TCM is having a film noir festival every Friday through the end of July: the Summer of Darkness. I’ve already seen 80% of the movies but host, curator, and noir expert Eddie Muller has slipped a few dark horses in the mix and one of them is week’s PFT selection: Hollow Triumph. It was Paul Henreid’s first outing as a producer and it’s a good one. Henreid stars as a criminal who is too smart for his own good and features a twist that is downright brilliant. I suspect that O Henry would have thought it was pretty darn swell.

Hollow Triumph was shown on a night featuring the work of crack cinematographer John Alton who was one of the artists who created film noir’s visual grammar. In short, it looks all shadowy and shit.  Let’s start in with one of the posters:

More PFT after the break.

Here’s another variation on the poster:

The film was renamed The Scar in the U.K. That title is a bit too literal for my taste but there’s another alternate that gives away too much, which is why I’m not touching it with a 10 foot scar. This poster is a subtle variation on the first image:

Here’s the triumphant but not hollow trailer:

Finally, here’s the whole consarn movie on the YouTube. I give it 3 1/2 stars, an Adrastos grade of B+ and a lusty Ebertian thumbs up: