directed by Alan Tuttle
81 minutes
Philip Raven (Alan Ladd), a contract killer, kills two people for Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) who repays him by short changing him and paying what money he gives him in counterfeit bills. Raven soon has the law on his tail because he passed counterfeit bills. Leading the attempt to capture him is Michael Crane (Robert Preston).
Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake), Crane's girlfriend and a stage magician, was recently hired by Gates to work in his Los Angeles nightclub. She moves from San Francisco, where she auditioned, to Los Angeles. Raven and Ellen wind up sitting next to one another on the train to Los Angeles, by chance. Gates spots sitting next to one another and suspects that they are working together.
Gates tips the police off as to Raven's whereabouts but (naturally) fails to disclose his war profiteering activities. Things get even more complicated when Gates tries, unsuccessfully, to have Ellen murdered. She is saved by Raven who, earlier in the day, after they arrived in Los Angeles, seemed ready to murder her in cold blood in order to cover his tracks.
Thoughts
This is the first of four movies that Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake made together. I don't believe that I have seen any of them before now.
I watched this movie on the Internet Archive web site. I believe that the other three are also available there.
Alan Ladd had been in a number of films before this but I believe this was his first starring role. Ladd did not get top billing, that went to Veronica Lake. On the poster Ladd is also billed below Robert Preston and Laird Cregar, despite the central role that his character played.
I was very impressed by this movie. I really like the way the different characters are connected and the ways that they interact. Nicely paced. Not perfect but damn good in my opinion.
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