Held for Ransom

The plot's okay if nothing special. A rich old man is held in a deserted area for ransom. The cops suspect his nephew (Withers) as the mastermind. At same time, however, the feds (Mulhall) suspect a gangster gang, and assign an undercover woman agent (Mehaffey) to unravel the knot and hopefully save the old man hostage. But can she.

To me, the flick's strength are the rustic settings, old roadsters, and narrow old-time roads-- real vintage eye-catchers that help keep the eyes glued. So far as I can tell, there are no studio sets, inside or outside, unusual for a programmer like this. And catch those rickety cabins, the water wheel, and the spindly forrest that the cast chases around in. Speaking of chasing around, I sure hope actress Mehaffey got a fat paycheck for all the physical skills she has to show. In fact, she's really the show's star with the most screen time. Given her skills, it's no wonder she had a silent screen career in Westerns. On the other hand, Withers and Mulhall mostly get to follow around except for one fisticuff sequence. And for a small slice of amusement there's McKenzie as the rotund yet canny shopkeeper.

Anyway, the 60-minutes is better than the usual programmers of its kind, thanks mainly to the savvy production staff and adept leading lady.

"Held for Ransom" is a cheap B-movie from the International Film Corporation--a company NO ONE has heard of today. Yet, despite its very low-budget and very humble cast, it managed to be quite interesting and worth seeing. To me, it's a great example of a B that proves they aren't all lousy films--many were, despite their limitations, pretty good in their own right.

The film begins by learning that there has been a spate of kidnappings. The latest, however, is different. While it appears the same gang is involved, once they received the ransom they still refuse to release the victim. The kidnapped man's nephew takes a vacation and blunders into the same town where the crooks are hiding. And, unknown to any of them, a female G-man (or is that a 'G-woman'?) is there as well--hot on the trail of the scum-bags. Can goodness triumph over evil? What do you think!

I think I liked the film because of the crazy old fashioned gangster dialog as well as the spunky lady Federal Agent. I especially loved when she, too, used this wonderful old-time language when she warned one of the crooks..."You're not too dumb--a move like that and it's the hot seat!". I just loved that line and the rest of the film was fast-moving and well done. While it certainly won't tax your brain or rival many A-pictures, for what it is, "Held for Ransom" is a good film.

Confusingly plotted and edited, 'Held For Ransom' rather amusingly plows through piles and piles of backstory (mainly through screaming headlines) about a top exec's kidnapping. Soon, the cops and G-men are all on the case. Problem is, you have to really pay attention to who is what, who's the bad guy and who's the good guy. As a matter of fact, when an informant is gotten rid of at the beginning of the movie, you don't know whether he's a good guy or bad guy, and whether the people rubbing him out are too. Soon, a female G.I. is dispatched on the case and she proceeds to help figure out the case of where the exec is, the ransom money that has disappeared, while carefully avoiding the lusty stares of some police flackey.. By the end, you sort of know what's going on, and it all ends rather movie serialishly. Key notes here, it's nice to have a female heroine for a movie like this.. Also, check out the classic crane scoop game in the hotel scene! Classic!

Richard Lancaster is kidnapped. The $50,000 ransom is paid, but even though the police are watching, the money disappears and Lancaster isn't released. Suspicion falls on Grant Withers, the victim's wastrel nephew, but the head of the investigation has his doubts. He sends his best woman agent, Blanche Mehaffey, to look into the matter. She crosses paths with Withers in a downtown bar, where he's meeting with a mysterious associate, then again at his country home, where she's posing as a writer looking for local color.

There are a few plot holes in this Grand National Picture.... apparently some stuff was left on the cutting room floor in the failed effort to keep the ambitious studio going through an expensive Jimmy Cagney musical. Nonetheless, Withers is good as always, and Mehaffey, whose next-to-last picture this is, is also good; she had started out as a Ziegfeld dancer, then entered the movies as a WAMPAS Baby Star in 1924, working for Hal Roach in Glen Tryon features and Charley Chase one-reelers. She had quit the movies for a couple of years for voice lessons, came back in 1931, and her career drifted downward, along with her recorded history. She sued Paramount in the late 1940s for not paying her for the television broadcast of a movie she had appeared in, and died in 1968 at the age of 60. The rest, as so often is the case, is silence.

Not this movie, however. It's certainly no classic, but it is lively all the way through and has a great, exciting finish. From a studio that was about to go under, with a leading lady near the end of her undistinguished career, that's not too shabby.

Grant Withers Dad is HELD FOR RANSOM, and continues to be held even though the playboy son has paid up. Is Junior in on the job, or is he merely a red herring to be married off to the cute G-Girl heroine in the last reel?

This B-minus movie is an unexpected pleasure, not just because of the 1930s location scenery of a rather handsome tourist town, but because it moves quickly and does not entirely telegraph who is a good guy and who is a bad guy from moment one. Also, harking back to the days of Pearl White, the movie features an athletic woman lead who breaks the case without too much help from the guys. The ending is a little bit of a letdown, as our heroine is pushed aside at the very end, and then is forced to participate in a somewhat random montage of stock footage. But, with this small exception, this is worth seeing for those who like old B flicks.