Richard Denning and Audrey Long are 2 of the most underrated actors and why neither became super famous is a mystery to me. Denning had a long career and his low-key but highly effective acting talents have elevated many a B film to watchability. Audrey Long was elegant, beautiful and talented and the chemistry between the 2 stars in this one is wonderful.
The plot is nothing special but has a few twists and turns and bad girl Hillary Brooke is around to stir things up for a while. It builds to an edge of the seat climax which is great fun to watch and parts of it are even rather nasty for 1951. The ending has some wildly crazy implausibilities which include the fact that nobody ducks even where their car is being shot at right through the windshield and the police in dealing with a group of thugs and gangsters seem to be limited to one car and very few men (is the movie that low budget?) but never mind-- it's been so much to watch and this one is a real sleeper. Too bad they couldn't have come up with a better title. I had the pleasure of having dinner with the great director and editor Robert Wise and his charming wife some years ago when he was "only" 84 and I told him that I thought my favorite actress of all he directed in his many many films was Audrey Long and he looked really startled and said "but she was only some contract player". I was so disappointed to hear that because her work when seen now positively shines. She had a fabulous life and lifestyle, traveling all over the world as the 4th and enduring wife of Leslie Charteris who created The Saint and was an internationally known gourmet and high liver. She must have had a ball living that fine life but too bad she didn't get to be as famous as she deserves, along with so many of the fine fine actresses we get to watch in the old movies: Ann Dvorak, Irene Hervey, Joan Marsh, Joan Woodbury and Wanda McKay and so many more forgotten ladies but for us diehards. Watch this movie if you like good old fashioned adventure and crime films and I'll bet you will like it!!
6 Reviews
Dull Programmer
boblipton19 March 2022
Audrey Long's father leaves the office late, and is slugged on the stairs. The police report it as an accident due to his drunkenness, but insurance company head Jonathan Hale thinks there have been too many double indemnity claims paid out recently. He sends in Richard Denning to investigate insurancely. While Denning wanders around with a cornpone accent dating all the women, Reed Hadley, in charge of the bumping-off racket makes plans.
It's a dull movie with a dull name, as only the bad guys do anything until the end. Denning is handsome, Miss Long is good looking in a 1950s fashion, and Hillary Brooke seems to sleep around.
It's a dull movie with a dull name, as only the bad guys do anything until the end. Denning is handsome, Miss Long is good looking in a 1950s fashion, and Hillary Brooke seems to sleep around.
There's something rotten in the state of California!
mark.waltz11 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Crooked business partners are the main targets over this insurance fraud case which deals with the sudden death of the other partner, said to be drunk even though his daughter (Audrey Long) insists that he did not have a drinking problem. She joins forces with insurance fraud investigator Richard Denning which leads to evidence of a double indemnity ring at work. It seems that certain elements were taken straight out of the classic 1944 film noir "Double Indemnity" with Denning obviously playing a more honest version of the Fred MacMurray case and Jonathan Hale as his Edward G. Robinson like boss.
The plot twists and turns predictably with an exciting car chase finale, but there are far too many characters that seem written alike, and that doesn't help sustain interest in this low budget Republic film noir. Hilary Brooke and Reed Hadley are memorable in supporting roles, but the story isn't clear cut enough to be easy to follow. Films like this are better off done as serials where the twists and turns come with a break, and there's plenty of time for the story to develop. At just an hour, this film seems like it is missing something that another reel or two could have fleshed out.
The plot twists and turns predictably with an exciting car chase finale, but there are far too many characters that seem written alike, and that doesn't help sustain interest in this low budget Republic film noir. Hilary Brooke and Reed Hadley are memorable in supporting roles, but the story isn't clear cut enough to be easy to follow. Films like this are better off done as serials where the twists and turns come with a break, and there's plenty of time for the story to develop. At just an hour, this film seems like it is missing something that another reel or two could have fleshed out.
taut, effective Republic murder mystery with fine cast
django-121 January 2002
After two business partners take out double indemnity life insurance policies on each other, one of them dies in a questionable "accident." Ace insurance investigator Richard Denning, posing as a real estate agent, comes to town to find the truth. This 1951 programmer has all the good qualities of a Republic picture-- first rate supporting cast (Reed Hadley, Hillary Brooke, Roy Barcroft), exciting pacing and editing, an efficient and fast-moving script. Richard Denning (best known to younger audiences for his sci-fi films and for his appearances on HAWAII FIVE-0)has just the right combination of sauveness and toughness needed for this type of role. There are enough plot twists and mounting danger to keep everything moving at a fast pace, and overall the film is recommended to fans of 40s/50s B crime films.
Solid noir from George Blair
dcole-27 November 2004
This is an effective, fun noir from George Blair, a director I never thought much of before. But this film is efficient, stylish, fast-paced and full of good performances and moments. Denning gives his part a light, breezy touch. Hillary Brooke is very good as the bad girl. John Eldredge is fine as the bad businessman who kills his partner to collect the insurance money -- but lives (for a while) to regret it. The film is well shot and well written. Fine work on everyone's part. Too bad this one isn't available on DVD for people to see. Someone should put the whole Republic library out there -- a lot of lost gems would be discovered. And perhaps a re-appraisal of the works of George Blair is in order.
Nifty Republic noir.
gordonl5613 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Richard Denning headlines this Republic Pictures quickie from 1951. The Cosmopolitan Life Insurance Company is getting nailed with a pile of suspicious double indemnity claims. The insurance company sends their best detective, Richard Denning, to check on the latest claim. It involves the senior partner of a Real Estate company who had a $100,000 policy.
Seems that the man, Wilson Wood, took a quick trip the wrong way down a flight of stairs. The junior partner in the company, John Eldredge, gets the 100,000 grand and control of the company. Denning meets with the dead man's daughter, Audrey Long. He tells her they need her help checking out some details on her father's death.
She agrees to get him a job in the company so he can look around. Turns out the insurance company was correct in believing something was amiss. Eldredge is into the mob for big cash in gambling debts. He has been using company funds to pay off the debts, but needs to replace the cash. The company book-keeper, Hillary Brooke, has been helping Eldredge hide the fraud. Even though the two have been stepping out together, she can only keep the fraud hidden for so long.
The mob front men, Reed Hadley and Roy Barcroft, had approached Eldredge with a plan to pay off his debts. They will bump off Eldredge's partner and take their end out of the insurance payout. After Denning puts a stop on the payment, Eldredge decides to kill off Denning. He rigs the building elevator to open without the elevator being there. Unfortunately, it is poor Miss Brooke who takes the long fall.
The mob now decides Eldredge has become a loose end that they can do without. He is shot and set up with a suicide note admitting to his partner's murder. Denning knows it is a frame and keeping digging. He soon discovers the real estate company checks used to pay off the mob. He then discovers that the mob is behind most of the suspicious payoffs. The mob gets a mark in deep, then they sign him up for a big policy with double indemnity.
Several weeks go by and then the person has a "mishap" of some sort. Denning is starting to become an annoyance so the mob decides to take him for a "ride". They put the grab on Denning while he is out with Long checking a lead. Long calls the cops and the chase is on. A wild car chase with a brisk exchange of gunfire is needed before Handley and Barcroft are disposed of. A quick and to the point Republic programmer.
Denning appeared in, Golden Gloves, The Glass Key, No Man Of Her Own, The Glass Web, Girls In Prison and The Crooked Web.
Hillary Brooke was in Ministry of Fear, Alimony, Unmasked, Heatwave.
Audrey Long of course we all know from, Born to Kill and Desperate.
Roy Barcroft had around 400 diff screen and TV roles. He was in about 10 low rent noir.
Reed Hadley had over 200 diff film and TV bits. He was one of the most in demand voices for narration work, Boomerang, Canon City and He Walked By Night are a few of the films his voice was featured in.
The rest of the cast included William Tannen, Phil Pine, Ruth Lee and Pat Knox.
The film was directed by George Blair. He turned out several good low-rent noir like, Uunmasked, Lonely Heart Bandits, Federal Agent at Large, Missing Women, Exposed and Secrets of Monte Carlo. It is too bad that Blair never got a decent budget. For a Republic director, he does show some talent.
The screenplay and story was by Gertude Walker. Walker wrote the stories for, The Damned Don't Cry, Whispering Footsteps and Railroaded.
The d of P was John MacBurnie, Red Meance, Federal Agent at Large and Missing Women.
Seems that the man, Wilson Wood, took a quick trip the wrong way down a flight of stairs. The junior partner in the company, John Eldredge, gets the 100,000 grand and control of the company. Denning meets with the dead man's daughter, Audrey Long. He tells her they need her help checking out some details on her father's death.
She agrees to get him a job in the company so he can look around. Turns out the insurance company was correct in believing something was amiss. Eldredge is into the mob for big cash in gambling debts. He has been using company funds to pay off the debts, but needs to replace the cash. The company book-keeper, Hillary Brooke, has been helping Eldredge hide the fraud. Even though the two have been stepping out together, she can only keep the fraud hidden for so long.
The mob front men, Reed Hadley and Roy Barcroft, had approached Eldredge with a plan to pay off his debts. They will bump off Eldredge's partner and take their end out of the insurance payout. After Denning puts a stop on the payment, Eldredge decides to kill off Denning. He rigs the building elevator to open without the elevator being there. Unfortunately, it is poor Miss Brooke who takes the long fall.
The mob now decides Eldredge has become a loose end that they can do without. He is shot and set up with a suicide note admitting to his partner's murder. Denning knows it is a frame and keeping digging. He soon discovers the real estate company checks used to pay off the mob. He then discovers that the mob is behind most of the suspicious payoffs. The mob gets a mark in deep, then they sign him up for a big policy with double indemnity.
Several weeks go by and then the person has a "mishap" of some sort. Denning is starting to become an annoyance so the mob decides to take him for a "ride". They put the grab on Denning while he is out with Long checking a lead. Long calls the cops and the chase is on. A wild car chase with a brisk exchange of gunfire is needed before Handley and Barcroft are disposed of. A quick and to the point Republic programmer.
Denning appeared in, Golden Gloves, The Glass Key, No Man Of Her Own, The Glass Web, Girls In Prison and The Crooked Web.
Hillary Brooke was in Ministry of Fear, Alimony, Unmasked, Heatwave.
Audrey Long of course we all know from, Born to Kill and Desperate.
Roy Barcroft had around 400 diff screen and TV roles. He was in about 10 low rent noir.
Reed Hadley had over 200 diff film and TV bits. He was one of the most in demand voices for narration work, Boomerang, Canon City and He Walked By Night are a few of the films his voice was featured in.
The rest of the cast included William Tannen, Phil Pine, Ruth Lee and Pat Knox.
The film was directed by George Blair. He turned out several good low-rent noir like, Uunmasked, Lonely Heart Bandits, Federal Agent at Large, Missing Women, Exposed and Secrets of Monte Carlo. It is too bad that Blair never got a decent budget. For a Republic director, he does show some talent.
The screenplay and story was by Gertude Walker. Walker wrote the stories for, The Damned Don't Cry, Whispering Footsteps and Railroaded.
The d of P was John MacBurnie, Red Meance, Federal Agent at Large and Missing Women.
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