Roaring City (1951)

Dennis O'Brien is hired by Barton to bet on Harper, an old fighter, against Lundy, placing the bets in the name of Steve Belzig. Lundy dies of a blood clot during the bout. At Barton's ... See full summary »

Director:

William Berke

Writers:

Julian Harmon (screenplay), Victor West (screenplay)

Stars:

Hugh Beaumont, Edward Brophy, Richard Travis

Cast

Cast overview:
Hugh Beaumont	...	Dennis O'Brien
Edward Brophy	...	'Professor' Frederick Simpson Schicker
Richard Travis	...	Inspector Bruger
Joan Valerie	...	Irma Rand
Wanda McKay	...	Sylvia Rand
Rebel Randall	...	Gail Chase
William Tannen	...	Ed Gannon
Greg McClure	...	Steve Belzig, alias Vic Lundy
Anthony Warde	...	Bill Rafferty
Abner Biberman	...	Eddie Paige
Stanley Price	...	Harry Barton
A.J. Roth
Paul Brooks	...	Ted Fallon, alias Steve Rand

Storyline

Dennis O'Brien is hired by Barton to bet on Harper, an old fighter, against Lundy, placing the bets in the name of Steve Belzig. Lundy dies of a blood clot during the bout. At Barton's hotel, after the fight, Dennis finds Gannon and Lundy, where he learns that Belzig is Lundy's real name and that Barton and Gannon had the fight fixed for Lundy to take a dive in the first round, but Barton told Lundy to wait until the seventh and Harper didn't last that long. Dennis is knocked out and comes to to find police Lt. Burger in the room with him with Lundy dead. Accused of the murder and out on bail, Dennis starts his own investigation and finds that Gale Chase is connected with Gannon. He makes Gannon think that Gale is double-crossing him, but is arrested by Burger before he can harm Gale...(end first story... start second story)... Irma Rand hires Dennis to pose as Ted Fallon, husband of her step-daughter Sylvia. She introduces him to Eddie and Bill Rafferty, who knock him out and he ...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | hairy chest | bare chested male | stepmother stepdaughter relationship | prizefighting | 

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Taglines:

Satan's Sidekick!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 May 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sisters in Crime

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sigmund Neufeld Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

59 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film, along with Pier 23 and Danger Zone, were all based on the stories written for old time radio show, Pat Novak For Hire.

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Connections

Follows Danger Zone (1951)

User Reviews

Double Jackpot for Ward Cleaver

Hugh Beaumont who made an indelible impression on all kids as the world's greatest dad as Ward Cleaver on television will shock the fans of Leave It To Beaver when they see him play laconic private eye Dennis O'Brien, living on the San Francisco wharf with his research man Edward Brophy in Roaring City. Definitely not the Hugh we're used to.

You know he's got the dialog and the patter down straight, but as a detective he falls into the Miles Archer rather than the Sam Spade category. In this film which involves Beaumont in two separate stories in both cases he does a job which looks really suspicious from the start. In the first he lays down some bets for a fight manager against his own fighter under an alias. He looks real good for the homicides of both the manager and the fighter to detective Richard Travis.

The second one is even worse, he's asked to pose as the husband of one of a pair of women in a rendezvous and the real husband comes up dead with an unconscious Beaumont with the stiff in a trash dumpster. I mean this guy's radar is really on the fritz.

Still it's not a bad premise for a television show which it was for a brief time and it proves that Hugh Beaumont could be something other than the All American Dad.