The Crooked Web

“Now that’s the way it ought to be with brother and sister.” The main reason to watch Nathan Juran’s The Crooked Web is because the first act features one of the most masterfully revealed plot twists in all of noir. The rest of the plot is elliptical and unbelievable, but its twists and ricochets can be entertaining as long as viewer disbelief is thoroughly suspended. Stan Fabian (Frank Lovejoy) runs a diner and employs his new girlfriend Joanie Daniel (Mari Blanchard) as a waitress whose slick brother Frank (Richard Denning) arrives from out of state, meets Stan, and invites him in on a hunt for the gold an old business partner stashed in Germany. The rest unfolds through fast-paced action, a studious exposition scene with law enforcement, and wild jabs at realism. The Crooked Web is fantastical, if not fantastic.