Taste of Desperation

Paying off a blackmail case for a famous professor’s daughter, private eye Clarence Thans becomes ensnared in a web of danger and deceit. Discovering the professor kidnapped, Thans remains stoically unaware of his own imminent demise. Staying with the case despite his better judgment, the sleuth unearths a valuable patent and meets the professor’s mistress and a snoopy landlord (Conrad Brooks, Plan 9 from Outer Space), while crossing paths with two rival gangs of thugs, each ample of motive and desire to finish Thans. When not gruffly warning Thans beside tossing suspicions, cops arrive a second or two too late to offer any help. No one is as appears and everyone has a stake. For the detective, the lure of the buck and the desire to stay alive always walk a tightrope wire. News of the professor’s death erupts a final fight in a snowy hideaway over fate of the patent and those still in doomed pursuit.

Shot in glorious black and white with an original jazz score and a Washington DC landscape, the film glistens with tone, feel, and classic Film Noir era dialect, serving up a tale that harkens back to an era when story trumped computer tricks. Artistic elements run parallel, invigorating the storyline with ambient city sound and bringing bright backgrounds to dark foregrounds for the sensorial realism of art noir. So when palettes favor deception in a fatal incarnation, perhaps time is ripe for a taste of desperation.

To purchase, please see “add to cart” window to the right alongside the trailer. Or stream via the instant video link.

Cast:
Mark Byrne, Donna Carter, Conrad Brooks, Gail Maureen Hansen, Clark Fox, Kilof Legge

See full cast list and more at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1507353

Awards: 1st Place 2010 The Indie Gathering – Drama Crime Category – Feature Films (http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0001331/2010)

Film Festivals:
2010 The Indie Gathering; 2014 Mid Atlantic Nostalgia

Audio/online review: Femme Fetale Records Review

DE debut at Amazicon 4 on April 15, 2016 at 9: TOD DE Poster

MD debut at Mid Atlantic Nostalgia Convention: 2014 MANC

VA debut at Artspace plus MD: Taste of Desperation showings

Press Release for VA Debut: Taste of Desperation Virginia debut

Falls Church Times: Taste of Desperation press release/more

Arlington Art Examiner: More on TOD VA Premiere