It has been hailed by Martin Scorsese as one of the forgotten pieces of classic film noir and was the inspiration of some of his best works, including “Mean Street,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas.” As part of its Hollywood Blacklist film series, The Wexner Center will be screening “Force of Evil” on Wednesday. Released in 1948, it was written by Abraham Polonsky and Ira Wolfert (from the latter’s book titled “Tucker’s People”). The movie marked Polonsky’s directorial debut. Polonsky had won acclaim the previous year with an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay for “Body and Soul,” also showing at the Wexner on Wednesday. “Force of Evil” also marked Polonsky’s last credited directorial work for almost two decades because in 1951, Polonsky was blacklisted after appearing before the House of Un-American Activities Committee. Ironically, the movie has since been awarded a spot in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. Joe Morse (John Garfield) plays a rich, corrupt mob lawyer whose boss, Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts) is scheming to monopolize the numbers racket by forcing the small numbers “banks” to consolidate under one big enterprise, namely his. Tucker’s simple and ingenious plan is to fix the old liberty number, 776, to fall on Independence Day. Joe’s opening narration, “Tomorrow, July 4th, I intended to make my first million,” suggests he doesn’t have an ethical problem with the plan, but we soon find out he does: His older brother Leo (Thomas Gomez) runs one of those small banks. In an attempt to save Leo’s business and to repay him for getting him through college, Joe almost jeopardizes the plan by trying to get his brother in on the deal, but with no success. Leo wants nothing to do with “gangsters,” a term he uses on Joe, as he rants, “My own brother blackmailing me!”Brilliantly written, “Force of Evil” is filled with dramatic, almost poetic dialogue. John Garfield gives a fine performance portraying the suave and smooth-talking Joe Morse. In a scene with Leo’s secretary Doris Lowry (Beatrice Pearson) after Leo’s rejection of his offer, Joe switches from flirtatious banter to a moody monologue:”It’s perverted. Can’t you see what it is? It’s not natural. To go to great expense for something you want, that’s natural. To reach out, to take it, that’s human, that’s natural. But to get your pleasure from not taking, and cheating yourself deliberately like my brother did today, for not getting, for not taking. Don’t you see what a black thing that is for a man to do?”The movie is, of course, in black and white. In fact, several scenes in the movie would probably not have worked as well had it been in color.”Force of Evil” is aptly titled, if a bit on the dramatic side. It sets a perfect example of how human vices such as greed can take over an destroy lives.