The Man Who Cheated Himself, 1950, dir. Felix E. Feist. Streaming on Kanopy at Tom’s House, Tuesday, November 8.

Wow, Felix E. Feist, what a name behind the picture! Anything’s better than Todd Field, right? Watched this goofy little noir after Tár, which was an improvement. The Man Who Cheated Himself isn’t anyone’s idea of a good movie, just a little noir with great location shooting in San Francisco. One guy who is a homicide detective protects his wealthy girlfriend when she murders her soon-to-be-ex-husband, and then the cop’s brother, who is also a homicide dick, investigates. Bad guy cop is Lee J. Cobb, and he’s a ladykiller. Good brother cop is John Dall, and he’s newly married. Cobb is all wrong as the ladykiller, Dall’s aw-shucks attitude gets old quickly, there’s some great lighting and the conclusion at the abandoned ruins of Fort Point, beneath the towering steel beams of Golden Gate Bridge loom is just fabulous. Fort Point is the building in Vertigo where Madeline dropped into the bay and Jimmy Stewart fished her out. Restored by the Film Noir Foundation, and I’m assuming it’s because of moments like the Fort Point scene. Still, I’d watch this B-picture a hundred times before I’d see a dozen Oscar nominated films.