a_chinn 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, and Henry Morgan (who nearly steals the picture with his villainous phychotic supporting role). 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.

RanchoTuVu One man (Raymond Burr) avenges being sent to prison for embezzling from a San Francisco trucking company by having the younger brother, a priest played by Arthur Franz, of the owner of the trucking company (George Raft) killed, shot in cold blood in a hotel room by Burr's prison associate Henry Morgan. The killing itself is impressively done and Morgan looks surprisingly mean. Burr is in top form looking downright menacing, and basically carries a lot of this film, as Raft's part goes way overboard as the vengeful older brother, though the Gideon's Bible angle of the film gives the part some saving grace. Virginia Mayo's role as one of the people who stayed in the hotel room where the murder took place, does not add much, as she is used by Raft to help find the Bible in which there is supposedly a clue to the killer's identity. As well, the great talent of Gene Lockhart gets somewhat squandered in his role as company VP. The role of the Bible itself makes the film a bit of a religious noir, an element that is also captured in some superb cinematography by the great Bert Glennon. The final fifteen minutes do definitely not let one down as Burr and Raft meet in the trucking company office on a rainy night, and the pieces fall efficiently together.

John Seal 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.

bkoganbing Red Light is an independent production released by United Artists and starring George Raft as a man on a mission. Raft plays the self made successful head of a trucking operation who is used to taking care of business himself. But when his younger brother who is a priest and an army chaplain from the late war played by Arthur Franz is shot in a hotel room, Raft is going to deal with killers himself and not let it be handled by the police in the persons of Barton MacLane and Bill Phipps.Before checking out of this mortal coil, Franz said he wrote something in the hotel Gideon Bible for Raft. But the book from that particular room has been stolen and Raft spends most of the film trying to locate it with the help of Virginia Mayo.There's not much suspense in this film mainly because Raymond Burr who was a former employee sent to prison for embezzlement is acting so guilty. He does have an ironclad alibi however, but you know it will be broken. Whatever suspense is in the how.The other suspenseful component of this sub par noir film is what will Raft do when he does learn the truth. What he gets from the bible are some eternal truths, but what he seeks comes out in its own way.Besides the players mentioned such folks as Gene Lockhart, Stanley Clements, William Frawley, Harry Morgan, and Arthur Shields are all in Red Light. The film had the potential to be a lot more, but Raft just doesn't carry it off right.