'C'-Man (1949)

A Treasury Department agent is murdered. His best friend, a fellow agent, investigates and stumbles into a scheme involving smuggling and murder.

Director:

Joseph Lerner

Writer:

Berne Giler (screenplay)

Stars:

Dean Jagger, John Carradine, Harry Landers

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dean Jagger	...	Cliff Holden - alias William Harrah
John Carradine	...	Doc Spencer
Harry Landers	...	Owney Shor
Lottie Elwen	...	Kathe van Bourne
Rene Paul	...	Matty Royal
Walter Vaughn	...	Customs Inspector Brandon (as Walter Vaughan)
Adelaide Klein	...	Minnie Hoffman
Edith Atwater	...	Lydia Brundage

Storyline

When U.S. Customs Department Agent Cliff Holden's boss is murdered by jewel thieves he's assigned to the case.Holden vows to apprehend the killers and to destroy the jewel smuggling ring.For this purpose he boards a flight to Europe in order to shadow the main suspect,Matty Royal.On the return flight to America, Holden meets war-bride Kathe van Bourne who's traveling to the US to meet her American fiancé.Coincidentally,she is wearing a priceless necklace.But Miss van Bourne falls ill on the plane and she is greeted by a mysterious ambulance at the airport.The ambulance whisks her away giving Agent Cliff Holden reason to suspect that his case somehow is connected to Miss van Bourne's necklace and sudden airplane illness.Holden decides to follow this trail.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | taxi | stewardess | stabbed to death | shooting | 

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Taglines:

Homicidal smugglers in the big city !

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on his 'C'-Man film score, composer Gail Kubik's Symphony Concertante was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1952.

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Soundtracks

Do It Now
Written by Gail Kubik and Larry Orenstein (as Larry Neill)

User Reviews

The C that stands for Customs

Dean Jagger who the following year would get the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Twelve O'Clock High was still sporting a toupee when he did this small independent noir film playing a US Customs Agent. Jagger is put on a case to find the killer of a fellow agent and friend. And as we know from The Maltese Falcon when a partner gets killed you're supposed to do something about it.

There's a gang that's smuggling expensive jewelry into the USA and using innocent women not in on the scam. In this case it's Lottie Elwen from the Netherlands. It's an interesting gimmick which I'll let you find out for yourself.

The film was shot entirely in New York on location and it has the same look and feel as The Naked City does. Harry Landers who later was on Ben Casey as a doctor is great as the gang's muscle. I wish we saw more of John Carradine as a disgraced doctor who is part of the smuggling scheme.

Best of all is Edith Atwater who later would play matronly and mother figures. Here she's one evil dame.

This one's a sleeper check it out.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 May 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agentul-'C'

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Laurel Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1