Red Hollywood research turns up numerous"B" films on the subject of capitalist mores and their effect on thelittle guy-here literally, in the person of Mickey Rooney. Quicksand is "abrilliant parable, in the style of film noir, on the American credit system. Togo out with a seductive lunchroom cashier, a mechanic borrows twenty dollars fromhis boss's cash register. To replace the money before an unexpected visit fromthe accountant, he buys a watch on credit and pawns it, but that is prohibited.Thus begins a brief, desperate criminal career." (TA, NB) Peter Lorrecostars as a menacing penny-arcade operator who blackmails Rooney. The film wasdirected by Irving Pichel, whom Noë;l Burch describes as "a greattalent°an authentic writer-director who deserves rehabilitation."