Jack Hively’s Street of Chance (1942) is one of the early noir mysteries with loss of memory and question of personal identity making the protagonist’s core of troubles. But of course, there’s a crime and two women in the guy’s life. What else would you need for a noir?
Written by Garrett Fort and Cornell Woolrich, Street of Chance stars Burgess Meredith as Frank Thompson waking up on a street after an accident to realize he has lost his memory of the entire previous year of his life. While returning to his wife Virginia (Louise Platt), he also finds himself under surveillance of police and a young woman Ruth (Claire Trevor) appearing to be his beloved. Things get darker as he investigates who he is and how he came to be accused of a murder.
By its plot, Street of Chance is more classic mystery while employing key noir elements. The man on the run, struggling to verify his real identity while he is drawn into the crime by a femme fatale are all traditional noir ingredients. There is more reliance on chance though in crafting the protagonist’s role who biggest flaw seems to be his accidental loss of memory. Some important details about his past are left to the viewer’s imagination.
Claire Trevor makes a fine femme fatale against Meredith’s naturally questioning look that he carries throughout the movie. Grandma Diedrich’s character (played by Adeline De Walt Reynolds) of an aged invalid has some unintended comical quality as she is reduced to signaling yes or no via blinking her eyes. The movie’s final act is less than climactic despite Meredith and Trevor performing well in their respective roles.
For an early ‘40s noir, Street of Chance isn’t a lame production. The genre climbed the ladder of quality fast and furiously over the next few years and one can imagine seeing a somewhat different movie with the same plot and characters in later years.
