Fear is a low-budget film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 released in 1946

1946 in film

The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a...

 and directed by Alfred Zeisler

Alfred Zeisler

Alfred Zeisler was an American-born German film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. He produced 29 films between 1927 and 1936...

. The film is considered a loose adaptation of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published in the literary journal The Russian Messenger in twelve monthly installments during 1866. It was later published in a single volume. This is the second of Dostoyevsky's full-length novels following his...

.

Plot

A broke medical student in desperate need of tuition money sells everything he owns to a dishonest professor. When the student's scholarship is suddenly taken from him, he flies into a rage and kills the professor, whom he feels is responsible for his situation. His life then begins to improve after that. But, as the student grows more reckless, and police suspicion continues to grow.

Cast

• Peter Cookson
  Peter Cookson
  Peter Cookson was a stage and film actor of the 1940s and 1950s. Cookson, once married to stage and film actress Beatrice Straight, acted in films G.I. Honeymoon and Fear...
  
   as Larry Crain
• Warren William
  Warren William
  Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, popular during the early 1930s, who was later nicknamed the "king of Pre-Code". He was born Warren William Krech in Aitkin, Minnesota to parents Freeman E. and Frances Krech. He had a certain physical resemblance to John Barrymore. He attended the...
  
   as Police Capt. Burke
• Anne Gwynne
  Anne Gwynne
  Anne Gwynne was an American film actress of the 1940s. Known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films, the actress-model was also one of the most popular pin-ups of World War II....
  
   as Eileen Stevens
• Francis Pierlot
  Francis Pierlot
  Francis Pierlot was a stage and film actor with over 90 film credits.His first film credit was in 1914, but he didn't begin appearing in films full time until 1940 at the age of 63...
  
   as Prof. Stanley
• Nestor Paiva ... Detective Shaefer
• James Cardwell as Ben - a Student
• Almira Sessions as Mrs. Williams - Landlady
• William Moss as Al
• Harry Clay as Student
• Johnny Strong as Student
• Ernie Adams as House Painter
• Charles Calvert as Doc

Critical reception

Film historians Alain Silver and Elizabeth Ward give the film a positive review. "This low budget film is hardly pure Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....

, but it has a visual style superior to and more cohesive than the typical Monogram product."

Film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, and wrote, "Zeisler cowrites with Dennis Cooper, supplying this adequate interpretation with a twist psychological ending. For a cheaply made Monogram B-film, it's mildly satisfying but certainly not on a par with Dostoyevsky.