I Love Trouble (1948)

A wealthy man hires a detective to investigate his wife's past. The detective (Franchot Tone) discovers that the wife had been a dancer and left her home town with an actor. The latter is ... See full summary »

Director:

S. Sylvan Simon

Writers:

Roy Huggins (screenplay), Roy Huggins (novel)

Stars:

Franchot Tone, Janet Blair, Janis Carter

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Franchot Tone	...	Stuart Bailey
Janet Blair	...	Norma Shannon
Janis Carter	...	Mrs. Caprillo aka Jane Breeger aka Janie Joy
Adele Jergens	...	Boots Nestor
Glenda Farrell	...	Hazel Bixby
Steven Geray	...	Keller
Tom Powers	...	Ralph Johnston
Lynn Merrick	...	Mrs. Johnston
John Ireland	...	Reno
Donald Curtis	...	Martin
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	John Vega Caprillo
Robert Barrat	...	Lt. Quint
Raymond Burr	...	Herb

Storyline

A wealthy man hires a detective to investigate his wife's past. The detective (Franchot Tone) discovers that the wife had been a dancer and left her home town with an actor. The latter is killed before he can talk, but, with the help of a showgirl, the detective learns that the wife had used stolen papers from a girl friend to enter college after she had stolen $40,000 from the night club where she worked. The detective eventually learns that the husband had killed his wife when he discovered her past in order to avoid a scandal, and had hired the detective to try and frame him for the killing.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | private detective | robbery | based on novel

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Taglines:

Scandalous secrets only murder can silence!

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Genres:

Film-Noir | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 January 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cinzas do Passado

Filming Locations:

Westwood Village, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Cornell Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on a magazine story by Roy Huggins, this movie provided the round-about genesis of the TV series 77 Sunset Strip (also created by Huggins). In this movie, 'Franchot Tone' plays LA detective Stuart Bailey, which is same name of detective played ten years later by 'Ephrem Zimbalist Jr.' in the 1958 movie Girl on the Run, which, in turn, was spun off into the 77 Sunset Strip TV series that same year. Oddly, this movie was produced by Columbia Pictures, while subsequent movie and TV series were made by Warner Bros.

User Reviews

Nifty Noir

Roy Huggins who later wrote and produced and gained a big reputation on the small screen for quality, wrote the mystery novel on which this film is based. I Love Trouble clearly shows the influence of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in both plot and characters.

Franchot Tone is our protagonist private eye Stu Bailey, a character name that would recur again on the big and small screen. Tom Powers hires him to find his missing wife. On the trail he's aided and abetted by his loyal girl Friday Glenda Farrell who is the most memorable character in the film in a movie chock full of good character performances.

A lot of people are interested in this woman including millionaire wife Janis Carter, her 'sister' Janet Blair, sleazy nightclub owner Steven Geray and his henchmen who include John Ireland and Raymond Burr. They're a memorable bunch, but almost as memorable as Farrell are spoiled wife Adele Jergens who makes a big play for Tone and nightclub comic Sid Tomack who is not above a little information peddling on the side that costs him dear.

I'm surprised Tone did not do more roles like this. He certainly displayed the proper and expected laconic behavior for a private detective. It was that typecasting he could never get away from. The studio brass wanted him in formal evening wear dispensing bon mots and generally losing the girl in A films to the likes of Clark Gable at his first studio MGM.

I Love Trouble is not anything like the Julia Roberts/Nick Nolte film of more recent vintage. Instead it's a nifty noir mystery from Columbia. In fact it's really two mysteries that sort of get jumbled together in Tone's investigation. Hopefully that whets your appetite to see it.