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D.O.A.

D.O.A. (DOA)

1949

Rudolph Maté

Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler, Beverly Garland ...

6.8

2,157

Film noir. Mystery Small-town accountant Frank Bigelow goes to San Francisco for a week's fun prior to settling down with fiancée Paula. After a night on the town, he wakes up with more than just a hangover; doctors tell him he's been given a "luminous toxin" with no antidote and has, at most, a week to live! Not knowing who did it or why, Bigelow embarks on a frantic odyssey to find his own murderer.

	Media	Author	Review
		Walter Goodman The New York Times	"Let yourself be carried along by the swift-paced direction of Rudolph Mate, the menace music of Dimitri Tiomkin..."
		Variety	"[Its] off-beat idea and a strong performance by Edmond O’Brien do a lot to hold it together. But script is difficult to follow and doesn’t get into its real meat until about 35 minutes of footage have passed."
		Chris Petit Time Out	"[Maté] holds it all together with no trouble, and without the slightest appeal to art gives the images the intensity of a dying man's last story"
		David Parkinson Radio Times	"This may not be the best film noir of the immediate postwar period, but it's one of the most unusual (...) It stands up well to the 1988 Dennis Quaid remake (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"
		David Nusair Reel Film	"Though it ultimately fizzles out to a rather distressing degree, 'D.O.A.' boasts an effective first half that's heightened by O'Brien's appropriately frantic performance and [Maté's] sleek, stylish visuals (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"
		Nick Schager Slant	"'D.O.A.' kicks off with noir’s most enticing intro (...) [It] rapidly decomposes into a campy, confusing bore."

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