Cover Up (1949)

I'm going to cut right to the spoiler warning, because Cover Up is a delightful Christmas mystery that fans of noir (and the era in general) deserve to experience without having the story, ending, or even tone spoiled. It's the sort of movie that leaves me confused as to why it's not already considered a classic. That's not to say it's perfect - aspects of the last act are a bit underwhelming - but it's extremely good, compelling, and unlike any other film from the era I've come across. And, like any good mystery, it's better seen without being familiar with the synopsis.

You've been warned.

For those left, in the first paragraph I recommended this for fans of noir, but I didn't outright identify it as such. Others have, and it certainly bears hallmarks of the pseudo-genre: black and white cinematography, heavy use of shadow, expressionist elements... you know the drill. But ultimately the film almost feels like an anti-noir, leaning more towards comedy than melodrama (though it does shift in that direction at times during the final act) and ultimately delivering an ending that feels like a repudiation of the more dour and cynical fare of the era.

It makes for an odd contrast. The movie shows us a world of shadows, secrets, and lies, as if daring us to imagine the twisted reality beneath the generic small town it's set it in. But when the curtain finally gets pulled back, we're shown a world far more benevolent than the movie's POV character - or the audience, for the matter - expects. It's as if the bleakness experienced by the lead is a matter of his own misguided perspective... or, again, ours. All we have to do is change our outlook to realize this isn't what we'd now refer to as noir, but instead a classic Christmas movie (albeit one with a murder).

To be fair, this wasn't entirely out of left field. The movie opens with a fairly upbeat tone, and it's funny and charming throughout. The supporting cast is pretty universally likeable, which has the side effect of giving the mystery some weight, as we assume one of these people has to be the killer and others have to be helping in the titular cover up. As clues start pointing towards the father of the main character's love interest, we realize the truth will have consequences.

Let's back up and talk story. The main character is Donovan (played by Dennis O'Keefe, who also cowrote the script), an insurance investigator dispatched to a small town to investigate a supposed suicide just before Christmas. When he arrives, he meets Anita (Barbara Britton), a beautiful and kind woman who will lead him to question his fixation with his career and make him reassess what really....

Hold on. Is this a gender-flipped proto-Hallmark Christmas movie plot centered around a murder mystery instead of a magazine article? Kind of!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First we're introduced to Sheriff Best (William Bendix), who doesn't even try to hide the fact he's withholding information about the death of local rich curmudgeon, Roger Phillips, from Donovan. Best comes across as aloof, while his advice that Donovan should lay off for a while feels ambiguously threatening or lazy. Despite this, he seems patient with the investigation and tolerates Donovan's threats and excessive actions. The movie plays with Bendix's demeanor to make it clear he knows more than he's saying but leaves his motives unclear.

As the movie progresses, signs point to four potential suspects: the deceased man's niece's husband, Sheriff Best, Anita's father, and a retired doctor who dies of a heart attack before Donovan can question him. But by that time Anita's come across evidence her father's alibi doesn't hold water, and his claim he gave his gun to the doctor seems contradicted when she finds the weapon in his house.

Anita concludes her father must be responsible and tries to convince Donovan to drop the case, but he of course refuses. He realizes she fears her father pulled the trigger, but he dismisses the idea as absurd - he's pretty certain it was the niece's husband trying to collect the insurance, despite that man's alibi. As Donovan explores the various leads further, Anita sets out to remove suspicion of her father, planting the gun at the dead doctor's house just before Donovan shows up looking for it.

When all else has failed, he sets a trap on Christmas Eve, planting a story in the paper claiming a forensic scientist will be coming to analyze the scene of the crime to identify the killer. Of course, in reality Donovan is waiting to see who shows up to destroy the evidence. He finds Sheriff Best at the scene, but - after some brief uncertainty - concludes he's not there to destroy anything, nor does he try to harm or impede Donovan. Anita's father shows up, and Donovan begins accusing him, laying out the details of the supposed crime step by step, until he realizes it really isn't him, either: only the left-handed doctor who died of a heart attack could be the killer.

Anita's father confirms this - he didn't come to destroy the rug, and in fact knew the story was a trap - he's just here to come clean. While he didn't kill Roger Phillips, he knew who did, as did the sheriff. Anita's father even convinced the doctor not to turn himself in until after the holidays to spare the town the heartache of losing a hero just before Christmas. Best had figured all this out, as well, and saw no reason to rush the investigation, which also provides a suitable explanation for his earlier advice that Donovan relax and not be too hasty to get to the bottom of things.

Donovan is moved by all this. He finally understands why so many were working to cover up the killing of Phillips, who by this time he understands was cruel and uncharitable. He has an epiphany, and when Anita shows up, he covers up her father's involvement. They go off together, presumably to celebrate the holidays, as the movie ends.

Cover Up is very different than other holiday noir (or noir adjacent) films I've seen from the era - and at this point, I've seen quite a few. As a rule, these movies use Christmas sparingly, almost realistically. Decorations tend to be present only briefly, just visible enough to build contrast. But Cover Up finds ways to integrate Christmas into almost every shot: there are always at least a few decorations or gifts in frame, or perhaps a store clerk dressed as Santa Claus, or background music (including an ominous rendition of Jingle Bells - this movie really was ahead of its time). All of this despite the use of exaggerated shadows common to mysteries of the time: it really does feel like it's playing the holidays and crime tropes against each other and leaving the audience to wonder which will come out on top.

But that's exactly what makes it so interesting. While this deviates from Christmas crime films of the '40s and '50s, it ultimately adheres to the formula used by other Christmas movies of the time. The noir tropes are really present to mislead us and drag us down the same cynical path that almost costs Donovan his chance at happiness and enlightenment. The movie rejects the worldview and concerns of the sort of movie it superficially resembles, embracing instead an optimistic outlook on the future.

Coupled with its small town setting, this of course resembles iconic Christmas movies of the era in a number of ways. The nostalgia for a sort of idealized pre-war small town America forms the thematic core of the film, with the unusual stipulation that it's a reveal rather than an obvious element of the premise. That change in perspectives highlights associations with Christmas as a boundary between different eras, making this movie quite literally a story of America emerging from the darkness of war to look forward to an era founded in traditional small town values. In that sense, this encapsulates the thematic trend of the slate of movies viewed as holiday canon more succinctly than they represent themselves.

Obviously there are facets of this theme that haven't aged well. The embrace of Main Street and dismissal of urban America carries regressive connotations, and there's no denying Cover Up has an implicit message that authority should be trusted. At the same time, the politics of this aren't all bad: the victim whose murder is deemed justified is himself portrayed as a sort of Scrooge/Potter figure. It's faint, but I felt like there was an undercurrent of socialism in the way the rich landlord was demonized.

Regardless of how you interpret or respond to the movie's politics, the film itself works as a sort of noir-infused comedy of errors that has fun with conventions of the time. The blend of comedy and mystery are reminiscent of The Thin Man, and fans of that classic should definitely track this down, as should movie lovers in general. As I said before, I'd have liked an ending a little less sentimental, but even acknowledging this flaw Cover Up makes for an enjoyable watch.