D.O.A.
About D.O.A.
Accountant Frank Bigelow of Banning, California, walks into a police station to report his own murder. On a San Francisco night out a stranger switches his drink, and doctors find a luminous toxin with no antidote. The trail runs through an iridium sale he notarized, the death of Eugene Philips, and company comptroller Halliday, who had thrown Philips from a balcony. Bigelow shoots Halliday, finishes the statement, and dies. The detective orders the file marked dead on arrival.
Cast & crew
More about D.O.A.
Rudolph Maté directed Russell Rouse and Clarence Horton Greene's script, and Leo C. Popkin produced it for Cardinal Pictures. The English Wikipedia calls it a 1949 film; this catalog year is 1950, matching Wikidata. Ernest Laszlo photographed it.
Themes
Look
Ernest Laszlo photographed the picture, including the opening walk down the police hallway.
Music
Dimitri Tiomkin composed the score.
Preservation
In 2004 the Library of Congress placed it on the National Film Registry. Prints circulate because the copyright was not renewed.
Notes
- Beverly Garland, billed as Beverly Campbell, and Laurette Luez made their film debuts.
- Pamela Britton plays Paula, Luther Adler is in the Wikidata cast, and Neville Brand is also billed.
- A filing error meant the copyright was not renewed, so the film entered the public domain in the United States.
- Later remakes include Color Me Dead (1969) and the 1988 film of the same title.
Scenes
- Bigelow tells the police he has been murdered.
- He finds Halliday in the coat and scarf of the man who switched the drink.
- The detective marks the report dead on arrival.
Influenced
- Color Me Dead (1969)
- D.O.A. (1988)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (DOA, 1949.ogv)