Shoot to Kill (1947)

Typical low-budget acting and dialogue, but clever plot construction and tight directing make it worthwhile

When the police reach the site of the car crash, a car they've been chasing through the night and exchanging gunfire with, they find Lawrence Dale, the man who will become District Attorney in the morning, his wife Marian, and the notorious gangster Dixie Logan. Dale and Logan are dead. Marian is rushed to a hospital seriously injured. What's going on?

All will become clear in 64 minutes if you watch this tidy, well-constructed, low-budget programmer from 1947. The acting isn't much and neither is the dialogue, but the story is well constructed, there are lots of intriguing flashbacks and the direction is taut, unhurried and doesn't waste a minute. For a quickie with a five-day shooting schedule, Shoot to Kill is a fine example of why some people, me included, love these Forties, bottom-of-the-bill movies.

The story is all about Lawrence Dale (Edmund MacDonald), a corrupt and ambitious assistant district attorney; Marian Langton (Luanna Walters, billed as Susan Walters), who shows up one morning looking for a job as Dale's secretary; and Mitch Mitchell (Russell Wade), a smart, crime-fighting reporter for The Evening Register. With the ailing DA about to step down, we quickly learn that his replacement, Dale, is in cahoots with some big-boy gangsters, and that the lot of them plan to run the town. But Dale makes a mistake. To put away Dixie Logan on a murder charge, a step that will enhance his reputation as a crime-fighter, Dale manufactures false evidence and bribes two witnesses. It's not long before Logan has busted out of jail with payback in mind. Then Dale starts getting romantic with his new secretary, a woman with a mind of her own. And to top it off, as Dale and his gangster partners plot murder, ace reporter Mitchell gets on their trail.

All this could be as stale as a week-old banana-nut muffin. Shoot to Kill, however, keeps things fresh by using flashbacks, even flashbacks within flashbacks, to make all the plotting and machinations intriguing. There's even a twist at the end that's not telegraphed and yet is believable.

Shoot to Kill is B-level movie-making in all its cheap glory. There's not an actor in sight who ever escaped the low-budget movie mill. Even some of their stories have a kind of B-movie quality. Russell Wade, for instance, was never much of an actor in all the movies he made, most of them in unbilled parts and then as a lead. Still, he had a friendly, likable personality. When he was 31, a year after this movie, Wade packed it in as an actor and became a highly successful real estate man in Palm Springs. Luanna Walters, on the other hand, after years of trying and not succeeding to break out of B-movie purgatory (she played the female interest in a lot of westerns), died of alcoholism when she was 51. Where's Nicole Kidman when we need her, to star in The Luanna Walters Story? Sadly, the movie, Wade and Walters have been long forgotten.

Shoot to Kill is in the public domain. The DVD transfer is just barely adequate. The movie is fun, but not worth the inflated prices some public domain specialists slap on their releases. Be especially wary of those who say their product has been "digitally remastered" or any such meaningless marketing phrases. February 9, 2008

Rediscover this lost gem from the golden years of film noir!

I agree with Mr. Bunker that the picture and sound quality of this Alpha dvd are very bad but the movie is definitely watchable. It might not have the a-list actors or high budget of more famous noirs of the period, but it's a very entertaining 64 minutes packed with murder, double-crosses, and flashbacks.

Edmund MacDonald plays Lawrence Dale, the new District Attorney, who blackmails one crime boss while forming alliances with other crime bosses who'll help him "take over the city". The movie begins with Dale and the blackmailed gangster being killed in a car crash. His wife is injured in the crash but survives. The police have no clues so a newspaper reporter (Russell Wade) does his own investigating and slowly learns the truth about the not-so-innocent D.A., even though by doing so he's risking his own life.

This almost forgotten low-budget film noir gem from 1947 has great music, sharp dialogue, and very good acting considering the cast is filled with mostly unknown actors. Edmund MacDonald was the only one I'd actually heard of, with small roles in "Destry Rides Again", "Flying Tigers", "Hangmen Also Die", and "Detour", to name a few. Considering the cheap price of this dvd, I can't complain too much about the poor picture/sound quality. After all, if Alpha didn't release "lost" gems like this one, they would simply remain forgotten. I'm very glad I bought this and I highly recommend it to film noir buffs.

March 12, 2005

A fun little "lost gem" of B movie Film Noir

This movie was a low budget B film when it was made in 1947, and now it's being distributed on DVD by the low budget Alpha Video. Therefor, it's not too surprising that the video and sound quality are abysmal. They probably weren't that great in 1947, and the print used for this DVD shows its age in spades, and Alpha Video doesn't have the budget to do any restoration work on their releases.

That said, I (contrary to another reviewer) found the movie watchable, and pretty darned interesting and entertaining to boot. A crooked assistant District Attorney frames one crime boss and is in cahoots with several others. He's assisted by his secretary/wife, who is one of the more fascinating female characters I've seen in Film Noir. Perky but iron-hard, pretty but razor-sharp, she's got more on the ball than any of the killers, bosses, politicians and reporters whose violent world she navigates. A Machiavellian tale is told, with fast and furious killings and more plot twists than you'd think could ever be squeezed into 64 minutes.

There's also a great boogie woogie piano piece played by Gene Rodgers as a musical interlude (albeit a little awkwardly inserted). All in all, a fine piece of entertainment and a terrific little "lost gem" of B movie Film Noir! January 16, 2005

The worse DVD transfer I've ever seen...

... I'm a big noir buff, but come on! This film is unwatchable. September 12, 2004

More reviews at Amazon.com ...