Boomerang! (1947)

(On Cable TV, September 2022) While the 1947 version of Boomerang is a respectable crime drama shot in semi-documentary style (and not to be confused with the 1992 romantic comedy), I’d classify it more as an interesting film rather than a purely enjoyable one. Taking a real-life crime story and adapting it in a way that skirts cinema-vérité decades before the term was invented, it goes for a sombre, sober approach… without necessarily denying itself a Hollywood flourish or two. The story is set in a sleepy northeastern town, where the brutal murder of a priest whips up a fury for retribution: all that stands between an out-of-towner and the electric chair (or worse—summary lynching) is a plucky public defender (Dana Andrews) doing his job. The usual histrionics are brought down a notch here—Director Elia Kazan (later to attain fame and infamy in equal measures) treats his subject matter with respect, and the film is designed to err more on the side of social drama than courtroom histrionics… even if it can’t help itself at times. The result may not be as nakedly entertaining as what else Hollywood was doing at the time, but it feels competent and even exciting—although the unresolved nature of the crime that starts the plot inserts an odd sliver of realism in a film that otherwise celebrates the success of the judicial process. Boomerang is not a bad watch, although viewers should be forewarned (or hyped) that it’s not quite the same Hollywood formula that was in use at the time.