Borderline (1950)
Director - William Seiter
The Plot
Two law enforcement agents (Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor) work to infiltrate a drug smuggling ring South of the Border Down Mexico Way. What's the twist? Neither one knows the other is on the right side of the law.
Film Notes
Borderline Darkness
There's a dark tale at the heart of Borderline, though the film as originally released did its best to conceal the darkness by grafting some light comedy scenes unto an otherwise grim tale of double identity and betrayal. The combination of director William Seiter and screenwriter Devery Freeman, both far more adept at comedy, is most likely to blame for the inconsistent tone, but Universal horror film composer Hans Salter composed a score that also frequently undercuts the screen action.
And yet there is an interesting movie to be viewed in this oddity from the Public Domain trash heap.
Fred and Claire
Fred MacMurray played many a nice guy before his final Disneyfication in the The Shaggy Dog, The Absent Minded Professor, and Follow Me Boys. His best performances, however, were in his dark roles in two Billy Wilder films - Double Indemnity and The Apartment.
New York City born Claire Trevor played her share of women living in the shadows. Guns molls, prostitutes, and alcoholics were her specialties. On the other side of forty in Borderline, she's a bit over age to be the female bait for a drug smuggler with a weakness for girls. Still, Ms Trevor's Oscar® winning skills (Key Largo) manage to break through in selected scenes in a script that does nothing to help her cause.
Everybody Hates Raymond
Before his break the mold leading man hero days in Perry Mason, Ironsides, and Godzilla, Raymond Burr made a nice living as a bad guy's bad guy, not only in Borderline, but Rear Window, A Place in the Sun and A Cry in the Night.
Burr's show business roots ran back far, if not deeply; his mother was a movie theater organist. Before some success on the New York stage, Burr also had a brief career as a nightclub singer in Paris.
Borderlining on Trivia
- Director William Seiter did his part in making Sons of the Desert,
probably the best Laurel and Hardy feature length film.
- Hans Salter can be counted among the many German film refugees that ended up as Hollywood workhorses. The Viennese composed over 150 film scores, including Son of Frankenstein, which Universal Studios used again and again as stock music for its endless series of horror films.
-- Ed Schneider
Cast & Production Credits
| Fred MacMurray | Johnny Macklin |
| Claire Trevor | Madeleine Haley |
| Raymond Burr | Pete Richie |
| Roy Roberts | Harvey Gumbin |
| José Torvay | Miguel |
| Morris Ankrum | Whittaker |
| Charles Lane | Peterson |
| Nacho Galindo | Porfirio |
| Richard Irving | Al |
| Pepe Hern | Pablo |
| Donald Diamond | Deusik |
Produced by Universal Studios |
|
| William Seiter | Director / Producer |
| Milton H. Bren | Producer |
| Devery Freeman | Screenwriter |
| Lucien Andriot | Cinematographer |
| Hans Salter | Composer (Music Score) |
| Harry Keller | Editor |
| Alfred Ybarra | Production Designer |
| John McCarthy | Set Designer |
| George Milo | Set Designer |
| Cecil Holland | Makeup |
| Howard Lydecker | Special Effects |
| Theodore Lydecker | Special Effects |
