711 Ocean Drive (1950)

Directed by Joseph M Newman; produced by Frank N Seltzer

Once a telephone repairman, Mal Granger (Edmond O’Brien) was hired by Vince Walters (Barry Kelly), a bookmaking-gangster hoping to expand his business by a more rational use of communications. Granger not only sorted out the confusion in Walters’s operation but eventually became the latter’s partner, at last taking over the business. But now, Granger’s expansive activities - and his growing profits - have attracted the attention of others - policemen and gangsters - neither of whom have his best interests at heart.

Edmond O’Brien acted - indeed, starred - in so many film noir movies (including two of the best, White Heat and D.O.A.) that it’s hard to believe his first cinematic role was that of a fifteenth century French poet, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). He seemed to spend half his time in movies on one side of the law, and half on the other, while creating characters that were never entirely good or bad. Here, he makes a plausible character who is always looking for a quick way to become rich, and so is easily seduced by the rapid wealth to be made in criminality.

At the beginning of the movie, Granger is shown to be impatient but likeable, generous and sympathetic to those who need more than he does. The interesting thing is that these qualities never quite leave Granger, though they are more and more isolated by the hardness that envelopes him as a result of his activities. This successful depiction is partly due to the writing and partly to the acting.

Other performers do as well. Joanne Dru plays a gangster’s wife who clearly is unhappy in her marriage. Her character is a sad one in that she admits knowing what her husband was before she married him, came to regret it, but eyes Granger as a more caring prospect, despite knowing what he too is like. There are few other characters who are really fleshed out, except perhaps Sammy White’s Chippie. He too is a tragic figure, bound to his nefarious life more by loyalty than by money. Otto Kruger manages almost to make his mob boss look classy, rather than oily; almost, but not quite.

But 711 Ocean Drive is a tragedy in the classic sense: the story of a man whose inevitable downfall comes from his own faults and flaws. The plot does a good job of moving the events along, of digging Granger’s hole deeper and deeper.

The script draws out the conclusion rather too long, I think; it wanted to take advantage of its setting at Boulder Dam, and perhaps used that too much. Nonetheless, it provides a very credible look at a criminal operation and how technology affects it; the writer obviously knew his subject.

Though offering little new, 711 Ocean Drive (an address which is never mentioned in the film but probably refers to O’Brien’s beach-front house) gives good entertainment, based on the lead’s performance, and the timeless tragedy of greed and hubris.