The Pitfall

Noir Alley host Eddie Muller’s introduction and comments following Pitfall, 1948.

Guest host Madeleine Stowe introduces Pitfall, 1948.

Played just about as it would be in a comedy, Dick Powell as insurance man John and Jane Wyatt as wife Sue are introduced by director Andre De Toth, in the highly-regarded Noir Pitfall, 1948, which writer Jay Dratler originally titled Husbands Die First.

The first encounter between bored, married insurance man John (Dick Powell) and world-weary model Mona (Lizabeth Scott), who's come to her apartment to collect gifts her now-convicted boyfriend purchased with embezzled funds, early in director Andre De Toth's Pitfall, 1948.

Ending their day-long first encounter, including boating, married insurance man John (Dick Powell) leaves model Mona (Lizabeth Scott), from whom he was collecting ill-gotten gains, sneaks home late, then handles creepy P-I Mac (Raymond Burr), in Pitfall, 1948, directed by Andre De Toth.