source: Red Light

Moviecut—Red Light

Red Light

I'm not all that familiar with director Roy Del Ruth, but this was a surprisingly solid little film noir. George Raft's brother is murdered, but left a clue as to the identity of his killer in a Gideon Bible, the MacGuffin of the piece, which Raft spends most of the film trying to locate. There's a fine cast for a low budget crime picture, which includes the under appreciated Virginia Mayo, along with Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, William Frawley, and Henry Morgan (who nearly steals the picture with his villainous phychotic supporting role). Del Ruth directs this film noir with a fair amount of visual style, which was the main reason for holding my interest. Dimitri Tiomkin provided the score. Overall, the film isn't all that original, but it has a strong cast and solid direction, which makes it a must see for fans of film noir. FUN FACT! I recently learned that star Raft was a functional illiterate who had to have his scripts read to him by others.

Nick Cherney (Raymond Burr) is in prison for embezzling from his workplace. The owner John Torno (George Raft) is responsible for putting him there. He sees an opportunity to get back at John by paying fellow prisoner Rocky to kill John's brother Jess upon his release. John finds Jess dying in his hotel room and asks, "What's his name?". With his dying breath, Jess tells John, "written in Bible". John obsessively searches the Bible for any clue. Then Nick gets release from prison. I really like the premise of the Bible. At that point, it needs to be something truly imaginative. Instead of writing it out in the bible, he should write down the verse number which John finally figures out in the last act. The whole scavenger search for the bible does not really raise the tension. It never makes sense that Jess would write down the killer's name and not simply say it out loud to John. I do like the poetry of the premise but it does need some rewriting.

This obscure crime drama/pseudo-noir, independently produced and directed by Roy Del Ruth for United Artists, is well worth a look. Figurative (and, later in life, literal) heavy Raymond Burr plays Nick Cherney, an embezzler doing time for ripping off his employer, shipping company boss Johnny Torno (George Raft). Nick's understandably cheesed off about his conviction, and asks fellow con Rocky (Henry Morgan) - who's being released before him - to serve Johnny a heaping helping of payback after he gets out of stir. The cooperative Rocky obliges by murdering Johnny's priest brother Jess (Arthur Franz), but Johnny isn't willing to take his sibling's death lying down - until he reads some marginalia in Jess's bible. Shot on location in beautiful Carmel, California, Red Light also features Virginia Mayo, Gene Lockhart, and William Frawley (who has an interesting telephone conversation about plumbing), first rate James Van Trees cinematography, and an original score by Dmitri Tiomkin.

When army chaplain Arthur Franz is shot and killed, his brother, San Francisco businessman George Raft sets out to discover who did it.... and to take vengeance before the police can stop him. His only clue are Franz's last words and a missing Gideon Bible. We already know it's Raymond Burr. It's an unusual film noir produced and directed by Roy Del Ruth. Instead of the usual insistence on man's sinful nature in a world gone to ruin, this one has a clear religious message; it looks Catholic to me, but sufficiently worn down to avoid offending any rabid Presbyterians in the audience. Raft wanders through the movie with the same low-affect performance he gave in seemingly all his later movies, but that permits others to emote more fully without seeming to go over the top.

Businessman George Raft is out for blood after his priest brother is murdered. The brother's last words are about a bible so Raft scours the city searching for it, hoping it holds a clue to the identity of his brother's killer. Fine film noir with George Raft bringing a "WB gangster from the '30s" edge to things. It's a really good performance from tough guy Raft. This is about as sensitive as he gets on screen. He even cries in one scene. Great cast backing him up, including Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, Barton MacLane, and Harry Morgan. Virginia Mayo provides the lovely. Burr's a memorable heavy. Starts and ends well but middle drags some. Scene with the window washer is pretty cheesy stuff. Final scene is something of an eye-roller.