The Steel Trap lacks the usual trappings of film noir. There’s no fancy camera work and minimal shadows but if Eddie Muller says it’s noir, who am I to argue?

One of the things I like most about The Steel Trap is that it’s shot on location. That’s a real bank vault in the featured image. Director Andrew L. Stone did it to save money, but it gives the movie atmospheric authenticity, which could be the name of my next band in the unlikely event I decide to form one. Repeat after me: Atmospheric Authenticity. Not bad.

The movie reunites Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright who played uncle and niece in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow Of A Doubt. In The Steel Trap, they’re a married couple. We’ll skip the incest jokes. Almost as disorienting is Teresa Wright’s hair: She’s a blond in this movie. They should have told her to step away from the bleach bottle;  it doesn’t detract from her excellent performance:

The Steel Trap is a one-man inside job heist movie. Joseph Cotten is a staid Los Angeles banker with an active fantasy life. His fantasy is to rob the bank where he works and flee to Brazil. No, he’s not a Nazi, he went nuts for Brazil because they didn’t have an extradition treaty with the United States until 1961.

Cotten decides to make his dream a reality. Why not? He has access to the vault, after all:

Cotten may be an unhappy employee but he’s happily married to his movie niece and wants to take her along without telling her he pulled a heist. This leads to many complications including a stop in New Orleans where they’re supposed to catch a connecting flight to Rio.

It’s time for a New Orleans picture medley, montage whatever you want to call it. The final shot shows our stars dining at The Court of Two Sisters on Royal Street in the French Quarter:

Who said “nothing” in French is a mystery I have no interest in solving. I’m hungry, let’s dine at Royal Street:

The Steel Trap has such an original ending that I’m keeping it under wraps. I’ve never seen its like, props to writer-director Andrew L. Stone for coming up with such a clever conclusion.

Shorter Adrastos: This feature is called pulp fiction, not pulp spoilers.

This is the fourth Andrew L Stone movie I’ve written about in this feature. The others are Highway 301, Julie, and The Last Voyage. I obviously dig his movies but why he made Song Of Norway is beyond me. It flopped. Oy, such a stinker.

The Steel Trap is dominated by the fine performances of Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. It may not be as good as Shadow Of A Doubt (what is?) but it’s a helluva film with a swell score by Dimitri Tiomkin who also wrote the score for the uncle-niece flick.

Grading Time: I give The Steel Trap 3 1/2 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B+. It’s currently streaming at TCM.com and on the TCM Now app.

Let’s get arty with some posters. We begin with a side-by-side of the American and Mexican long sheets:

It’s time to join the Mexican quad squad:

Now I’m craving Mexican food. I doubt if there’s any mole in the lobby, but you never know. Follow me:

No luck. We’ll have to settle for Hot Tamales and a look at the lobby cards for The Steel Trap:

Holy dull lobby cards, Batman.

Let’s exit the airport and board the trailer:

The penultimate word goes to Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley intro and outro:

A rare musical last word for this feature. It goes to Richard Thompson: