Pushover (1954): Back to noir. As a cop after a bank robber, Fred MacMurray romances the criminal's girlfriend (Kim Novak) to get a lead on the stolen money; but then he falls hard for real. Essential elements of
Pushover, specifically the police surveillance of Novak, echo the entire setup of Hitchcock's
Rear Window (1954)
—which was released almost simultaneously. And of course, Novak's turn as a potentially duplicitous girlfriend anticipates her troubling role in
Vertigo (1958). With E. G. Marshall, Philip Carey, and Dorothy Malone.
