Man-Trap Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Man-Trap Blu-ray Movie Review

Help! This film has fallen and can't get up!

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 14, 2012

The Korean War has often been called America’s “forgotten war”, but the Korean conflict has made at least tangential appearances in any number of American films, including such iconic outings as The Manchurian Candidate. Probably well down on the ladder from that John Frankenheimer masterpiece is another film that came out in the early sixties, Man-Trap, a thriller that dances around issues of post traumatic stress disorder long before that syndrome had ever really been adequately named or defined, while essaying the story of a returning Korean vet who finds his life back stateside in shambles. Matt Jameson (Jeffrey Hunter) is a Korean vet who was demobbed after having become wounded, but what might have been seen as a respite from battle gives rise to some psychological turmoil, as Matt is ensconced in an unhappy marriage to Nina (Stella Stevens), a woman who is drowning her own unhappiness in copious amounts of liquor. Matt has eyes for a comely secretary, Liz (Elaine Devry), at the construction and design firm where he works, but what might initially seem to be a kitchen sink drama takes a somewhat unexpected turn into heist caper territory infused with some moderate noir elements when a buddy of Matt’s shows up and suggests a rather incredible scheme. Vince Biskay (David Janssen) is a hardscrabble former Marine whose life was saved by Matt in Korea and is now there to return the favor, in a manner of speaking. Vince is a mover and shaker, albeit perhaps in a slightly shady way, and he has received information about a gun running scheme that is attempting to hustle millions of dollars into the United States to buy illegal guns for a corrupt dictatorship. Vince’s scheme is to intercept the money, which he insists will actually be a "good deed", helping to keep weapons out of the hands of international villains and reaping sizable rewards for Matt and Vince. As might be expected, things don’t exactly go according to plan.

Edmond O’Brien is probably best remembered for his many impressive supporting character role assignments, including that of the press agent in The Barefoot Contessa which won him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. O’Brien made some halting attempts to develop into more of a leading man, including in the Western Denver and Rio Grande . O’Brien’s long career also saw at least a few films that flirted with a quasi-noir ambience, including The Hitch-Hiker and one of the best remembered films in the idiom, the “first person” thriller D.O.A. But by the early sixties O’Brien had probably seen the writing on the wall, and while he would continue to perform regularly (scoring another Oscar nomination for Seven Days in May), he also branched out into producing and directing, and Man- Trap was the rather lackluster result. (O’Brien directed one other feature film, 1954’s Shield For Murder, another film which has a number of noir elements.)

Man-Trap begins with a brief prelude set in a Korea that looks awfully like a Los Angeles beach. Matt is trying to round up his troops and is told that Vince has not returned from a nearby ridge. When Matt goes to explore, he finds Vince wounded, surrounded by several dead soldiers. There are two Korean snipers hiding behind a little rise. In a kind of funny moment, Matt fakes them out by throwing his helmet across the plain, drawing their fire, and then instead of just shooting them, runs up and dispatches both of them with his bayonet. Matt is obviously a man of action. As he attempts to get Vince back to safety, though, Matt himself is shot in the head and Vince, seeing his buddy bleeding badly, promises that if he ever were to hit the jackpot, he’d share half of his loot with Matt.

Fast forward eight years and we find Matt in a major clinch with an attractive woman in a car. It soon becomes apparent that the woman is not in fact Matt’s wife, but is instead the secretary at his job. Liz manages to detach herself from Matt by asking about Nina—who is Matt’s wife. That seems to bring Matt to his marital senses, and he heads off home to find his housekeeper (the wonderful Virginia Gregg) in a tizzy and his wife completely snookered upstairs in the bedroom, shooting liquid from a “martini pistol” (as opposed to a “water pistol”). There’s some fairly racy content in this scene (and in quite a few scenes of this film, actually), where some nascent sadomasochistic elements are lurking just beneath the surface of a supposedly staid Ozzie and Harriet early sixties residence. Stevens as Nina fairly bristles with sexual energy, something she uses to great effect throughout the film. When she tries to contain Matt’s sexual rage by saying “you know I bruise easily,” the subtext isn’t especially subtle, but it’s riveting.

Vince of course soon shows up and enlists Matt in his mad scheme to steal the illicit weapons money, while he also is making goo-goo eyes at Nina, who isn’t very shy about returning the favor. This of course repeatedly pushes Matt to barely restrained violence, and in another kind of funny-scary scene, he almost chokes Nina to death, stopping just in time for Nina to croak out, “Go ahead! I’ve already told the neighbors you’re planning on killing me.” The scheme itself is kind of pedestrian, with Vince impersonating a collaborator and Matt pretending to be a chauffeur, with the plan that they can get the courier with the loot into a limo and get the hell out of dodge. Of course, things go horribly awry, partly due to a rather prescient little scene where a bunch of female groupies are mobbing around a teen pop star.

The rest of the film devolves into something that almost verges on the surreal at times. Matt and Vince continue to spar, Matt gets the crap beaten out of him (several times, in fact), and Nina’s drunken stupors lead to an unfortunate accident. The showdown scene between Stevens as a viciously inebriated Nina and Gregg as the literally Bible toting housekeeper must be seen to be believed. Matt is left in a semi-catatonic state by all of the goings-on, something not helped by his hearty partying suburban neighbors, who all show up out of the blue right after Matt has been accosted by the main thugs in the film. In a truly incredible moment, these neighbors (spearheaded by none other than Hogan himself, Bob Crane) play a game called (wait for it)—“Braille” (which in Crane's drunken line reading sounds awfully like "rape"), where their wives hide under blankets and the men have to identify them by groping them.

Hunter was never an incredibly magnetic film presence, despite several big star turns, and while he’s stalwart here, he doesn’t really create much sympathy for Matt, nor do romantic sparks really crackle between him and Devry. Janssen is a bit better as the shady buddy, but he provokes unintended laughs when he gallivants around in a little pencil mustache pretending to be Hispanic. The unabashed star of this film—for better or worse—is the hyperbolic Stevens, who is part sex kitten, part harridan as Nina. It’s a performance that is unforgettable, but perhaps not in a completely laudatory way. The film’s writing is so risible that part of Stevens’ alcoholic flailing may simply be her manic attempts to make it through a half baked film unscathed.

Man-Trap Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Man-Trap is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This Panavision feature has made it to high definition fairly intact, though there are several moments of damage scattered throughout the elements. Most of these are relatively minor, consisting of scratches and other dings, but there are also a couple of rough edit points where frames don't align properly and the image is slightly skewed for just an instant. The image is decently sharp and well detailed, and contrast is consistent. One of the best things about Man-Trap is the excellent use of San Francisco locations, and director O'Brien and his iconic cinematographer Loyal Griggs capture a lot of the City by the Bay's early sixties ambience quite well.

Man-Trap Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Man-Trap features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono that sports decent enough fidelity but which is hobbled by some of the most ubiquitous "snap, crackle and pop" in recent memory. These momentary clicks and pops start pretty much right off the bat and continue unabated intermittently throughout the rest of the film. If you can get past that distraction, dialogue and Leith Stevens' swingin' score both sound fine, if obviously narrow and shallow.

Man-Trap Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Olive Films release features no supplementary content.

Man-Trap Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Man-Trap never quite gels, seemingly unable to decide whether it wants to be a kitchen sink drama, a heist film, a noir or an exposé of early sixties swinging suburbia. The mix is decidedly uneven and as a result while there are some compelling elements scattered throughout the film, they're almost always undercut by ham fisted writing and some less than exciting acting. Stevens, though, is an eyeful, and if you're a fan of Stella, you will probably want to check out this film, no matter what its flaws.