Whiplash (1948)

Director:

Lewis Seiler

Writers:

Maurice Geraghty (screenplay), Harriet Frank Jr. (screenplay),

Stars:

Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott

Cast

Credited cast:
Dane Clark	...	Michael Gordon, aka Mike Angelo
Alexis Smith	...	Laurie Durant
Zachary Scott	...	Rex Durant
Eve Arden	...	Chris Sherwood
Jeffrey Lynn	...	Dr. Arnold Vincent
S.Z. Sakall	...	Sam
Alan Hale	...	Terrance O'Leary
Douglas Kennedy	...	Costello
Ransom M. Sherman	...	Tex Sanders (as Ransom Sherman)
Freddie Steele	...	Duke Carney (as Fred Steele)
Robert Lowell	...	Trask
Don McGuire	...	Markus
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joe Gray	...	Fighter
Al Winters	...	Waiter in nightclub

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

melodrama

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 December 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Marca do Destino

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nitrate prints of this film are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archives.

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Soundtracks

"Just for Now"
(uncredited)
Written by Dick Redmond
Played when Laurie first enters her bungalow and occasionally in the score
Played on piano and briefly sung by Alexis Smith at Sam's Cafe
Also performed by Alexis Smith at the Pelican Club

User Reviews

The Code Puts A Damper On This Story

The thing that surprised me the most about Whiplash is that Warner Brothers actually teamed Alexis Smith and Dane Clark for a film. Smith had a lot of trouble in her career because she was so tell and trouble finding leading men to appear opposite her. And Dane Clark was short, James Cagney and Alan Ladd type short. If you look real carefully he's built up in height somewhat in the scenes where Warner Brothers showed both of them in full figure and those are rare in this film.

Clark was Warner Brothers back up for John Garfield and Garfield had left Warner Brothers at this point. Clark was obviously getting the scripts that Garfield had left or maybe had turned down.

In Whiplash Clark is a struggling artist who lives in southern California and a traveling Alexis Smith likes his work and they begin a hot and heavy affair. Then she abruptly walks out and Clark is all at sea. He goes east to find her and he does and finds she's married to a wheelchair bound Zachary Scott.

Scott was once a promising fighter and if he can't be champion he wants to manage one. When Clark knocks out a middleweight contender, Scott is willing to forget the affair with Smith if he'll fight for him. And Clark proves pretty adept in the ring.

Whiplash is the kind of film that would have been far better had the all pervasive Code not been in place. What we're beating around the bush not talking about is impotence. Scott is incapable and he's a nasty creature and Alexis just isn't getting any.

The ending is straight out of one of those Thirties type boxing films and I won't elaborate. Let's just say what happened no way should have happened.

The players are fine and special mention should go to Eve Arden for simply being Eve Arden and Jeffrey Lynn for playing Smith's alcoholic doctor brother who steps up to the plate at the climax. But Whiplash would have been a better film with a more realistic script and the Code not dictating a lot of pussyfooting around some frank issues.