A Dangerous Profession

George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O'Brien, Jim Backus, and Bill Williams star in "A Dangerous Profession," a 1949 film directed by Ted Tetzlaff.

Vince Kane (Raft) is an ex-cop who now works as a bail bondsman with his friend Joe Farley (O'Brien). A detective, Nick Ferrone (Backus) arrests Claude Brackette (Williams) a suspect in a robbery during which a police officer was killed. Kane finds out that Brackette's wife is none other than his old girlfriend, Lucy (Raines).

Lucy wants her husband out on bail. She believes he's innocent. The bail is set at $25,000, and she only has $4,000. Still angry over their breakup, and the fact that he didn't know she was married when they were together, Kane shows her the door. Then a mystery man gives Kane $12,000 toward the bail. Vince puts the company's money over the objection of his partner.

Vince thinks that an associate of Brackette's, a nightclub owner, was the brains behind the robbery. Kane poses as a crook, something that his demeanor lends itself to, and blackmails McKay to see if he can find out if he's guilty.

Fairly routine, with Raft his usual dapper and smooth self. This plot gets a little convoluted, probably due to edits. Not the best, but if you like Raft and the lovely Ella Raines, you'll enjoy it. Bill Williams played Kit Carson on TV and married to Barbara Hale, TV's Della Street on Perry Mason, for 46 years, until his death. He's the father of actor William Katt, and there's quite a resemblance.

During the late forties, George Raft made several film noirs for RKO pictures, mostly directed by Edwin Marin: NOCTURNE, INTRIGUE, JOHNNY ANGEL, RACE STREET, but here he works with Ted Tetzlaff, who gave us WHITE TOWER, and several other good films, such as the terrific THE WINDOW, his most notorious movie. So that said, here, George Raft gives us Raft's stuff, but I was more interested by Ella Raines and her wonderful eyes. It is for me only a good atmosphere film, which plot is totally lame and forgettable. Only atmosphere and George Raft - Ella Raines presence justify the watching of this crime noir.

A Dangerous Profession is a mildly diverting crime picture featuring a fine cast headed by veterans George Raft and Pat O'Brien, both of whom had seen better days by the time they appeared in this picture. Nor is the direction of the usually reliable Ted Tetzlaff up to his usual standard. This is the kind of small scale but not quite grade B movie that television was about to make obsolete, and as such an interesting historical footnote of a bygone era for those who care for such things.

A career police detective turned bail bondsman (George Raft) meets his ex-flame (Ella Raines) (he knows it's her because of the scent of the perfume that's in her and her husband's hotel room which he and detective Jim Backus search) in a fairly intricate story about her husband (Bill Williams) whose arrested for suspicion of killing a cop and then bailed out by Raft, against the wishes of his partner (Pat O'Brien). Why he's bailed out and who actually comes up with sufficient money to get him out of jail make for interesting viewing. As well, Ella Raines hits some of her more sultry looking scenes in this movie, which may not be the best movie she's ever been in, but still percolates along more than acceptably, especially when the real killer emerges as the sharp little film heads out of LA and into a convenient canyon.

A Dangerous Profession is directed by Ted Tetzlaff and written by Warren Duff and Martin Rackin. It stars George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O'Brien, Bill Williams and Jim Backus. Music is by Frederick Hollander and cinematography by Robert De Grasse.

The scene is set, it's Los Angeles and Police Lt. Nick Ferrone (Backus) explains to us with stentorian narration about the whiles of bail bond brokers. This story is concerned with one in particular, Vince Kane (Raft), a one time policeman who followed the lure of the coin into a partnership of a bail bonds operation. It's all going swimmingly well, he's making lots of cash, has gals eating out of his hand, but when a pretty face from his past turns up requesting a favour? Vince suddenly finds himself in a quagmire of murder, deceit and emotional discord.

What cop ever reformed?

Shall we cut to the chase here? This is not a "great" film, though I do believe that it's very under seen and therefore the meagre internet ratings it has - and the lack of reviews for it - don't quite tell the whole story.

There's nothing particularly striking about the visual aspects here, De Grasse's photography occasionally falls in line with what film noir fans consider standard procedure, which has led a few critics to question the film's film noir status. This is all about Vince Kane and how he is thrust into a murky new world by a slinky femme, it may be a whodunit in essence, but the Vince and Lucy Brackett (Raines) axis is most assuredly noir.

You phony Gumshoe!

Action is in short supply, leaving much of the piece in talky territory. There's a few zinger lines of dialogue in the mix, but mostly it's screen writing 101. Yet in spite of the mixed qualities on offer here, it's a film that Raft fans are sure to enjoy, because he's very much great value as the stoic but emotionally troubled Vince. In fact O'Brien turns in one of his better performances and Raines is pleasingly sultry, meaning the cast perform well up to scratch, even if the screenplay does them few favours.

A mixed bag for sure, and hardly essential for fans of such cinematic fare, but there's just enough from the cast to make this one above average. 6/10