Quicksand (1950)

Quicksand

Irving Pichel's film noir, shot on location in Santa Monica and distributed by United Artists; it was Pichel's final Hollywood production before the anti-Communist blacklist ended his directing career. Mickey Rooney breaks from his Andy Hardy image as Dan Brady, a small-time auto mechanic who steals $20 from his employer to impress diner waitress Vera Novak (Jeanne Cagney), then digs himself deeper through a chain of escalating crimes stoked by penny-arcade owner Nick Dramoshag (Peter Lorre), while former girlfriend Helen (Barbara Bates) waits for him to find his way back. (IMDb)

Watches

Gruen Curvex

Worn by Mickey Rooney as Dan Brady. A wristwatch is the plot's own engine: Brady puts a single dollar down on a $100 watch at a jewelry store on an installment contract, then immediately pawns it for $30 to help cover money he has already stolen from his boss. An investigator catches the installment fraud, and the 24-hour ultimatum that follows is what pushes Brady into the mugging, blackmail, and theft that close out the film. (Wikipedia) Montres de Luxe identifies the vintage watch visibly on Rooney's wrist as a Gruen with a rectangular case, without naming a specific model. That case shape matches the signature curved-rectangular profile of Gruen's Curvex line, the maker's dominant American dress-watch shape by 1950, though no source confirms the reference, and whether it is meant to represent the same watch bought and pawned in the story is not stated. (Montres de Luxe)

Scene image neededSubmit a scene still!