Backfire (1950 film)

Backfire is a 1950 crime film in the film noir style directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Edmond OBrien, Virginia Mayo, Gordon MacRae, Viveca Lindfors, and Dane Clark.

Bob Corey Gordon MacRae is an American soldier badly wounded at the end of World War II, and undergoing a number of surgical operations on his spine at a military hospital in California. He is tended by a nurse, Julie Benson Virginia Mayo, and they have fallen in love. Coreys military pal, Steve Connolly Edmond OBrien, arrives in early November to discuss plans for the ranch they plan to purchase and operate together once Corey is out of the hospital. The two men pool their G.I. benefits totaling 40,000 to do so. Coreys final surgery is in midDecember, but Connolly does not appear at the hospital afterward to see his friend. By Christmas, Corey is still in recovery but Connolly still remains absent. One night, as Corey lies semiconscious in bed after being administered a sleeping drug, a woman with an foreign accent Viveca Lindfors appears at his bedside. She says Connolly has been in a horrible accident his spine is shattered and he wants to die, but she has refused to help him commit suicide. The woman asks Corey what to do, and he advises her to do nothing to harm Steve, and just to wait. Corey slips into unconsciousness, and the woman disappears.After New Years, Corey is released from the hospital. He is immediately stopped by police detectives and then questioned by Captain Garcia Ed Begley of the Los Angeles Police, who tells him that Connolly is wanted for the murder of Solly Blayne Richard Rober, a local highstakes gambler and racketeer. Corey denies that Connolly would be mixed up in anything criminal. How could he be, if he were injured? Corey and Nurse Benson decide to talk to Mrs. Blayne Frances Robinson. The film engages in a visual flashback, which depicts an unseen assassin gunning down Solly Blayne in his home one night. Window shades prevent Mrs. Blayne or the audience from seeing the murderer, who was outside the home. Mrs. Blayne calls for a doctor, but he arrives too late. ........

Source: Wikipedia