Big Town After Dark (1947)

Director:

William C. Thomas

Writers:

Whitman Chambers (writer)
Daniel Mainwaring (radio program "Big Town")

Release Date:

12 December 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Gambling Racket BLASTED!

Plot:

A crusading newspaper reporter battles big-city gambling interests.

Plot Keywords:

Reporter | Gambling

Cast

Phillip Reed	...	Steve Wilson (as Philip Reed)
Hillary Brooke	...	Lorelei Kilbourne
Richard Travis	...	Chuck LaRue
Ann Gillis	...	Susan Peabody LaRue (as Anne Gillis)
Vince Barnett	...	Louie Snead
Joe Sawyer	...	Monk
Robert Kent	...	Jake Sebastian (as Douglas Blackley)
Charles Arnt	...	Amos Peabody
Joseph Allen	...	Wally Blake--Reporter (as Joe Allen Jr.)
William Haade	...	Marcus

Also Known As:

Underworld After Dark (USA) (TV title)

Runtime:

69 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #12721, Adult Audience)

Company:

Pine-Thomas Productions

Movie Connections:

Followed by Big Town Scandal (1948)

Nothing Out of the Ordinary

A typical reporter crime movie. As usual, there is a crack female reporter and her sidekick, the guy she loves, who's having to go it alone. Enter a little 21 year old femme fatale who plays the innocent and disrupts things. She is trouble from the start, but the blinders are on and she manages to work things up. She has connections to a gang that runs a gambling palace in Big Town. Anyway, this is pretty much what you would expect. There are misleading clues, bad judgments, sloppy reporting, just plain carelessness. It's interesting how these guys get themselves into life and death situations and don't bother to have any backup. Suffice it to say, even though the big lug has a fixation on this little woman, it's the rock solid older woman who pulls him back to his senses. Unfortunately, he ends up in the hospital in the process. A decent film, but no new territory.