DRIVE-IN CLASSIC: ‘THE PRICE OF FEAR’ (1956) Lex Barker and Merle Oberon



Approved | 1h 19min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | 13 March 1956 (USA)
Hour by Hour the Net of Terror Tightens….Now There Is No Escape!
The co-owner of a dog track is framed for two crimes: the shotgun killing of his ex-partner and the hit-and-run death of an elderly man.

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38 Replies to “DRIVE-IN CLASSIC: ‘THE PRICE OF FEAR’ (1956) Lex Barker and Merle Oberon”

  1. A satisfying, warm evening at the drive in. In the pop world in March, '56; Elvis Presley and Heartbreak Hotel just released….competing with Carl Perkins ( in hospital), and Blue Suede Shoes….and the Perry Como Show on TV. Barker effectively shrugged of his Tarzan label,( a good role for him) and spent the best part of his acting life in Europe.He died of a heart attack whilst walking down a NY street, in 1973. RIP Lex Barker, always watchable.

  2. WOW! The guy with the 'coke bottle-bottom-glasses' was sure he saw Mr, Barrett but had trouble seeing and finding the door knob on his way out of the office
    "Dave is not a car thief, he stole your car because Adair was out to get him. (paraphrased)" Stealing a car for whatever reason MAKES him a car thief.
    No cop in their right mind would put their fingerprints all over and contaminate a piece of evidence (aka: the shootgun)

  3. Holy cow. "Oberon was born to a 12-year-old mother, and for most of her life she protected herself by concealing the truth about her parentage, claiming that she had been born in Tasmania, Australia,[5] and that her birth records had been destroyed in a fire.

    Merle's birth certificate gave Merle's parents as Arthur Terrence O'Brien Thompson, a British mechanical engineer from Darlington who worked in Indian Railways,[6] and Charlotte Selby, a Eurasian from Ceylon who included Māori ancestry.[7] However, Merle's biological mother was Charlotte's 12-year-old daughter Constance. Charlotte had herself given birth to Constance at the age of 14, the result of a relationship with Henry Alfred Selby, an Irish foreman of a tea plantation.[7]

    To avoid scandal, Charlotte raised Merle as Constance's sister,[1][8] listing Charlotte's partner Arthur Thompson as the father on Merle's birth certificate, with the forename misspelled "Arther".[1] The identity of Merle's biological father is not known."

  4. Thank you for these movies.To elderly invalids such as I, they provide us with a welcome escape from this dull,1984ish, pc reality! It was good to see a movie with Merle Oberon!

  5. Merle oberon was made for this role. Conniving self serving plowing guys under. Personification of bourgeoisie everywhere. Shifty as hell.

  6. Another excellent reason not to have a dog. This is a good example of police corruption giving preference to their friends. The one guy's statement reminds me of the joke "My conscience is clean, I never use it." The characters are good except for the leading man; that seems to be a combination of bad acting and awful writing.

  7. Detective Carroll (actor Charles Drake) is a very handsome man.? (No, I'm heterosexual.)
    -Wish they had CCs. Sometimes I (an Indian in India) have had to replay some scenes to get all the words spoken.

  8. This is just the kind of film noir the late Robert Osborne, host of TCM, would step in at the ending and fill us in with all sorts of wonderful movie trivia. He passed in 2017. May he rest in peace!

  9. Cars and everything else was better and amazing made with style quality n pride. Everything got worse in time, not better, that's the way the little hats work $$$$$$$

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