D.O.A. stars Edmond O’Brien as small-town accountant Frank Bigelow who, while in San Francisco for some fun prior to settling down with his fiancé, wakes up after a night on the town with more than a hangover. Doctors tell him he’s been given a “luminous toxin” for which there is no antidote and he has a week to live, at most.
Frank desperately retraces his steps over the past 24 hours, embarking on a frantic odyssey to find his own murderer. The 1988 remake was also entitled “D.O.A.”, with Dennis Quaid in the starring role. Widely considered a classic of its genre, D.O.A. is a film noir drama at its best.