The Bribe (1949)

Overrated and overhyped

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

This appears to be an attempt by MGM to reproduce the noir style that the smaller studios like RKO and Universal were perfecting around this time. They've added a high-powered, all-star cast, but it isn't especially the right kind of cast for this type of film. And the film itself is rather inauthentic and heavy handed.I can't really say why a lot of things in the film don't work. Even the song Ava Gardner performs (dubbed), "Situation Wanted," is a dog.Robert Taylor is good enough as Rigby, the hard boiled protagonist and narrator of the piece. But I don't especially sympathize or identify with him, which I think is a must, in this kind of film. You should feel like you want to live the situations along with the main character. His ride becomes your ride, in a good thriller, which this really isn't. In fact it's more of a potboiler. Though the ending is full of action and, literally, pyrotechnics.These kinds of films were often written and/or directed by people who had some kind of affinity for the material. Marguerite Roberts and Robert Z. Leonard, the scenarist and director of The Bribe, don't seem to have had that particular affinity.

what a shame, this could have been an iconic film noir but it is, if not spoiled, at least hurt by some bad casting and bad performances. Good enough plot and great characters. Ava Gardner at her luminous best and Charles Laughton in the best characterization of his career. Unfortunately Vincent Price needed to dial it back about 30% in the first half of the film; when he finally turned into the bad guy he was right on key. Perhaps he has only one 'happy' character to play and that was it. Richard Widmark in his less manic or Richard Conte would have been great. The biggest negative in this cast was Robert Taylor in his typical coarse way. His emoting is confined to the lower half of his face and his characterizations are always intensely shallow and unaffecting. Kirk Douglas or Bogart would have made this into a film of the level of Casablanca.

Robert Taylor is an FBI man looking into a racket south of the border of black marketeers stealing and selling war surplus material, in this case airplane motors. The story takes him to Central America where he meets up with a debonair sportsman, Vincent Price, a rather seedy character with sore and sweaty feet, Charles Laughton and a husband and wife John Hodiak and Ava Gardner stranded in the tropics.They're all suspects, but Taylor is quite ready to forget his job with Ava Gardner around. He wouldn't be the first guy to think with his hormones where she's concerned. That's what I'm talking about when I say more than one kind of bribe.The story is pretty slow moving though. Taylor seems to have the evidence he needs or where to get it. But the plot does drag on. The film seems to rely on the attractiveness of the leads to keep the audience interested.There are two good scenes, one where Taylor almost becomes a shark's lunch and the climax where the chief villain meets a pyrotechnical end.If you like the cast involved, The Bribe is probably time well spent.

"The Bribe" is a somewhat slow noir drama starring Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, John Hodiak, and Vincent Price. With a cast like that, nothing is all bad. Though the story drags in spots and the bad guys are somewhat obvious, it still makes for good viewing. Taylor is Rigby, a fed investigating war surplus violations involving the sale of airplane motors in a place called Carlotta in South America. The suspects have been narrowed down to two Americans, Tug Hintten (Hodiak) and his wife, Elizabeth, a singer (Gardner). Once in Carlotta, Rigby meets J.J. Bealer, portrayed by Charles Laughton, and Carwood (Vincent Price). They're worth watching, too, though Rigby becomes instantly distracted by Elizabeth. Their love story develops overnight, which might seem strange, but it's Ava at her most gorgeous and Taylor at his most ruggedly handsome. You can hardly blame either one of them. The questions for Rigby are: Where are the motors being hidden, who's the head guy, who's involved...and how involved is Elizabeth? The movie, with the exception of the finale, is fairly routine stuff. Laughton and Price have the best roles. Laughton is fabulous as a slovenly loser whose feet hurt, and Price is excellent. Everyone else is good, including Hodiak, his career in major nosedive as he appears in a supporting role, though a showy one as a drunk with a weak heart. The big action takes place at the finale, which is exciting and visually marvelous. We could have used a little more of that type of thing throughout the film.