Johnny Apollo

The first in director Henry Hathaway’s streak of noir classics from 1940 to 1953 (Niagara), Johnny Apollo is a quaint, entertaining, and tough-enough film with all the tidiness of early noir. Apollo of the title is the fake identity of Bob Cain, Jr. (Tyrone Power), whose career prospects are suddenly grim in the wake of his father Pop’s (Edward Arnold) incarceration for embezzlement; Bob’s left with no money and compelled to withdraw from his elite college and adopt a new name, which he steals one night on a flashing neon sign. Paroled gangster Mickey Dwyer (Lloyd Nolan) lures Bob into criminal activity to earn the bribe money needed to get his father paroled, while nightclub performer and moll Lucky (Dorothy Lamour), who’s fallen head over heels for Johnny, helps him navigate the underworld. While there’s nothing particularly dazzling visually, the story beautifully blends moods, from the endearing first meeting of Johnny and Lucky (complete with an auspicious robin on the window sill) to the ice pick murder in a steam room, and both the tension and the emotional stakes continue to mount until relieved by a traditional Hollywood ending.