Red Light (1949)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

George Raft headlines this 1949 revenge noir. Raft plays the owner of a successful San Francisco trucking firm. His kid brother, US Army Chaplin Arthur Franz has just returned from service in the Pacific. Raft puts him up at a hotel till he gets settled in again.At the same time, Raymond Burr, a former book-keeper of Raft's is doing a bit in prison. Burr had helped himself to company funds but was caught. He of course blames Raft for his being jailed. When he finds out about Franz's return he quickly hatches a revenge scheme.His cell mate, Harry Morgan, is getting out of prison the next day. "Could you do me a favor for some cash?" Says Burr. Morgan is of course not adverse to some pocket money.Two days later, Morgan pays Franz a late night visit. He enters Franz's rooms and puts three slugs into him. Raft, arrives a short time later for a visit where he finds Franz still clinging to life. Raft asks who was the shooter but only gets some whispered words about the bible. Franz then expires.Raft returns to his office and starts loading his .45, he intends to find the killer and dispense some payback. Police Detectives, Barton MacLane and William Phillips soon come a calling. They wish to know if Franz had said anything before dying. Raft is not the least bit helpful in that department. The detectives tell Raft to back off and let them do their job.Raft can find out nothing on the deed and this just eats away at him. A week later, it dawns on him that maybe his brother meant he had written something in the hotel room bible. He bribes a hotel bellboy, Stanley Clements, to get him into the room. The bible has disappeared. Raft has Clements bring him a list of people who have stayed in the room since his brother.First up on the list is Virginia Mayo, a night club singer from Los Angeles. A quick trip to LA finds Miss Mayo. He tosses her apartment and finds a picture of several men in Army garb, including Franz. Mayo soon shows and Raft gives her the third degree. It turns out that Mayo's brother and Franz had been in the same unit in the Pacific. It was just a freak thing she had stayed in the same room as Franz. Mayo has just lost her job so Raft offers her one. Raft sets Mayo up in in his San Fran apartment. He wants her to hunt down the other names on his list of hotel guests for that room.Now Raymond Burr shows up just fresh out of prison. The first thing Raft does when he sees him, is work him over. Raft figures Burr had a motive for murdering Franz. Detectives Maclane and Phillips soon put a stop to the beating. They inform Raft that Burr has the perfect alibi. He was still in Prison when the murder happened.As Mayo tracks down the names on the list, Raft pays them all a visit. He quizzes them all about whether they took the bible from the hotel room. It is not till the last name, Phillip Pine, that he gets an affirmative. Pine is an Army vet who lost his sight in the service. He had checked into the room to kill himself. A hotel employee had talked him out of it. The man had then read to him out of the bible. Pine had taken the bible with him when he returned to his wife and family. Raft offers to buy the bible from Pine, but someone, Mayo, has already been there to grab the bible. Raft returns to his office to look for Mayo.While all this is going on, Burr has taken his prison buddy, Morgan for a train ride. Morgan has become a loose end that needs to be trimmed. A quick one, two and a shove off the back of the train, settles the matter. Burr has also been hanging around Raft's office asking for work. Burr says he has learnt from his prison stay and just wants a chance to prove he has changed.To cut to the quick, Morgan has survived his toss from the train. He staggers in from the rain to Raft's offices while Raft, Mayo and the Detectives, Maclane and Phillips are having a talk about the case. They are looking at the bible for clues. There is a passage Franz had circled in the bible. "Vengeance is mine" Outside Raft's office, on the hallway stairs, Burr and Morgan run into each other. Both pull their guns and start blasting. Burr, not wanting Morgan to spill about his part in Franz's murder, is the better shot and down goes Morgan again. When everyone rushes out of Raft's office to see what is happening, Burr points at Morgan. He tells them that Morgan was a burglar and Burr had shot him in self defense.Morgan is however one tough monkey, he moans and points at Burr. "He paid me to kill your brother…" before he finally expires. Burr beats the feet for the roof exit with Raft and the Detectives in pursuit. Burr empties his revolver at Raft but misses. He then climbs up a big flashing neon sign to get to the next roof. He does not get far as he steps on some live electric wires. ZAP! Burr falls to the roof as Franz's words flash through Raft's mind. Vengeance is mine.

George Raft (Johnny Torno) owns a trucking company. Because of his real-life gangster connections you can't help but think he's corrupt. Anyway, he seems to be playing a good guy who owns a trucking company. His army-decorated holy brother Arthur Franz (Jess) comes across as an annoying priest who is thankfully murdered at the beginning of the film and thus begins Mr Raft's campaign to dish out some revenge. His only clue is a bible that needs to be tracked down.The cast are good in this film, especially the bad guys Raymond Burr (Nick) and Harry Morgan (Rocky). George Raft plays himself and that's completely fine. The film throws you a curve ball at one point when Raft meets up with blind Phillip Pine (Pablo). We hit a sentimental streak and start groaning at the piousness of it all before Raft provides the funniest moment of the film which provides a superb counter-balance to what we have just heard. Raft gets straight to his point with a very frank "have you got it or not?" to Pine. It's brilliant. It's delivered in a way that suggests he has absolutely no time for the story that he has just been told, just like the audience can't be bothered with it. Priceless! I assume the lights in the final scene are red - it's a bit of a strange title for a black and white film.

With so much of this gangster melodrama revolving around the Gideon Bible holding the clue to the murderer, it's no wonder that Dimktri Tiomkin plays up the pious "Ave Maria" every time any mention of "the clue" is made. George Raft's monotone voice and intense expression never changes much throughout, but he's convincing as a man on a mission to find and kill his brother's murderer.Along the way, he enlists the aid of the lovely Virginia Mayo, who helps him track down the killer while reminding him that his brother was strictly a "Thou shalt not kill" sort of Army Chaplain. Thus, the grim ending for the killer comes not from Raft but providence when he's disposed of quite dramatically.Raymond Burr plays the "heavy," a sadistic thug who seems to enjoy every kill, even if it means pushing a man off a train or having a truck falling on top of a man in hiding. A good cast, including Arthur Franz as Raft's brother, Gene Lockhart, Harry Morgan, Barton MacLane, Ken Murray, William Frawley and Arthur Shields. Virginia Mayo gives an excellent performance as the gutsy gal who helps Raft in his quest to find a killer.Trivia: Interesting to note that most of the supporting cast would go on to TV fame in an era when that medium was just starting to give film players some iconic breaks.Summing up: Good revenge melodrama with film noir touches.

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.