Edge of Doom

Against the cityscape of San Francisco, against the emotive strains of Hugo Friedhofer’s bombastic title music, we are introduced to the environment of Edge of Doom. The panoramic photography concludes with an image of an older, ornate church, St. Stevens.

Two priests are having tea. The younger priest, George, is gathering the courage to speak to Father Thomas Roth (Dana Andrews), his superior. George says, “Father Roth, it’s taken me a month to summon the courage to tell you what I’m about to say. I’m going to leave this parish. I’m going to ask the Bishop for a transfer... It’s not an impulse, Father; I’ve been wrestling with this for two months. St. Stevens is a fine church. But I don’t have to tell you what it’s like—you’ve been here long enough, you know. I find it impossible to serve these people. It’s not their poverty, Father; they're weary and small, without a spark in them ... there’s no reaching them.”

Father Roth offers him some tea. George responds, “A cup of tea won’t change my views about this dreary god forsaken parish.” Father Roth asks him to pull up a chair, and says, “It’s not being sure of the right way to do good, George. Priests believe it’s their job to bring God to the people, but sometimes it’s the people who bring God to the priest. That’s what happened to me. I was once just like you. Bitter, I wondered how it was possible to bring faith to such a dreary and unspiritual place as this parish. And then a curious thing happened—a murderer, a youth with blood on him, brought me nearer to God. His name was Martin Lynn (Farley Granger). His mother was a fine, hardworking woman. His father took to drink, held up a store, and committed suicide. However, the police were on their way to arrest him. This is when the boy was 13 or 14 years old. Under the laws of the church, my predecessor, Father Kirkman, was required to refuse Christian burial to the father. When this happened, the boy preferred to think of the church … the religion became a source of shame to him. That’s how Martin solved his problems for a time. It was a bitter, tragic solution. But it is because of Martin Lynn that I’m still here. And in the midst of conviction that I‘m in a holy place.

Then we return to yesteryear, via a flashback when the boy worked in a flower shop driving a delivery truck for Swanson’s Floral Shop. “Hi, Marty,” the shop owner greets the boy. The floral shop owner, Mr. Swanson ( Housely Stevenson), is pleased that Martin was able to acquire orchids at such a low price. Then Marty approaches the boss and states, “I hate to bring this up, Mr. Swanson, but I've been working here for four years now. I take an interest, like with those orchids, whenever I can, I try to save you money … my mother’s still sick, we have doctor’s bills, medicine bills, they raised the rent, I’m wearing the same clothes … I can’t make ends meet.” Swanson looks glum and says he wishes he could give him a raise, but that the shop has many expenses. Marty holds his ground, saying he was promised a raise last year, and he never pressured Swanson for more money. Marty says he has to send his mother to Arizona, that she’ll never get better here. Swanson says he’s a real friend, and when he can afford to, he’ll give Marty the raise. However, he must first check with the bookkeeper. They will talk next week.

Marty visits his girlfriend, Julie (Mala Powers), who is preparing a celebratory meal since it's their first time together in weeks. Julie just lost her roommate, but Marty offers to fill the void. Julie immediately suggests that they get married. A momentary panic flashes across his face, but Marty says they’re lucky to have found each other. Marty then receives a phone call informing him that his mother had another attack, and he looks quite concerned. He says he must leave right away because she’ll be asking for him. Julie explains she worked long hours yesterday so she could come home early today, “To make things nice for you.” The fact that Marty can’t get the money to send his mother to Arizona is driving him crazy. Julie says, “I’ll get dinner, it’s ready … just for a little while, I haven’t seen you in three weeks.” Marty asks her to wait. “I’ve been waiting ever since I met you. How long? … There’s no room for me, I can see. How can you love me when you never see me?” Marty holds her and says he loves her.

Marty stands in his mother’s apartment, watching the train depot from the window. “Someday we’re going to take one of those trains. I’m going to get you out of here. That’s all you need to get well. Try to get some sleep.” She asks why Father Roth doesn’t come, hacking. Asking a neighbor for help, that his mother’s dying, the woman says, “Nothing we can do, Martin … she’s in God’s hands.” Marty, irate, screams, “Don’t talk to me about God. He never did anything for her. She prayed all her life, never missed a morning mass, she was a slave to the church, taking every dime she ever had!” By now, the people in the apartment halls are gathering because Marty is so loud.

Father Roth is sharing tea with Father Kirkman (Harold Vermilyea). A woman wants to see Father Kirkman, saying it’s urgent, and he tells her to wait. However, when he overhears her conversation, he instructs her to enter. Seems Kirkman’s niece Rita (Joan Evans) is planning to marry a recently divorced man at the Justice of the Peace, which Kirkman wishes to stop at all costs. He says she will listen to you, Father Roth, and Roth offers to try to dissuade her. As soon as he leaves, the phone rings, and the helpful neighbor, Mrs. Lally (Jean Inness), asks Father Roth to see Marty’s dying mother. She requests that he be sure to tell him upon his return.

Mrs. Lally later enters the apartment and finds a brooding Marty, informing him that she has called on Father Roth, which is what she would want. Marty says, “Mother doesn’t want anything. She’ll never want anything again … Stay with her, Mrs. Lally, I’ve got to make arrangements for the funeral.” Marty drifts out of the apartment, looking dazed, wandering down dark stairways. He tells an unsympathetic neighbor, Mr. Craig (Paul Stewart), that his mother is dead. Craig, beginning to feel sympathy, invites Marty in for a cup of coffee. He tells his wife to get some food.

Craig, bitter about the human race, advises against making funeral arrangements alone, as people will take advantage of him. And even though Marty vows to pay for everything, Craig states that no one will loan a kid anything, “You’re a bad risk! The world owes it to her, it’s a rich world, but it hates to give; you gotta take. All you gotta have is the nerve to collect!” As Craig prepares some tea, Marty sneaks out of his apartment. Marty walks through busy, dark city streets. Father Roth narrates, “It doesn’t take much to poison a young man’s soul. Particularly one filled with pain, helplessness … and shame. Yes, I always thought shame was at the bottom of poor Martin’s anger. Shame for his father’s wrongdoing, but he couldn’t hate his father, so he turned his hate on the church and its laws. We had done him and his mother wrong … Such a sick ear only needs a whisper.”

Marty reaches St. Stevens and rings the rectory bell, Father Kirkman deep in thought inside. While the door remains unopened, he sees Kirkman inside and yells. Marty opens the unlocked door himself and wanders in, finally finding Kirkman. Kirkman does not recognize Marty until he reminds him of his mother and father. That his mother kneeled on the ground begging for a proper funeral for his father, but Father Kirkman says that he was a suicide, and there was nothing he could do. Kirkman knew his mother as a good churchwoman who never missed Mass. But Marty shouts that she is dead, and Kirkman, shocked, tells him to lower his voice.

Marty reveals why he is here. “My mother gave her life to the church. Now is the time for the church to pay her back. You’ve got to give her a fine funeral. You owe it to her. I’ve come to collect.” Father Kirkman responds, “You’re angry, boy! You’re angry at death; it doesn’t do you any good.” Marty raves that she was cheated all her life, and she isn’t going to be cheated now! “Give me the name and address,” Marty states. “I want a lot of flowers, and since he works for a florist, they won’t refuse you.” “She’s got to go like a somebody !” Kirkman says, “What’s all this about an expensive funeral? Your mother was a simple woman … what you want would cost a lot of money!” Marty shouts, “A lifetime of donations … spend it on her!” He says she will have a good sermon or two, but this is a poor parish. Marty still demands a lovely funeral, but Kirkman holds his ground. The priest calls for a cab for Marty, who looks tired. He even gives him money for the ride, but Marty is not ready to give up on a big funeral, and in a rage, he bashes in the priest’s skull with a giant metal crucifix. Meanwhile, Roth is pulling his car up to the rectory with Kirkman’s niece Rita inside the vehicle.

The rectory bell rings, and Marty’s face is now stressed. He hurriedly wipes the blood off the crucifix while Rita says that nobody will answer the door. Marty hides around the side of the wall, unseen, as Roth and Rita enter the office. She screams. Marty escapes outside just as the cab pulls up, so he goes back inside and exits through the church's front door. Roth’s narration continues, “It wasn’t murder that spoke out to poor Martin. It was pain and the inability to understand himself. It may even have been his father he struck, not Father Kirkman. God alone knows the answers to such things.”

Marty, in great distress, walks down darkened streets, hearing a police siren, and sees a movie theater to duck into. Still, a barrage of police cars stops directly by his side, rushing past him to calm an incident occurring at that very theater Marty considered entering. In the meantime, Mr. Craig is running down the street and bumps into an older lady, who seems to be staring at him for a long time. Marty, in a panic, is trapped by the theater mob, with policemen pushing past him on both sides. Marty forces his way out of the mob and continues on his journey. Marty finally enters a small restaurant, he being its only customer. Marty orders a big breakfast meal as two undercover cops enter. Each sits at the counter on opposite sides of Marty.

Nervous, Marty asks, “Where is the washroom?” but one of the men says, “Just a second, buddy.” Then the other man says he can go. One of the two men enters the bathroom while Marty washes his face, and the cop looks around for exits and leaves. Marty stares in the mirror and then uses paper towels to dry himself. The two men are waiting for him at the counter. One asks, “You live around here? I asked you a question!” The man notices Marty sweating on an evening that is not particularly hot, and Marty claims to be feeling unwell. The man says he felt well enough to go to a movie, but Marty protests that he has never been to a movie tonight. Marty goes on to say, "How could I ever go to a movie tonight?" because his mother died. The man reveals that somebody held up the cashier at the Galaxy Theater. Marty claims he had nothing to do with the crime, and the policemen volunteer to drive him home after searching him.

The police escort Marty to his empty apartment, where his mother’s body had been removed. However, the police detectives still persist and try to trap Marty about the Galaxy holdup. Marty claims Mrs. Lally will know where his mother is. But Lally is out, and Mr. Craig is hiding out. The detectives drive Marty to the station, where he is grilled.

Father Roth arrives at the police station to check in with Detective Lieutenant Mandel (Robert Keith) about the Kirkman case. Still, Mandel says he picked up Marty Lynn on suspicion of robbing the Galaxy, and Roth says he’s no robber, “He’s the one boy in the parish I had no trouble with.” Mandel releases Marty to Father Roth, as he vouches for him, but Mandel still feels that the Lynn boy is holding back something.

Father Roth informs Marty that the church will pay some of the expenses. Then Marty rants that he does not wish the church to pay anything. Roth asks Marty why he feels this way about the church. He quickly responds, “Because all you do is take and you give nothing.” Instead of taking Marty home, Roth transports him to the rectory because he doesn’t want him to be alone tonight. “You can give up God, Martin, but He never gives you up!” Martin demands to be taken home. He knocks on Julie’s apartment, getting her out of bed. She tells Marty that Mrs. Lally told her what happened. “I’m sorry, Martin !” Marty, his cold hands buried on his face, says, “I should have sent her to Arizona a long time ago … I should have robbed, I should a killed. It didn’t make any sense. It was too late to help her. No one understands until their mother dies. Then you know how little you did. Julie tries to console him, but Marty states that the only thing you ever got from me was hurt. “I can only hurt you more.”

The next morning, rustling occurs outside Marty’s apartment, as a crowd gathers to watch as Mr. Craig is escorted out of his apartment by the police. Talking briefly to his bed-mate Irene (Adele Jergens), she says whenever anything happens in this neighborhood, he is pulled in. But Marty says he is smart, and she answers him, “Smart people don’t live in this neighborhood." Craig is at the station being asked about Martin Lynn, and he tells them what little he knows. Then, Mandel mentions the murder of a priest last night, which greatly upsets Craig. As Marty rushes around the floral shop, Father Roth’s narration continues: “His crime has only made him angrier. He didn’t think of repentance; he thought only of his dead mother. With blood on his soul, he continued to dream like a child of something beautiful for her. And he continued to cry out for his rights. The pitiful rights that life had always denied him.”

Talking to Mr. Swanson, he tells him he cannot work today. Swanson takes a sarcastic tone with Marty until he tells his boss, “My mother passed away last night.” Mr. Swanson says he’s sorry and gives him the day off. Marty asks for a room full of flowers, but he tells the boy he can’t afford that, but he will provide a free bouquet. But this fails to satisfy the boy. But Martin raises such a ruckus that the boss fires him on the spot, telling him to get his flowers elsewhere.

Marty goes to Murray Funeral Home and tells Mr. Murray he wants a fine funeral for his mother. Murray’s ears perk up, but when he is asked to fill out the paperwork for credit, he comes up far short. Mr. Murray suggests to Marty that Father Roth arrange the service. Of course, Marty protests and says he doesn’t want a charity funeral. Murray quickly transitions into another ongoing service. Talking to the receptionist, she tells Marty, “This is a business, Mr. Lynn. Mr. Murray can only give you what you can pay for.” Marty storms out of the office.

Father Roth invites Marty into the rectory and asks him to have a seat while he goes off to make some tea. Marty, alone, wanders and looks into an adjacent office, where he sees the metal crucifix as music swells and the horror of the moment overwhelms him. He notices the receptionist, Arethea, coming through the hall. Mrs. Pierson reports that she saw a man going to see Father Kirkman right before he was murdered. She doesn’t know his name, but she would recognize his face. Marty, worried, pushes past Arethea to leave the building as she seems quite confused by his action. Roth is bringing in a tray of tea and asks about Marty. She tells him he just left. As Father Rolf takes on the telephone, he scratches his pencil over Father Kirkman’s desk pad and sees Marty’s name and address on the pad. The priest appears to be figuring things out.

“Give evil a root, it will grow and thrive, and it was growing and thriving, urging him to commit a second murder, to strangle a harmless old lady who was a danger to him. But he didn’t kill again because there was no evil inside of Martin, only pain and confusion and a blindness toward himself,” Father Roth narrates, while Marty walks aimlessly down city streets. Martin finally ends up at the elevator that Julie operates, having the urge to confess to his girl. “Poor Martin wanted to tell his girl about his crime. I knew now that the words of confession stuck in his throat, and no bullet could be more painful than the secret he carried. But he couldn’t speak about the accident that made him a murderer. And he stayed in the dark with his pain.”

Martin moves close to Julie and says, “I won’t be seeing you again, Julie … Find someone else.” Julie looks wide-eyed with shock at his words. Marty then hugs Julie and asks, “What have I done to you?” Meanwhile, Marty goes back to his apartment, where Father Roth is waiting. Roth pushes his way inside and accuses Marty of seeing Father Kirkman the previous night, claiming he saw his name on a desk pad. The sheet was torn off, but the writing impression remained. Marty replies that his name on the pad means nothing. Father Roth asks, “How much longer can you keep doing this without destroying yourself? I want you to forgive Father Kirkman … because he did the best he knew how, because he was tired. He spent 40 years working in this parish with people who were helpless, broken, and had nowhere else to go. Something happens to a man, Father Kirkman knew that something had changed him.” Irene buzzes Martin’s apartment, but she doesn’t know Father Roth is there. Martin says Father Roth is leaving, but the priest says he has plenty of time and stays. The two police detectives knock on Marty’s door and say they have a car waiting. Back at the station, Mandel is waiting with Mrs. Pierson as the van pulls up.

Marty is joined by a vanload of suspects, including Mr. Craig, who will individually pay out a scene for which Mrs. Pierson may identify the man she saw. Each steps outside, rings the bell, and looks inside the window. When Marty is selected to go outside, he is nervous and reluctant to go. Mrs. Pierson fails to identify Marty, even though he is the guilty one. When Mr. Craig goes outside next, she identifies him as the one who saw Kirkman. When Craig is hauled inside, Mandel books him for murder. Marty’s face shows shock and guilt. Father Roth’s narration continues, “Martin Lynn, the murderer, was free. The police would never bother him again. But something stood in his way, his immortal soul. No priest was talking to him, no church was giving him counsel, but there was a voice in Martin stronger than all the anger and hatred in him … the voice of conscience …”

Marty wanders into Murray’s funeral home. He rests upon the outside wall, weeping. He gains control and steps inside, entering the chapel, and sees the open casket of his mother. “I couldn’t get you any flowers … there won’t be any music … maybe nobody will even show up, just the two of us. That’s all we ever had. It will be enough. Father Kirkman died last night. Father Roth knows I killed him. I was angry, but I didn’t mean him any harm. It was just nobody cared. It made no difference to anybody what was happening to us; it’s as if nobody ever knew you lived. It’s been that way always. I was trying to tell Father Kirkman that I wanted him to look at me … I wanted to see him feel as I felt. He could have shown me that he was sorry, for just one second. That’s all I wanted. Oh, I’m so tired. My head hurts. I want to sleep, but I can’t. It hurts. What should I do? Tell me, mother, what should I do? Oh, God!”

Marty, after breaking down, turns around to see Father Roth. ”Help me, Father, you must help me!” Roth sympathetically shakes his head yes. And when they walk out of the chapel, Detective Mandel is also waiting. The only thing Marty asks for is to be allowed to attend the funeral. Father Roth says that they will go together. “Your mother would like that.”Father Roth continues his narration. “I know now I saw God in Martin then. At that moment, I knew conscience had triumphed over fear and despair.”

Then we return to the world of today, with Father Roth offering George some tea, who sits completely overwhelmed. George asks if Marty is still alive, and Roth confirms that he is. “He writes me letters from his cell. He looks forward to kneeling before the altar where Father Kirkman once stood … I don’t think I helped Martin Lynn as much as he helped me. To see and hear that faith is part of the human soul. Even when the soul wars against it … “Have some lemon, George?” as the end credits appear.

Film noir and religion rarely mix well. Film noir displays a world of decay, destiny reigns, as does coincidence and serendipity. Film noir doesn’t reward anyone for doing the right thing. The individual is tossed this way and that, a victim of fate, blowing like leaves in the wind. In religion, we have rules, and individuals are rewarded for vehemently following them. Man possesses a soul that can always be saved, no matter how decrepit the person is. Salvation and forgiveness are always an option. In film noir, characters are doomed to live out a predestined life of nihilism.

Edge of Doom offers one outstanding performance by Farley Granger as Martin Lynn, but little else of note. He was too old to play the part in 1960, but Farley Granger at this point in his career was the only actor capable of rivaling Anthony Perkins in Psycho, I believe. The film is largely predictable and appears to be plotted by the numbers. The film reaches an emotional epiphany, but only because the plot manipulates us. However, I find it difficult to believe that Marty hasn’t yet learned that one has to pay one's way in life. At times, Marty just acts too naive. But Dana Andrews is quite good in a stereotypical role, and Farley Granger is the entire reason to watch the film. And while it strives for more, the film ultimately underwhelms.

MARTIN LYNN (FARLEY GRANGER) AND FATHER ROTH (DANA ANDREWS)

FARLEY GRANGER, IRENE (ADELE JERGENS), AND MR. CRAIG (PAUL STEWART)