There's no doubt that "D.O.A." grabs your attention right from the opening scene, as the camera follows Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) walking into a local police station to report a murder - his own! He's been poisoned, and has only a short time to live, and the movie then becomes a flashback, as Bigelow recounts his story to the police. This is certainly lively, as Bigelow becomes more and more frantic in his effort to discover his killer before he dies, but there were perhaps too many twists and turns in the plot, making it very hard to follow the trail of clues. There was also, it seemed to me at least, a major plot oversight. Simply put, how did his killer know that he was going to go on vacation in San Francisco? His presence in San Francisco is essential to the story, but I just didn't understand that. In addition, there were a number of aspects to the film that I just didn't like.
Am I alone in really not liking Bigelow? The guy essentially decides to go off on vacation and sow his wild oats so to speak with the local ladies, leaving the woman he supposedly loves back home wondering what he's up to. He looks at virtually every woman he sees with lust in his eyes (at least we know what's on his mind!) and the wolf-whistles that sounded every time he looked at a woman were silly and even irritating. We got the message! They really weren't necessary. Even the relationship and repeated conversations between Bigelow and Paula seemed to serve no real purpose in the story. His relationship to Paula had nothing at all to do with his poisoning - so why bother with it? Kudos for that great opening scene which gets you interested. Had it not been for that, I suspect that few people would stick with this. 5/10
Am I alone in really not liking Bigelow? The guy essentially decides to go off on vacation and sow his wild oats so to speak with the local ladies, leaving the woman he supposedly loves back home wondering what he's up to. He looks at virtually every woman he sees with lust in his eyes (at least we know what's on his mind!) and the wolf-whistles that sounded every time he looked at a woman were silly and even irritating. We got the message! They really weren't necessary. Even the relationship and repeated conversations between Bigelow and Paula seemed to serve no real purpose in the story. His relationship to Paula had nothing at all to do with his poisoning - so why bother with it? Kudos for that great opening scene which gets you interested. Had it not been for that, I suspect that few people would stick with this. 5/10