Chicago Deadline (1949)

On Chicago's South Side reporter Ed Adams finds the body of a dead girl. Her address book leads to a host of names of men frightened by her death but claiming never to have known her. Adams comes to know quite a lot, dangerously so.

Director:

Lewis Allen

Writers:

Warren Duff (screenplay), Tiffany Thayer (novel)

Stars:

Alan Ladd, Donna Reed, June Havoc

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alan Ladd	...	Ed Adams
Donna Reed	...	Rosita Jean d'Ur
June Havoc	...	Leona Purdy
Irene Hervey	...	Belle Dorset
Arthur Kennedy	...	Tommy Ditman
Berry Kroeger	...	Solly Wellman
Harold Vermilyea	...	Jack Anstruder
Shepperd Strudwick	...	Edgar 'Blacky' Franchot
Dave Willock	...	Pig
Gavin Muir	...	G.G. Temple
John Beal	...	Paul Jean d'Ur
Tom Powers	...	Glenn Howard
Howard Freeman	...	Hotspur Shaner
Paul Lees	...	Bat Bennett
Margaret Field	...	Minerva

Storyline

On Chicago's South Side reporter Ed Adams finds the body of a dead girl. Her address book leads to a host of names of men frightened by her death but claiming never to have known her. Adams comes to know quite a lot, dangerously so.

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Plot Keywords:

reporter | address book | investigation | chicago illinois | dead woman | 

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Taglines:

He's a fighting reporter making front page history!.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

One Woman

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by MCA ever since. Its earliest documented telecast took place, as you might expect, in Chicago Sunday 5 April 1959 on WBBM (Channel 2), and it soon became a popular local favorite all across the USA in markets large and small. It next aired in Milwaukee 6 May 1959 on WITI (Channel 6), in Indianapolis 8 August 1959 on WFBM (Channel 6), in Toledo 5 September 1959 on WTOL (Channel 11), in Detroit 21 October 1959 on WJBK (Channel 2), in Grand Rapids 11 November 1959 on WOOD (Channel 8), in Philadelphia 28 November 1959 on WCAU (Channel 10), in Phoenix 29 November 1959 on KVAR (Channel 12), in Seattle 31 December 1959 on KIRO (Channel 7), in Salt Lake City 15 January 1960 on KUTV (Channel 2), in New York City 23 January 1960 on WCBS (Channel 2), in Pittsburgh 27 January 1960 on KDKA (Channel 2), in Asheville 16 February 1960 on WLOS (Channel 13), in St. Louis 2 April 1960 on KMOX (Channel 4), in Los Angeles 21 May 1960 on KNXT (Channel 2), and in Lowell MA (serving Boston) 1 June 1960 on WBZ (Channel 4).

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Quotes

Ed Adams: Your face is flushed, baby.
Leona: I'm a little dizzy. I don't get along very well with champagne; and you shouldn't have looked at me like that.

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Connections

Referenced in El crimen del cine Oriente (1997)

User Reviews

One Eclectic Set Of Addresses

Chicago Deadline finds reporter Alan Ladd uncovering the body of beautiful Donna Reed at a cheap boarding house in the Windy City. She's dead of natural causes, untreated tuberculosis which was quite common back in the day. Like Laura her beauty haunts Ladd, but what really intrigues him is her address book with one eclectic set of addresses and phone numbers. Something in his reporter's instinct tells him there's a story here and as he starts snooping, turns out there is one.

Reed was a beautiful woman used and abused by any number of people, high and low. The only one who genuinely seems to be mourning her passing is brother Arthur Kennedy. Helping Ladd along with background is society woman June Havoc.

The whole picture eventually does come together and it turns out Reed was into quite a few shady things. Naturally it all makes sense by the time the film is over.

Alan Ladd's greatest screen credit might be in Citizen Kane where he curiously enough has a bit role as a reporter. Chicago Deadline like Kane is a jigsaw puzzle where the bits of Donna Reed's character Rosita D'Ur is put together the way Charles Foster Kane's is.

Berry Kroeger who just does not play good guys on the screen is a malevolent gangster who is marvelously sinister as always. Another performance to note is Irene Hervey as Kroeger's moll who naturally resented Reed and anything about her.

Another good film for Alan Ladd in his Paramount salad days.