Yes, a film buff can get his or her hands on every Bogart, Alan Ladd and John Garfield film noir in an economical amount of time. But it seems like there’s always another Dick Powell outing that you’ve passed-over, missed, or has become hard to track down.

And you want to track down Dick, who was Bogie-tough with William Powell’s sharp-edged patter and way with a one-liner.

In the Andre de Toth thriller “Pitfall,” Powell barks off a half a dozen zingers just in the opening scene, establishing what an “average American” insurance guy/family guy John Forbes is.

His second-grader needs cash for a school fund drive.

“Don’t spend it on a woman!”

John’s wife (Jane Wyatt) needs money for new shoes for the kid.

“What does he DO with his shoes? Eat’em?”

To the kid — “Until my rich uncle dies, stop GROWING!”

“Pitfall” is a shorter, more domestic variation of a “Double Indemnity” theme. Andre de Toth (“Crime Wave,” “House of Wax,””Day of the Outlaw”) never had Billy Wilder’s sophistication or cachet or studio security. “Pitfall” was released by Regal Films, which I’d never heard of before today.

But the movie crackles with sharply-drawn characters, deadly complications and murky motivations, a brisk, brief noir with bite…and Lizabeth Scott.

John Forbes is a recovery officer with Olympic Mutual, someone in need of the services of a “weird” private eye, played by Raymond Burr during his “screen heavies” period. Mack has tracked down the woman a jailed embezzler was stealing for — “quite a girl,” a looker, and as it turns out, a model.

But “finding” her is all the P.I. has to do, even though he tried to figure out where the money went. This is where Forbes comes in. And even though he doesn’t let on, Mister Married “Old Man of Routine” is smitten by this seeming innocent who had the bad luck to fall for a guy whose only means of spoiling her was stealing.

A leopard skin coat, an engagement ring, but will Forbes insist on seizing the weathered runabout motorboat she just repainted, too?

If she playing him? Is he ripe to be played? He seems awfully settled, even if he’s griped to his wife how unsettling that is. Mona flirts and judges him and he’s not happy with that.

“I’d shoot myself if I thought I was turning into the kind of guy you describe.”

“I have a gun,” she mentions, helpfully.

The script, adapted from a paperback potboiler, sets up the jealous jailbird (Byron Barr), the delusional stalker (Burr) and the “family man” who doesn’t let on that he is for reasons Mona might easily guess, if she’s noticed his ring. If she cares. If she’s looked in the mirror lately.

There are beat-downs and shootouts and “We can’t go to the police,” a plot that resembles “Double Indemnity,” without the acid-stained prose or body heat.

But Powell is a movie star in his element here, with de Toth parking him in lots of LA and Marina del Ray late ’40s locations for him to navigate, by land or by sea, chasing after the life he didn’t choose with the looker who might not offer the comforts of home. But then, femme fatales, if that’s who Mona is, never do.

Rating: “approved,” violence

Cast: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Byron Barr and Raymond Burr.

Credits: Directed by Andre de Toth, scripted by Karl Kamb, based on a novel by Jay Dratler. A Regal Films release.

Running time: 1:25