Alan Ladd is razor sharp as Raven, a contract killer who likes cats and kills witnesses. The first 15 minutes of this film is excellent noir. A hit man (Ladd) lives in a shabby hotel, when the smart mouthed maid enters to clean she slaps his kitten aside, prompting Ladd to knock her to the floor, tearing her dress. Ladd then proceeds to his first job in the film and on the way up the stairs en route to the apartment where his soon-to-be victim resides he encounters a girl in leg braces. Ladd is so good, as is the directing, we are not sure if he is going to retrieve the ball that has bounced out of her reach or blow her brains out with his Colt .32 pistol.
Also excellent is the photography, set between San Francisco and Los Angeles, many great shots include a gas works used as a hideout, searchlights that sweep across a railroad yard in search of Ladd, and an abandoned building used for a rub-out.
What ranks it the only three stars? Sadly Ladd is surrounded by a ho-hum supporting cast, not even one is worth mentioning. Actress Veronica Lake is well remembered for her peek-a-boo hairstyle. If this film is any indicator it is no wonder she is not remembered for her acting. It is satisfactory at best. Lake plays a nightclub performer that stumbles into Ladd's dangerous world. Twice we are subjected to dumb song-and-dance/magic act numbers performed by Lake in the film which are simply a waste of time. The neo-fetish outfit she wears in one is of more interest than the whole silly sub-plot.
The story revolves around the fact that the person Ladd kills in the beginning was blackmailing a giant chemical company whose ruthless owner was planning on selling a poison gas formula to the Japanese. Another nice bit of noir film-making is when Ladd learns of this and expresses his indifference, he is just ticked because he didn't get paid. Another nice film noir moment occurs when one of the people on Ladd's list of revenge killings dies before Ladd can murder him, prompting Ladd to mutter, "Just one more double cross".
Early Noir
An unspectacular crime drama starring Alan Ladd as a psychopath killer who gets mixed up with Veronica Lake as they track down a man named Gates for different reasons: he because Gates tried to frame him, she because she's secretly working for the government and Gates is suspected of being an enemy agent plotting against the country. Second-rate acting and questionable plotting make the picture almost laughable at times. This was Ladd's first big picture, and he brings a scariness to his role of the cold-blooded killer that is very effective; at the same time he can be quite sympathetic. He cares for cats more than he does people. Many of the film noir characteristics are present: the night scenes, the psychology behind Ladd's persona, etc. If only it had been better written.
A top-notch thriller with gorgeous picture quality!
This review is for the 2004 release of the Universal Studios DVD
The story opens in San Francisco with Philip Raven (Alan Ladd) killing a blackmailer who has an incriminating letter about a valuable chemical formula. Next, we find out that Raven was hired by Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) who works for major chemical company and Raven gets paid $1,000 in fresh ten dollar bills. Gates later goes to the police and betrays Raven by reporting the marked money he gave to Raven as stolen from a deadly payroll heist. We also learn that Gates owns a nightclub in Los Angeles and hires a beautiful singing magician named Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake). Immediately after Ellen is hired she is approached by a Senator to essentially spy on Gates to see if he is selling deadly chemicals to one of America's enemies (this film was made in 1942 - during WWII). To add another twist to the plot, Ellen is dating a policeman who is looking for Raven. So this obviously sets up a neatly woven plot between the four characters as the story moves to Los Angeles.
In spite of the overtly coincidental plot setup, the story holds up quite well with plenty of tension and thrills throughout the movie. The film clearly has the unmistakable noir look and there are very few wasted moments in the entire movie. This was Alan Ladd's major screen debut and he does a stellar job as the hired hitman.
As for the DVD, the black and white picture quality is one of the best I've seen for a movie from this era. Film wear is virtually nonexistent and the picture is very sharp. A few scenes had some noticeable graininess, but overall it's a superb transfer. The sound is fine as well. There are no bonus features which is disappointing for a movie of this caliber, but I'm still very pleased with the DVD.
This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Some boxed sets claim to be definitive, but are haphazardly selected. Not this one. Four of the five titles here can legitimately lay claim to being essentials in the film noir canon, and the fifth, The Set-Up, is a terrific boxing picture with a strong noir atmosphere. If you're a fan of noir--or have no idea what it's all about--this collection is a treat.
Of course, none of these movies were made as "film noir." The term was coined later by French critics to describe the moody, anxious feel of postwar American movies, especially the genre that highlighted duplicitous dames and susceptible men lost in the criminal jungle. Indeed, the title The Asphalt Jungle conveys the edgy urban arena of these pictures. That film is John Huston's masterly 1950 account of a heist,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Whitmore DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A certified film noir classic, Criss Cross embraces the genre's darkness with an uncompromising tale of doomed lovers and multilayered betrayal. Reuniting with director Robert Siodmak after their success with The Killers, Burt Lancaster plays a love-struck loser who seals his fate when he returns to Los Angeles to find his ex-wife (Yvonne DeCarlo) eager to rekindle their love against all better judgment. She encourages their torrid affair but marries a mobster (Dan Duryea); to deflect suspicion, Lancaster lures Duryea into an armored-truck robbery, creating a vortex of greed and passion from which he cannot escape. Featuring the brief screen debut of Tony Curtis, Criss Cross is a stylish masterpiece of clashing fates and fatal attractions; Franz Planer's... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Burt Lancaster - Yvonne De Carlo Director(s): Robert Siodmak DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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What if you were asked to investigate a murder in which you were the prime suspect? From this seemingly impossible notion comes a grandly entertaining nail-biter. Charles Laughton plays the punctuality obsessed, slave-driving head of a publishing empire who won't let his crime magazine's star editor (Ray Milland) take a day off to spend with his family. The overworked Milland, having just upset a delayed honeymoon trip for the umpteenth time, goes on a sorrow-drowning, bar-hopping bender with a mysterious woman who, it turns out, is Laughton's mistress. Later that night after Milland has gone home, Laughton murders her, and the next day he assigns Milland to investigate, since a number of clues point to her having spent time with another man that night. Milland, then, must not only find... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ray Milland - Maureen O'Sullivan Director(s): John Farrow DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The synopsis of this film is that a beautiful singer Mavis Marlowe (Constance Dowling) is separated from her alcoholic husband Martin Blair (Dan Duryea) and refuses to even let him visit her in her swanky high-rise apartment. This depresses Martin so much that he goes on a major bender, but on that same night Mavis is discovered murdered in her apartment by man named Kirk Bennett (John Phillips). While in the apartment, Bennett realizes that someone else is in the apartment, possibly the murderer, but somehow this person slips past Bennett. For some reason Bennett decides not to call the police but instead flees the scene of the crime but is seen by Mavis's maid. The police come to Bennett's home and break the news to his wife... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Dan Duryea - June Vincent - Peter Lorre Director(s): Roy William Neill DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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