Among the Living [Blu-ray]

Director: Stuart Heisler Stuart Heisler

Overview

In this off-beat programmer, a twin goes insane after spending years in isolation. The trouble begins when he escapes and begins bedeviling his saner second half.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/16/2021
UPC:	0738329256616
Original Release:	1941
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Language:	English
Time:	1:09:00
Sales rank:	27,437

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Albert Dekker	John Raden / Paul Raden
Susan Hayward	Millie Pickens
Frances Farmer	Elaine Raden
Harry Carey	Dr. Ben Saunders
Gordon Jones	Bill Oakley
Jean Phillips	Peggy Nolan
Maude Eburne	Mrs. Pickens
Frank M. Thomas	Sheriff
Harlan Briggs	Judge
Archie Twitchell	Tom Reilly
Ernest Whitman	Pompey
Dorothy Sebastian	Woman in Cafe
William Stack	Minister
Lane Chandler	Neighbor,Motorcycle Cop
James Millican	Townsman
Len Hendry	Clerk
Ella Neal	1st Mill Girl
Catherine Craig	2nd Mill Girl
George Turner	Mill Worker
Harry Tenbrook	Mill Worker
Delmar Watson	Newsboy
Richard Webb	Hotel Clerk
Mimi Doyle	Telephone Operator
John Kellogg	Reporter
Blanche Payson	Woman at Trial
Ethan Laidlaw	Guard
Lee Shumway	Scissors Grinder
Clarence Muse	Waiter
Charles Hamilton	Guard
Frank Hagney	Neighbor

Technical Credits

Stuart Heisler	Director
Sol C. Siegel	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Among the Living was as neat a little B-thriller as Paramount ever made, thanks to the brisk direction by Stuart Heisler, a crackerjack script by Lester Cole, Garrett Fort, and Brian Marlow, and a brace of generally fine performances led by Albert Dekker, who successfully pulls off a dual-role performance. Dekker's years of stage work pays off here, as he does, indeed, create the dramatic illusion of two different people. In John Raden, he effectively portrays a decent, thoughtful, but perhaps slightly superficial man who is suddenly forced to come to grips with the unpleasant truths about his family that he has successfully avoided and evaded for most of his life. And in Paul Raden, he manages to create a portrayal that is frightening -- yet also sympathetic at times -- in a man driven by inner demons not entirely his responsibility. Add to that the work of Harry Carey Sr., in one of the more unusual and complex roles of his career, as a decent man whose one Faustian bargain suddenly threatens to destroy all of the good that he has done; Susan Hayward as a venal young woman, driven entirely by her lusts and desires; and even Jean Phillips in a small, memorable role as a tavern floozy, plus fine little supporting performances by Maude Eburne and Gordon Jones, and the result is a movie that's every bit as entertaining to watch as any of Val Lewton's atmospheric horror films at RKO, yet which also carries with it a topical, sociological component. It wasn't that many years before Among the Living was made that there was an actual lynching in San Diego, or that riots of the type shown here had broken out in various locales around the United States in the '20s and '30s. Additionally, Heisler and company successfully evoke the impression of a seedy factory town, still stricken by the Great Depression and suffering from all of the ills inherent in the "downside" of capitalism. Indeed, there's little that separates the depiction of small-town life in this movie from the vision of Pottersville in the last section of Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, made five years later, except that Among the Living doesn't have a George Bailey or any guardian angels to help set things right. It ends up a wonderfully rich, albeit tragedy-laden movie, crawling with psychological demons that probably resonate better in the 21st century than they did in 1941, mostly thanks to a great lead performance. The only disappointment for modern viewers will be how relatively little Frances Farmer has to do in the movie, as John Raden's wife.