Big Town After Dark

Hillary Brooke has published a novel and has another under contract. So she's quitting as crime reporter on the newspaper. Editor Phillip Reed doesn't want her to go, so when the publisher's niece, Ann Gillis, comes in asking for a job, he assigns her to Our Miss Brooke's beat, with a couple of weeks to train her. On Miss Gillis' suggestion, the paper begins beating the drums to close down the poker clubs around the state. Then Miss Gillis gets kidnapped by club owner Richard Travis. Or is she?

It's a Pine-Thomas production, and the Dollar Bills always turned out a decent B movie. They have exceeded themselves with this one, with a plot so twisty you can't see what's going on, and a particularly fine performance by Travis, who exudes an air of menace far from his usual nice-guy demeanor. Even Vince Barnett is enjoyable for once. There's also fun in a reference to Hildy Johnson, the center of THE FRONT PAGE. Does this mean Big Town is Chicago? The exteriors look like LA.

After an argument causes his best reporter "Lorelei Kilbourne" (Hillary Brooke) to tender her 2-week notice, a newspaper's managing editor "Steve Wilson" (Phillip Reed) immediately hires a fairly attractive young woman named "Susan Peabody" (Ann Gillis) to replace her. Naturally, the fact that Susan just happens to be the niece of the man who owns the newspaper causes some speculation but what concerns Lorelei even more is the suspicion that Susan isn't being totally honest about her past. However, when news breaks that Susan has been kidnapped by some local gamblers, things begin to take a deadly turn for everyone involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a passable crime-drama which was diminished somewhat by the paint-by-numbers direction and rather mediocre acting overall. Be that as it may, although this clearly wasn't a great movie by any means, I found it to be adequate for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

It''s the kind of crime drama that spread in the forties, it is easy to confound it with many other of this kind. It iis talkative, boring, despite the short length. A newspaper man denouncing, fighting against gambling ring. Who cares? I tried to watch it closely but failed. I got asleep, I highly prefer Phil Karlson's SCANDAL SHEET or any other Horace McCoy's novels adaptation. I won't advise to any buff to watch this one at any cost. Watch it only if you have nothing else to do, because it is rare and bearable. I don't know the director and am not in a hurry to discover his filmography. That's all.

Big Town After Dark from 1947 stars Philip Reed and Hillary Brooke.

Reed is Steve, managing editor of Illustrated Press and receives the sad news that his top reporter, Lorelei Kilbourne (Brooke) has sold her novel and giving twovweeks' notice.

Steve hires the publisher's niece, Susan (Ann Gillis) as a replacement. Her uncle wanted him to convince her to stay in college, but Susan confesses that she flunked out and has actually been working part-time as a reporter. Lorelei is convinced Steve hired Susan to make her jealous.

Susan says she is on a crusade to close gambling clubs in the city, so Steve takes her to dinner at the Winners Club. During a fight, he's knocked unconscious. The next day, it appears Susan has been kidnapped. Her uncle winds up handing over $50,000 in a stock deal which he interprets as a kidnap demand.

Turns out, Susan wasn't kidnapped. Lorelei becomes suspicious and starts checking her story.

Okay programmer with an interesting plot. Reed at certain angles reminds me of Tyrone Power around the eyes. Low production values, low budget, strictly poverty row.

Phillip Reed, newspaper editor, gets himself sweet-talked into hiring the owner's niece, Ann Gillis, who supposedly is attending college and looking for a reporters job. She's not and instead dupes him into looking into the goings-on at a local gambling house, The Winners Club. Reed calls out one of the parlor's operatives for dealing from the bottom of the deck and is quickly overtaken by the club's thugs and drug into meet the owner of this seedy establishment, Richard Travers. After a beating by Travers' gang, Reed ends up hospitalized and wondering what happened to Gillis. Believing that Gillis has been kidnapped, the paper owner, Charles Arnt, is shaken down by Travers for $50,000. Reed then goes on a crusade to expose the gang and recover the $50,000. Hillary Brooke et al is called in to assist with the effort. The plot becomes obvious although the ending had a nice twist. It's pretty slow going overall with low production values. Just a time waster at best.