Gambling House (1950) User Reviews

A strange combination of genres but a decent film.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 29 September 2013]

"Gambling House" begins with a murder. A mobster like Farrow (William Bendix) did it, but isn't about to take the rap. So, he hatches a plan--Marc Fury (Victor Mature) will claim he killed the man and Farrow will say he witnessed it and it was self-defense. Well, the jury believed it and now Fury is going to be $50,000 richer. However, he's caught by surprise when he's leaving the courtroom--when he's served with a deportation order. Apparently, he came to America as a very, very young boy and didn't realize his family was never naturalized. And, so, because of this loophole, he might be forced to go to live in Italy. Marc isn't at all happy--but not because he's losing his citizenship but because he's a tough guy and doesn't like being told what to do. So, with the help of a social worker (Terry Moore), he's going to fight this order. And, this is a tall order for a guy who is this cynical!

The film is a very strange combination of genres. It's clearly film noir because of the dialog---Fury talks and acts like a classic noir character, as does Farrow. But, it's also a social commentary film, a HIGHLY patriotic film AND a romance to boot! Strange certainly is the word for this melange! But is it any good? Sure. The film has its shortcomings (it's a bit too heavy-handed when it comes to the American dream and the chemistry with Peters seems forced) but it also is good entertainment and Mature is very entertaining as Fury. In particular, the ending is really, really good--pure noir in style and with a twist.

gambling story with a social conscience

[RanchoTuVu · 7/10 · 9 January 2006]

A very good part for Victor Mature as an associate in a gambling operation run by William Bendix, who finds out, when he's about to be deported, that he isn't a US citizen, even though he fought in WW2. When he's banned to Ellis Island for a brief time, he looks lost amid the newly arrived immigrants. His romance with Terry Moore, a young looking idealist who helps recent immigrants, doesn't have much heat, though it leads to a great scene with the two of them driving along a dark road in New Jersey on the way to one of Bendix's out of the way gambling houses in the Jersey woods. The closing scene on a dark corner, with Bendix and his men and Mature is text book noir. To its detriment, the film's two distinct parts don't unite very well into a cohesive whole.

Confused storyline subverts atmospheric direction

[bmacv · 6/10 · 18 July 2000]

The opening and closing images of this movie, directed by Ted Tetzlaff, fall firmly in the tradition of evocative noir staging and shooting. Too bad the bulk of the movie falls far short of that promise. Victor Mature, an operative in a gambling syndicate bossed by duplicitous William Bendix, eludes a rap but finds himself about to be deported. Squeakily wholesome Terry Moore, who works expediting such cases, falls for Mature (she's the primary female presence in the film, which cries out for a darker, more ambiguous woman). For long stretches it's unclear whether the script is about the inequalities of the immigration laws or about the dangers of organized gambling. A much grittier treatment of the same subject, from the same era, is The Lady Gambles, starring the First Lady of Film Noir, Barbara Stanwyck.

Flawed Crime Drama

[dougdoepke · 19 September 2013]

The movie's a flawed crime drama that suffers from both miscasting and an unconvincing mixed message. Mature's Marc Fury (what a name!) is a racketeer threatened with deportation because he crossed the head racketeer (Bendix), who has connived effectively behind the scenes. In his efforts to avoid being sent back to a war-ravaged Europe, Marc romances a refugee worker Lynn Warren (Moore) who works with persons displaced by the war.

Unfortunately the bubbly Moore is only 21 in a part that calls for a much more mature looking actress, while actor Mature is a relatively advanced 37. As a result, the two don't match up well either physically or age-wise, making their pairing a real stretch for the movie.

But I suspect there's an interesting backstory to this production from RKO. Keep in mind this was about the time womanizer Howard Hughes purchased the studio. Moore, apparently, was one of his many favorites, while she claimed the two had secretly wed in 1950, the same year of this film. So I rather suspect Hughes was trying to boost her career by pairing her with one of Hollywood's biggest hunks, whether their pairing in the movie was credible or not. This is speculation on my part, but remains something to think about when viewing the film.

Now, crime dramas don't have to exclude political themes if those themes are artfully included. The trouble here is that Marc's sudden change of heart is neither persuasively dramatized nor subtly expressed. His final patriotic speech before the judge is more like a sermon than a confession, and shifts the whole weight of the film onto a last minute contrivance. But again, keep in mind, that Hughes was obsessed with the communist threat in 1950, so the artless message could well have originated in the headman's office.

In short, I see the movie's crippling compromises as the result of studio boss Hughes' particular preoccupations. Again, I can't claim anything more than conjecture, but at the same time, the points do have a circumstantial basis.

Where the movie succeeds is in giving the audience an idea of the plight of civilians displaced by the recently concluded war in Europe, and seeking a new life in America. This is now a largely forgotten aspect of the post-war period, but remains a wrenching aspect, movingly portrayed here by the Sobieski family.

All in all, the movie lacks impact as a crime drama and over-does the courtroom preachments. No wonder that whatever the good intentions, Gambling House has joined the ranks of the largely forgotten.

Interesting Film with Casting Problems

[jayraskin1 · 7/10 · 8 November 2019]

This is an interesting film which is part gangster film, part film noir, and part social drama. For those interested in how deportation was used in the 1950s to get rid of undesirables, it is very educational and seems pretty realistic. I think the biggest problem with the film is the casting of the three leads, Victor Mature, Terry Moore, and William Bendix.

Mature is surprisingly good as a gangster, but he really has a good nature and looks heroic, so it is hard to see him as a thug. Moore was 21 years old at the time of the movie and Mature was 37. This type of age difference is not unusual in Hollywood movies of this time, but unfortunately, Moore looks 18 years and talks like she is 16, and Mature looks in his 40s, so the blossoming love relationship between them seems misplaced. There were probably 50 actresses from 25-45 who would have been great with Mature, but Moore just seems in the wrong picture. Moore is great in other pictures, like "Mighty Joe Young," but at 21, she lacks the gravity to be a counter-balance to Mature's brooding performance. He is also about a foot taller than her. She looks like his daughter when she is next to him.

Worse, William Bendix, one of the great comic actors of this time plays the villain. Anybody who has seen him in his "Life of Riley" television series or other comic roles he has played in can only be disappointed that he plays the villain straight without any comic touches. He is not bad as the villain, but it does seem a waste of his talents.

It does move along fairly well and does generate some suspense in the key scenes. Don't go in with high expectations and you'll enjoy it.

A bit hackneyed but with the heart in the right place

[adrianovasconcelos · 7/10 · 19 October 2021]

Heads up: I like watching Victor Mature, a most unassuming actor of undeniable quality. In GAMBLING HOUSE, he posts yet another solid performance, well backed up by that frequent villain, Willliam Bendix. Sadly, cute little Terry Moore comes nowhere near those two, and the actors who portray the members of the immigrant Sobieski family come across as even more amateurish than Moore.

Good direction, action sequences, and cinematography. The downside is the rather hackneyed script - difficult to believe that an active criminal donates 50,000 smackers to the sweet immigrant family, and that the US Government would deport someone who had served the US honorably as a GI, even if he has fallen into the web of crime.

In the end, GAMBLING HOUSE is certainly not a waste of time - and if you like Victor Mature, you might even find it a treat!

to deport or not to deport

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 20 January 2020]

RKO's Gambling House. Victor Mature is Marc Fury, caught up in legal troubles. He's brought in as an undesirable alien, and will be deported for his run-ins with the law. Willliam Bendix is "Farrow", who may or may not be able to help Fury with his troubles. Terry Moore is "Lynne", a big shot lawyer, who also may or may not be able to help him. The deportation judge challenges Marc to explain to the court why he SHOULD be allowed to stay in the country. then more stuff happens. Some good chemistry between Moore and Mature. it's a little bit hokey, but overall, the story is pretty good. suspense. Seems to be the last thing written by Erwin Gelsey. Directed by oscar nominated Ted Tetzlaff. never won an oscar, but sure worked on some biggies. i wish they would show Notorious on TCM more often!

Immigration Jackpot

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 14 January 2011]

Victor Mature was a tough and solid leading man hero in many films, but in Gambling House he lets William Bendix make a chump out of him. In fact he gets into a real jackpot with the Immigration authorities.

This story hit home with me because I knew someone who was in just such a bind as Mature was in this film. He was born in Canada of Puerto Rican parents and he was undocumented until he was an adult. For him it was cumbersome process to get citizenship and he was ill equipped to deal with it. But that's another story.

The story of Charles 'Lucky' Luciano was in everyone's mind back then so the story here resonated with the American audiences. Luciano got himself deported to Italy as did a few other foreign born gangsters back then. This was no idle threat.

Mature takes a murder rap for Bendix and pleads self defense and Bendix agrees to a $50,000.00 payment and Mature takes his IOU. Just like Alan Ladd who gets burned with hot money after a contract in This Gun For Hire, Mature gets ratted out to immigration.

When Mature by dint of circumstances is forced to make contact with various hopeful immigrants the film takes an abrupt turn into social drama from noir. Helping him find a social conscience is rich do-gooder socialite Terry Moore.

The end is taken from one of Mature's much better films, Kiss Of Death without the dramatic impact it had in that one. William Bendix was never bad in any film, but he's sadly wasted in one of RKO's lesser noir films.

wheres the gambling?

[Mister OEX · 2/10 · 25 July 2000]

Saw this movie recently on cable and I was disappointed. Besides the fact I expected SOME gambling (there is basically none), there was nothing in the characters or story that kept me interested. Only die-hard Vic Mature fans should bother with this one.

Noir drama of chiefly Italian immigrants in America

[clanciai · 9/10 · 29 October 2021]

Victor Mature is the protagonist here, an Italian-born American gangster with a long record of offenses, with several commitments to jail and so on but also with a good war record, getting involved with William Bendix as the chief gangster here in cases of murder. Standing trial he is shown not to be an American citizen, his father somehow neglected to get his family papers In order, so he is sentenced to be deported back to Italy, a country he has never seen, but the judge gives him a chance of proving himself to be a worthy American. There are a lot of interesting insights here into the immigration work, where Terry Moore appears as a leading benefactress guiding immigrants into the country, and the best scenes are with these stranded, humiliated exiles who have lost their country. It's a fascinating combination of social drama, noir, crime and documentary with Victor Mature excellent in his role, learning one final hard lesson.

Horrible Film with Great Actors!

[whpratt1 · 1/10 · 14 January 2004]

There are not many pictures which bore me with great former actors like Victor Mature (Marc Fury), Terry Moore,(Lynn Warren), William Bendix(Joe Farrow and Cleo Moore,(Sally). If you love to see these great film stars back in the early 1950's, enjoy the acting and forget about the plot, it lost me from the very beginning!

Is this a film noir or a social drama?

[youroldpaljim · 15 December 2001]

As a previous commentator in this forum pointed out, this film has a very promising opening. One expects a tense and gritty film noir. However, the film soon drifts into a standard social drama about immigration laws and has little to do with crime or gambling until the end. With the excellent opening many people who watched this film were probably expecting something very different and were like me, disappointed.

Mature meets Immature

[Goingbegging · 3/10 · 10 October 2021]

"You take the rap. I'll swear it was self-defence." Thus the dreary dialogue of a small-time New York gang that characterises this story.

The non-killer is Victor Mature, who thankfully walks free - only to find he's walked into a trap. The court needs to double-check his ID, and discovers that his immigrant parents were never naturalised, making him liable for deportation on account of his long criminal record.

The real killer is William Bendix, to me the face of the Forties, popping-up in a hundred supporting parts, though seldom in the gangster role, where he can't seem to carry conviction.

Mature has to spend a long day and evening at the immigration centre at Ellis Island, where he appears to acquire a social conscience for the first time - perhaps a bit too obviously right-on. His idealistic lawyer is played by Terry Moore, whose fetching smile looks only barely adult, so that the relationship between them does not ring true.

We can't spoil the ending, but let's just reveal that the court scene includes one of those sermons (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Great Dictator), inspired by a few lines from the late Thomas Wolfe (not the 'Bonfire' one) that Terry has recited to him, which becomes his Road to Damascus.

A very contrived scene where Mature robs Bendix of a notebook full of incriminating details. And the music-track occasionally too loud, drowning dialogue that might (conceivably, I suppose) have been worth listening to. Mature remains a brilliant mix of charm and menace, according to the mood of those dark, expressive eyes.

no to redemption

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 1 October 2022]

Petty criminal Marc Fury (Victor Mature) got shot. The cops believe that he is involved in a murder at a gambling house. The real killer, gangster Joe Farrow (William Bendix), wants Fury to take the rap. Fury steals incriminating evidence against Farrow after being double-crossed. He manages to win the case, but the cops take him into custody anyways. Before taken in, he slips the evidence onto unsuspecting social worker Lynn Warren (Terry Moore). It turns out that the government is trying to deport him.

Terry Moore is lacking but Victor Mature fits the role perfectly. I like the gangster part, but the redemption arc is less appealing. I definitely want a darker progression. He doesn't deserve his redemption. His court speeches are unconvincing. The movie is trying to sell something and I'm not buying.