D.O.A. (1950)

Plot revolves around a doomed man's quest to find out who has poisoned him, and why.

 

 The film opens with Frank Bigelow (played by Edmond O'Brien) walking through the hallway of a police station to report his own murder. Oddly, the police almost seem to have been expecting him and already know who he is. With a few days to live at most, Bigelow sets out to untangle the events behind his impending death, interrupted occasionally by phone calls from Paula (played by Pamela Britton) . She provides the first clue: a man named Eugene Phillips had tried to contact him but died the previous day, supposedly a suicide. The key to the mystery is a bill of sale for what turns out to be stolen iridium. Bigelow had notarized the document for Eugene Phillips six months earlier. The film ends with Bigelow finishes telling his story at the police station and dies, his last word being "Paula." The police detective taking down the report instructs that his file be marked "D.O.A."

Cast

 Directed by Rudolph Maté

Edmond O'Brien as Frank Bigelow

Pamela Britton as Paula Gibson

 Luther Adler as Majak

Lynn Baggett as Mrs. Phillips

William Ching as Halliday

Henry Hart as Stanley Phillips

Beverly Garland as Miss Foster

Neville Brand as Chester

Laurette Luez as Marla Rakubian

 Virginia Lee as Jeannie