Pre-Mason Raymond Burr 5/6

Note: September 21,1957 was the date of the first episode of the classic Perry Mason TV series. So this week we will paradoxically demonstrate Raymond Burr didn't just come out of nowhere. Burr was a demon for work, appearing in more than 50 feature films between 1946 and 1957. He was typecast as the villain because his stoutness gave him a commanding menacing presence. "[Raymond Burr] tried to make you see the psychosis below the surface, even when the parts weren't huge," says film historian James Ursini. "He was able to bring such complexity and different levels to those characters, and create sympathy for his characters even though they were doing reprehensible things."

Borderline
1950 / 1:28
Tagline: “Two Undercover Agents Unwittingly Stalk the Same Target”
[internet archive]

The martial Dragnet-type music hints that in the offing is heavy-handed cheerleading in the fight of US Customs agents against dope smugglers along the US-Mexico border in 1950. However, the movie is not awkward PR. It is in fact a chase and action crime story with elements of romcom and mistaken identity.

Some but not much cinematography is interesting, especially reflections in window glass and mirrors. Otherwise, visually the movie is unexciting. Some scenes take place outside in what purports to be northern Mexico, which is a nice change from gritty urban dramas.  Sometimes the soundtrack is hard to square with the action. Funny, whimsical music plays in what a movie-goer would think is a frightening situation like when Claire Trevor wakes up in captivity after being knocked out with a slug to the jaw.

The humor is off beat. Claire Trevor gets a job as a dancer in a floor show in a Mexican resort. The dance act is so clodhoppingly, high-pitched bad that you wonder if director William A. Seiter was going for camp. We get banter between Trevor and MacMurray. He: Don’t talk to any strangers. She: I don’t know any strangers. But, as amusing as it is, light banter seems out of place in a crime movie about dope smuggling. The jokey treatment of Mexicans and their cute ways has not aged well, though the Mexican pilot was funny in his imperturbability when the plane ran out of gas.

Raymond Burr plays Pete Ritchie, a narcotics smuggler operating from Mexico to the United States. He looks imposing in an ice-cream suit with black shirt and white tie. Remote, calm, and poised, his character is not given a chance to be more than cunning and ruthless. He does however get a movie-goer’s skin a-crawling when he embraces Trevor and promises in a voice so silky it’s terrifying, “You'll find me nicer when you get to know me better.”

Claire Trevor is the swizzle stick that stirs the drink. She is energetic, eye-catching, and as bright as a new penny. She is sensible and resourceful and is mercifully in almost every scene. A graduate of the George Raft School of Performing Arts, Fred McMurray plays his usual type, stolid and reliable if gruff and cross with no discernible personality.

To fulfill its mission to generate conversation on dates after the movie, the movie offers up this claim for lively philosophical talks: “All dames will stay in line if the payoff is big enough at the end.” Burr also urges would-be victims to clarify their values when he says, “I hope you haven’t got a good reason to live.”

As for the connection with the original Perry Mason TV series, Morris Ankrum plays Bill Whittaker, a Customs agent who runs Claire Trevor’s undercover agent. He played Da Judge no fewer than 22 times from 1957 to 1964.

Pre-Mason Raymond Burr
Please Murder Me (1956) [internet archive] [my review]
I Love Trouble (1948) [internet archive] [my review]
Sleep My Love (1948) [internet archive] [my review]
Ruthless (1948) [internet archive] [my review]
Pitfall (1948) [internet archive] [my review]
Walk a Crooked Mile (1948) [internet archive] [my review]
Raw Deal (1948) [internet archive] [my review]
Station West (1948) [my review]
Red Light (1949) [internet archive] [my review]
Abandoned (1949) [internet archive] [my review]
Borderline (1950) [internet archive] [my review]