more than one screw loose. It’s not a shocker that this film had issues with the censors – as there are definite implications of some rather seedy stuff going on in the foreground and background (including a scene that shows many dead young women by way of photos – one thing’s for sure, they didn’t die of natural causes). So, finger this hidden gem of a film noir for your viewing, it’s a live wire.