Convicted counterfeiter Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges - Three Steps North, The Limping Man) is offered early release from prison in return for helping the US Treasury Agents track down his former partners-in-crime. Unwilling to cooperate, Stewart manages to escape, unwittingly playing straight into the T-Men s hands. Directed with style and a documentary feel by Richard Fleischer (The Vikings, 10 Rillington Place), no-one is quite what they seem! Trapped is superbly lit, with crisp, intelligent dialogue a top notch Film Noir with an explosive ending.

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Inaccurately labeled as a semi-documentary style film, Trapped from director Richard Fleischer begins with a heavy voice-over describing and lauding the efficiency of various government agencies: the Treasury Department and its Secret Service agents, the Coast Guard and the Customs Department. According to the film’s preamble these departments work synergistically to not only do their jobs, but also to stop anyone from interfering with the smooth operation of the U.S. money supply. While listening to this monologue, you get the distinct feeling that you’re watching some sort of recruiting film, written by--and a homage to--the government--and its myriad institutions that collectively form a faceless monolithic beast...
Trapped’s stiff and laudatory introduction underscores the film’s central theme--that crooks are trapped in a web of efficient crime detection orchestrated by the Secret Service Treasury Agents--T-Men. And the more criminals struggle to get out of this web, the more they become entangled in the intricate pathways created by the various government departments. In fact, the way Trapped lays out the story of the futile struggles of career criminal Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges), crooks are so out maneuvered, they might as well give up before they even try savoring a life of crime.