The Web

The chemistry and dialogue between attorney Bob Regan (Edmond O’Brien) and secretary Noel (Ella Raines) drive much of the energy of Michael Gordon’s The Web, an enjoyable yarn with a compelling premise: a bodyguard gets tricked into murdering his client’s enemy. A small-time lawyer stuck on small-stakes cases, Regan accepts the lucrative bodyguard role for wealthy industrialist Andrew Colby (Vincent Price) whose secretary (Raines) plays hard to get with Regan’s efforts at charm (when asked what she does on Saturday nights, she responds, “play marbles with the girls next door”). After less than 24 hours on the job, Colby’s former partner, just out of prison, is discovered attacking Colby upstairs, so Regan springs into action and is forced to fatally shoot the intruder. When he learns that his old pal, police lieutenant Damico (William Bendix), suspects there’s more to the attack than meets the eye, Regan recruits Noel to help him unearth the truth before he’s arrested. The camera work and compositions are nothing dazzling, but Gordon keeps the pace hopping while incorporating occasionally unusual shots: when Regan arrives home to an unexpected visitor, note the extended camera pan from behind the intruder, only a shoulder and pistol visible to the viewer for nearly a full minute for maximum anticipation.