Quicksand

The frivolity of penny arcades and carnival rides provides an ironic backdrop for auto mechanic Dan’s (Mickey Rooney) desperate journey in Irving Pichel’s Quicksand. It all begins with 20 dollars. When Dan borrows from the shop cash register to fund a date with his demanding, high-maintenance love interest Vera (Jeanne Cagney, sister of actor James), he doesn’t anticipate a visit from the outside bookkeeper before he’s able to pay it back. Thus begins Dan’s illicit cash management escapade, where he “robs Peter to pay Paul” with ever heightening stakes — from grand larceny to armed robbery to murder — while Vera stomps him back down into the quicksand at every stage. Not only does Dan display increasingly poor judgment, but his countenance becomes angrier and meaner, consistently resisting the advances of sweet, pretty Helen (Barbara Bates) who is genuinely (and inexplicably) in love with him. The brilliant Peter Lorre adds a slime factor as creepy arcade owner Nick, Gruenberg’s score adds tension (most strikingly during the final visit to boss Mackey), and Lindon’s camera work paints the thievery in expressionistic shadows, most elegantly during the arcade robbery sequence (note the moonlit skylights and Roman arch windows).