- Directed by Andre DeToth and based on a novel by Jay Dratler, Pitfall relates the tale of John Forbes (Dick Powell), an insurance salesman who is just plain bored with his life. As Forbes sourly complains to everyone within range, he sees his son Tommy (Jimmy Hunt) off to school every day, kisses his wife Sue (Jane Wyatt) every morning, and always arrives home from work at the same time. The only variation in Forbes' life arrives courtesy of the traffic lights he sometimes encounters on his daily commute. It's a little rich to hear somebody complaining about stability a few years after the conclusion of World War II, but karma quickly steps in (with an assist from the film's screenwriters) to give Forbes some excitement he won't soon forget.
- It all starts when the thoroughly disreputable private detective MacDonald (Raymond Burr) reports to Forbes on a woman named Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott). Stevens was the fiancee of a small-time embezzler named Smiley (Byron Barr) back before Smiley went to jail. Now it's up to Forbes to reclaim those gifts to Mona that were purchased with Smiley's ill-gotten gains. Forbes initially approaches Mona with the usual level of dispassion, but it isn't long before he's buying her drinks and cavorting on speedboats with her. Naturally, Forbes fails to mention this exciting development to his wife. Things only get worse when the dangerously jealous MacDonald discovers Forbes' secret around the same time that Smiley is scheduled to get out of jail.
- Honestly, there isn't much to recommend Pitfall aside from Raymond Burr's memorable turn as a heavy that, as with his role in Rear Window, will make it difficult to view Perry Mason the same way again. Powell plays too much of a dope to be even remotely sympathetic and Lizabeth Scott delivers her usual lifeless imitation of Lauren Bacall. The film also features an overabundance of on-the-nose musical cues, the worst of which involves "The Sailor's Hornpipe," better-known to most as the music from the Popeye cartoon. The film seems to be arguing that sometimes boring is better, but watching it actually convinced me that the opposite can also be true.
- There's a story that DeToth got this past the Hays Code by screening it for censors who had mistresses.
