arthur_tafero This review will probably be longer than the film, which clocked in at just over an hour. It is not a bad movie, but there is very little to recommend it. The production values are very cheesy, the director seemed like he was in a hurry to get home for supper, and the actors were definitely in the C level of film. The story was fairly mundane; a Hollywood big shot is getting blackmailed; so who cares? There really is no protagonist in the film. The private investigator is every cliche you have ever heard from a 40s PI. And the "hot number" who is featured on the poster was the ugliest woman I ever saw featured as a starlet. Other than that, the film is watchable, if you have nothing to do for an hour.

mark.waltz This exotic looking B film noir is a superb example of poverty row movie making at its best. Fast moving action, tough sounding dialog and more set decoration than normal for one of Republic's second string features makes this a nice surprise. It starts off with the blackmail of movie big shot Ricardo Cortez by the nasty Stephanie Bachelor who is then quickly found dead, which leads to another blackmail attempt on Cortez and that extortionist quickly ending up face down in a swimming pool. It's up to hard boiled detective William Marshall to put all the pieces together, involving him with Cortez's "friend" Adele Mara, and bringing on a ton of more intrigue."It's alright, pal. You're among enemies" Marshall tells Cortez's seemingly sinister chauffeur (Richard Fraser), having just beaten him to a pulp after being attacked by him while trying to find evidence for or against his boss. Earlier, Fraser pushed Marshall into the same pool that the corpse disappeared from, so that explains Marshall's sharp remark. Obviously, Republic was trying to glamorize their B products as the 1940's rolled to an end, and this is really an impressive one. Veteran Cortez, as dashing as ever, gives a commanding performance as the victim/possible culprit, and Marshall has a touch of the street hidden inside his clean cut looks. I would have liked more of Adele Mara who makes an intriguing femme fatale. But it's a better than average script and the great art direction that help this rise above predictability.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS***It when big shot Hollywood movie producer Ziggy Cranston, Ricardo Cortez,wins a whopping $50,000.00 at the roulette tables at the Golden Swan Casino he's slipped a mickey fin by singer Clara, Stephanie Bechalor, that knocks him out cold. After recovering from his drink Clara tell Ziggy that she has a number of photos taken of him in very compromising positions with him stripped down to his shorts and t-shirt that she'll use to blackmail him unless he returns the $50,000.00 that he won back to casino and her boss owner Spice Kelloway, Roy Barcroft.Ziggy desperate to get his hands of the negatives hires New York private eye the wise cracking Dan Turner,William Marshall, to get him out of this jam and retrieves the photo negatives from Carla or whoever she's working with only to later find out that she died after falling out of a 5 story window. It's then that Turner goes all out to find what or who's behind not only this blackmail of his client Ziggy Carnston but Clara's death that he feels was not an accident but a murder.***SPOILERS*** The movie leads Turner into a number of false leads in finding the person or persons behind the blackmailing of Ziggy that now went from $50,000.00 to $150,000.00 with mobster "Blue Chip" Winslow's, George J. Lewis, murder who was found shot to death with Ziggy caught holding the smoking gun in Ziggy's swimming pool now added in. As Turner later finds out not only was his client Ziggy being framed for murder but also Golden Swan Casino owner Barcroft for cheating his customers as well. And it was the same person who was framing both of them who was behind both Clara and "Blue Chip's" murders! Some really great fight scenes as well as the wise cracking, almost every time he opens his mouth, of PI Turner makes this B-movie well worth one's time in sitting through. As for former Latin Lover Recordo Cortez now playing a much less glamorous role, he doesn't get the girl at the end, as a big time film producer he's just funny all by himself trying to play it straight which at times is almost impossible for him to do.

Bucs1960 Whew!!!!...what is this film about? Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, was a staple in the pulps for years and was a tough talking, kick ass kind of guy, like all detectives who graced the pages of those long ago, beloved cheapo publications. Well, somebody got the idea that William Marshall, whoever he was, would be just the guy to fill Dan's shoes on film. Boy, were they wrong. Not only was he as animated as the Venus de Milo, he can't fight his way out of a paper bag. Couple this with some of the most ridiculous dialogue since some of Ed Wood's treasured films and you have got a real stinker of a movie.Ricardo Cortez, who must have been in almost every film ever made, is being blackmailed for something about incriminating pictures (naughty, naughty) by at least two people. So he makes the mistake of hiring Marshall to put a stop to the nonsense. Murder ensues, people fight, shoot each other, fall into swimming pools and cause general mayhem. All's well that ends well and the film ends. You may want to jump in the pool after enduring this mess but frankly,it's worth the laugh to watch it.........maybe even a couple of times. A true misfire, if there ever was one.