Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett star in "The Scar," otherwise known as "Hollow Triumph."

As a film noir, "The Scar" works on several different levels. And even though a major plot point in the story stretches the realm of possibility a bit too far, this forgotten little film deserves a better fate than its present public-domain, bargain bin video status.

The plot revolves around John Muller (Henreid), who organizes a major casino heist with a few of his pals. When the sting is botched, Muller runs as far away as he can with his ill-gotten gains. The casino's owner, a gangster (who bears an interesting likeness to Richard Conte) isn't planning on taking this robbery on his back. He dispatches two of his more intimidating thugs to locate him and ... well ... retrieve the stolen money. "Even if it takes you 20 years," he demands. In a desperate attempt to conceal himself from the vengeful clutches of the fore-mentioned gangster, Muller engineers a plan to impersonate a psychologist who, as it turns out, is a carbon-copy lookalike of himself. The only difference between the two is a rigid scar that outlines his left cheek. Can Muller find it within himself to kill the psychologist and begin living a double life? Will the gangsters guns find him first?

I have to admit, with the exception of a couple of protracted scenes, "The Scar" truly is a first-rate thriller. Steve Sekely directs, punctuating just about every scene with classic film noir iconography. Daniel Fuchs' script is also top-notch ... which may have served as a primer for his next project ... the indelible "Criss Cross" for Universal. (He also penned "Panic in the Streets," another great, oft-overlooked film noir starring Richard Widmark.) Joan Bennett's performance comes off as a trifle pallid ... but then again, this was Henreid's picture from the get-go. He commands every scene that he appears in with suave acumen, something that I missed from his performance in the overrated "Casablanca." I'll be the first to admit that I've not seen many of his other pictures. But Henreid really won me over with this film ... he deserves a far better acknowledgement than only as "the other guy" of "Casablanca."

More than anything, I think "The Scar" (or "Hollow Triumph" ... whatever) is a classic example of just how absent-minded popular culture really is. More than ever, movie-goers expect a film that is saturated in bloody action, quick-cuts, and talentless actors. There's not a lot going for movies, today. And thankfully ... most of what's out there will have been long-forgotten by the popular culture consciousness in a few years. I think that modern pop culture has unfairly labeled film noir as being movies lavished with shadows, dames and guns. And while all of these are inherent to the genre, they forget the cold, black heart that beats beneath its surface. "The Scar" thrives on this kind of energy. It's a classic example of what made film noir great ... and why we'll never see anything like it ever again.

Having never heard of this film and finding it on a bargain DVD a friend lent me, I entered the film experience with an open mind and zero expectations, beyond the "film noir" description on the box (which is often misleading anyway). Well, this definitely qualifies as "noir" in my book, and a pretty good one at that. I'd never heard of the director, Steve Sekely, but photography by John Alton is a great sign. Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett – OK, not my favorite stars but not too shabby either. Henreid also produced, which piqued my interest.

Bennett takes no major steps forward in my esteem with this film (though she's fine, nothing wrong with her performance), but it sure does raise my opinion of Henreid, who I've seen to somewhat underwhelming effect in "Of Human Bondage," "Casablanca," and "Meet Me in Las Vegas." I've always felt like he's just eye candy for the ladies, but in this film he really carries the story with a lot of screen presence and authority. He's in a very different role from some of those milquetoasts – here he's a daring, ruthless criminal who steals another man's identity after a botched casino robbery. There is so much delicious irony in the fallout – first he accidentally puts the scar on the wrong cheek (one of those highly improbable plot twists I'm inclined to accept simply because it serves the story so well), and then he discovers that the man whose identity he stole has a mountain of gambling debts… and the bill is due. The character isn't very appealing but Henreid does pull it off, carrying the improbable story with pretty much sheer charisma. In the past I always felt his roles were the type where I'm supposed to like him even though he's a bit of a stiff, but quite the opposite is true here.

I wish I could remember some of the great dialog between Bennett and Henreid in the second half of the film – the script is stronger than the plot summary would indicate.

Alton's photography here is spectacular, really noteworthy, comparable to the best work in the style of the times. Note how he uses the shadows particularly to cover Henreid's face when he's coming up with his scheme, as if to say that the physical mutilation of the scar will simply fulfill or consummate the spiritual darkness that's already upon him. Another thing that really impressed me, and speaks to the skill of the director, is the odd "slice of life" vignettes thrown in, ostensibly perhaps for comic relief but generally letting the audience breathe and adding a weird touch to the drama. For example there's a great bit with Alvin Hammer as a garage worker who dreams of stardom as a ballroom dancer. This character's dream may be absurd (he looks all of about 5'8") but it throws into strong relief the fact that our "hero" really has no dreams at all and is in an even worse position – all he can do is run in fear and hide like an animal.

Paul Henreid produced this film in which he starred, eerily portraying a totally amoral man who does not see anything at all wrong with the occasional murder, as long as he 'needs to do it'. John Bennett delivers an equally powerful performance of a woman who, although not good, is certainly not bad, and it is curious that this study of a woman's fixation on a bad man through infatuation was made in the same year as 'Force of Evil' which showed an even more extreme form of that. It must have been 'beauty and the beast' year. The ingenious plot concerns a double-identity, so there are two major threads of intrigue going on at once. Needless to say, Joan Bennett is involved with both Henreids, but prefers the baddie because he is more spellbinding and, let's face it, far from boring. This is a well-directed, sometimes brutal, atmospheric thriller which is something of a lost classic. It is now available on DVD under its alternative title of 'The Scar', which is a most unfortunate title, as people don't like scars (even though there is one in the story). Joan Bennett was really made for these films, as she proved in 'The Woman in the Window' and 'Scarlet Street' for instance. There is something ambiguous about her, something hard that is soft, you can't quite figure her. That's just right for noir. You should never be able to figure noir, everything should stay in the shadows where it belongs. The thing about a good thriller like this is, the mystery goes beyond the story itself and becomes the mystery of people themselves, what is it that goes on inside heads, those impenetrable citadels of secrets.