WOMAN IN THE DARK – 1952
This is another film from the bottomless barrel of programmers put out by REPUBLIC PICTURES.
Here we have three brothers who get mixed up with a jewel heist crew. The first brother, Ross Elliot, is a priest, next brother, Rick Vallin, is a lawyer while the last brother, Richard Benedict, is the family screw-up.
Benedict is something of a hard-case and gets himself mixed up with a gang of crooks led by Peter Brocco. Brocco has a plan to steal a million bucks worth of jewels from a local Jewelry shop that has them on display.
Brocco has an inside man at the store to supply the safe details. Brocco gets his henchmen, Richard Irving and John Doucette, to recruit Benedict for the job with an offer of 10 grand. Brocco knows that Benedict's brother, Vallin, is the lawyer for the insurance company that covers the jewels. Brocco figures he can talk Vallin into a 300 grand payoff to have the jewels returned. Having Benedict involved is "insurance" of his own.
Benedict though is seen by family friend, Penny Edwards, casing the Jewelry store with Irving and Doucette. She lets the priest brother, Elliot in on the info. The gang pulls the robbery that night. They pistol whip a security guard during the job. Then there is a shoot-out with the Police as they make their escape in the getaway car. Benedict heads home and pretends to have been there all night sleeping. His mother gives him an alibi.
Brocco soon contacts insurance company Lawyer Vallin about making a deal for return of the jewels. Brocco of course lets Vallin know about Benedict being involved. Vallin agrees to a deal and a meeting later that night. He then pays a visit to his brother, Benedict. Hard words and a sock on the jaw are exchanged between the two.
Benedict sees the error of his ways and agrees to help Vallin get the goods on Brocco and company. Vallin hits Brocco's office and hands over a briefcase of cash for the jewels. Benedict then crashes the party and a full-fledged knockdown fistfight ensues. (No one could stage a brawl better than the stunt crew at Republic) After a few minutes of the brothers curb stomping Irving and Doucette, guns are pulled and Brocco gets the drop on Vallin and Benedict. But not for long as the Police do the nick of time bit and drill Brocco before he can use his piece.
Everything is cleaned up and Benedict is now on the straight and narrow. Brother Vallin is soon dating Miss Edwards, after dumping his former fiancé, Barbara Billingsley.
While the story is bit on the weak side, (taken from a stage play) the 57 minute runtime has things moving along at a brisk pace.
This is the weakest film I've caught from long time Republic directing hand, George Blair. The talented Blair scored with a series of solid low rent film noir such as, END OF THE ROAD, EXPOSED, POST OFFICE INVESTIGATOR, UNMASKED, FEDERAL AGENT AT LARGE, LONELY HEART BANDITS, SECRETS OF MONTE CARLO and INSURANCE INVESIGATOR. I always wondered what the man could have done with a bigger budget.
Another talented Republic fixture, John MacBurnie handled the cinematography details. MacBrunie worked on 139 different productions during his career, including many with director Blair.
Character player John Doucette seems to show up in every second film or television episode I take in from the era. He was on screen from 1941 to 1987. In 1952 alone (the year of this film)Doucette appeared in 21 different productions.
This is another film from the bottomless barrel of programmers put out by REPUBLIC PICTURES.
Here we have three brothers who get mixed up with a jewel heist crew. The first brother, Ross Elliot, is a priest, next brother, Rick Vallin, is a lawyer while the last brother, Richard Benedict, is the family screw-up.
Benedict is something of a hard-case and gets himself mixed up with a gang of crooks led by Peter Brocco. Brocco has a plan to steal a million bucks worth of jewels from a local Jewelry shop that has them on display.
Brocco has an inside man at the store to supply the safe details. Brocco gets his henchmen, Richard Irving and John Doucette, to recruit Benedict for the job with an offer of 10 grand. Brocco knows that Benedict's brother, Vallin, is the lawyer for the insurance company that covers the jewels. Brocco figures he can talk Vallin into a 300 grand payoff to have the jewels returned. Having Benedict involved is "insurance" of his own.
Benedict though is seen by family friend, Penny Edwards, casing the Jewelry store with Irving and Doucette. She lets the priest brother, Elliot in on the info. The gang pulls the robbery that night. They pistol whip a security guard during the job. Then there is a shoot-out with the Police as they make their escape in the getaway car. Benedict heads home and pretends to have been there all night sleeping. His mother gives him an alibi.
Brocco soon contacts insurance company Lawyer Vallin about making a deal for return of the jewels. Brocco of course lets Vallin know about Benedict being involved. Vallin agrees to a deal and a meeting later that night. He then pays a visit to his brother, Benedict. Hard words and a sock on the jaw are exchanged between the two.
Benedict sees the error of his ways and agrees to help Vallin get the goods on Brocco and company. Vallin hits Brocco's office and hands over a briefcase of cash for the jewels. Benedict then crashes the party and a full-fledged knockdown fistfight ensues. (No one could stage a brawl better than the stunt crew at Republic) After a few minutes of the brothers curb stomping Irving and Doucette, guns are pulled and Brocco gets the drop on Vallin and Benedict. But not for long as the Police do the nick of time bit and drill Brocco before he can use his piece.
Everything is cleaned up and Benedict is now on the straight and narrow. Brother Vallin is soon dating Miss Edwards, after dumping his former fiancé, Barbara Billingsley.
While the story is bit on the weak side, (taken from a stage play) the 57 minute runtime has things moving along at a brisk pace.
This is the weakest film I've caught from long time Republic directing hand, George Blair. The talented Blair scored with a series of solid low rent film noir such as, END OF THE ROAD, EXPOSED, POST OFFICE INVESTIGATOR, UNMASKED, FEDERAL AGENT AT LARGE, LONELY HEART BANDITS, SECRETS OF MONTE CARLO and INSURANCE INVESIGATOR. I always wondered what the man could have done with a bigger budget.
Another talented Republic fixture, John MacBurnie handled the cinematography details. MacBrunie worked on 139 different productions during his career, including many with director Blair.
Character player John Doucette seems to show up in every second film or television episode I take in from the era. He was on screen from 1941 to 1987. In 1952 alone (the year of this film)Doucette appeared in 21 different productions.
