Boomerang! (1947)

Directed by Elia Kazan; produced by Louis de Rochemont

In a small city in Connecticut, a much-respected parish priest (Wyrley Birch) is inexplicably shot to death on Main Street. Despite numerous witnesses - and intense public pressure - it takes time for the police to find their man (Arthur Kennedy). But then the prosecutor (Dana Andrews) is left with a bigger problem: he thinks the suspect may be innocent.

Based on real events and real people, Boomerang! is not really a mystery - the solution to the murder is implied from the beginning - but is nevertheless an involving and well-crafted story. The theme might very well be that what is seen is often not what is. This theme begins with the killing, continues with the witnesses and then spreads out to encompass almost all the characters.

The crime, the investigation and the subsequent trial are only a part of the movie; just as interesting are the political machinations which push and pull the characters, and which reveal much about them. The city in which the story takes place is under a ‘reform’ administration, which cleared away much of the corruption of the old regime. Yet its members have their own agendas, some selfless, some not. Meanwhile, the former bosses are hoping to make a comeback over the ruin of the trial.

Andrews does very well as the upright prosecutor, who is not immune to the prospects of a reward, if he wins the case and convicts the murderer. While he is trying to remain dutiful, he is beset by doubts about his case: he has the evidence, he just doesn’t feel right about it. Interestingly, Lee J Cobb’s police chief thinks ‘something doesn’t feel right’ about the case against the suspect, yet he does the opposite of Andrews and submerges his instinct in the facts.

Ed Begley plays a character he has portrayed in various ways in different movies, someone whose surface image is painted on a brittle shell, and whose emotions are ready to demolish everything. Equally ambivalent is one (Sam Levene) of the many reporters on the story: he knows well how despicable his publisher is, yet does what is required of him - even while he may be able to get in a jab or two for truth, after all. And then there is the nervous intensity of Kennedy as the prisoner, worn out one moment, bouncing back with fury the next. These are all full-bodies characters, well-written. (Karl Malden has a tertiary role but is uncredited. Also uncredited is playwright Arthur Miller, as a suspect in police line-up; perhaps he came to the film through his connection with Cobb, soon to be in the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman.)

The script aside from its depictions of people is very good. It effectively conveys mob mentality and the frustration of those who have to deal with it. It doesn’t make the public out to be villainous; it becomes just another force that buffets the principal players this way and that.

The direction is up to the level of the script and the actors, though not as noticeable. It is to its credit, though, that, while the opening narration states that the movie is based on true events, what will eventually happen is in some doubt.

More of a suspense film than a crime movie, with more drama than mystery, Boomerang! is a well-handled, well-made story of the conflict and tension a crime can create in a community.