Endstation Mord

The opening and closing images of this movie, directed by Ted Tetzlaff, fall firmly in the tradition of evocative noir staging and shooting. Too bad the bulk of the movie falls far short of that promise. Victor Mature, an operative in a gambling syndicate bossed by duplicitous William Bendix, eludes a rap but finds himself about to be deported. Squeakily wholesome Terry Moore, who works expediting such cases, falls for Mature (she's the primary female presence in the film, which cries out for a darker, more ambiguous woman). For long stretches it's unclear whether the script is about the inequalities of the immigration laws or about the dangers of organized gambling. A much grittier treatment of the same subject, from the same era, is The Lady Gambles, starring the First Lady of Film Noir, Barbara Stanwyck.

Victor Mature was a tough and solid leading man hero in many films, but in Gambling House he lets William Bendix make a chump out of him. In fact he gets into a real jackpot with the Immigration authorities.

This story hit home with me because I knew someone who was in just such a bind as Mature was in this film. He was born in Canada of Puerto Rican parents and he was undocumented until he was an adult. For him it was cumbersome process to get citizenship and he was ill equipped to deal with it. But that's another story.

The story of Charles 'Lucky' Luciano was in everyone's mind back then so the story here resonated with the American audiences. Luciano got himself deported to Italy as did a few other foreign born gangsters back then. This was no idle threat.

Mature takes a murder rap for Bendix and pleads self defense and Bendix agrees to a $50,000.00 payment and Mature takes his IOU. Just like Alan Ladd who gets burned with hot money after a contract in This Gun For Hire, Mature gets ratted out to immigration.

When Mature by dint of circumstances is forced to make contact with various hopeful immigrants the film takes an abrupt turn into social drama from noir. Helping him find a social conscience is rich do-gooder socialite Terry Moore.

The end is taken from one of Mature's much better films, Kiss Of Death without the dramatic impact it had in that one. William Bendix was never bad in any film, but he's sadly wasted in one of RKO's lesser noir films.

"Gambling House" begins with a murder. A mobster like Farrow (William Bendix) did it, but isn't about to take the rap. So, he hatches a plan--Marc Fury (Victor Mature) will claim he killed the man and Farrow will say he witnessed it and it was self-defense. Well, the jury believed it and now Fury is going to be $50,000 richer. However, he's caught by surprise when he's leaving the courtroom--when he's served with a deportation order. Apparently, he came to America as a very, very young boy and didn't realize his family was never naturalized. And, so, because of this loophole, he might be forced to go to live in Italy. Marc isn't at all happy--but not because he's losing his citizenship but because he's a tough guy and doesn't like being told what to do. So, with the help of a social worker (Terry Moore), he's going to fight this order. And, this is a tall order for a guy who is this cynical!

The film is a very strange combination of genres. It's clearly film noir because of the dialog---Fury talks and acts like a classic noir character, as does Farrow. But, it's also a social commentary film, a HIGHLY patriotic film AND a romance to boot! Strange certainly is the word for this melange! But is it any good? Sure. The film has its shortcomings (it's a bit too heavy-handed when it comes to the American dream and the chemistry with Peters seems forced) but it also is good entertainment and Mature is very entertaining as Fury. In particular, the ending is really, really good--pure noir in style and with a twist.

This is an interesting film which is part gangster film, part film noir, and part social drama. For those interested in how deportation was used in the 1950s to get rid of undesirables, it is very educational and seems pretty realistic. I think the biggest problem with the film is the casting of the three leads, Victor Mature, Terry Moore, and William Bendix.

Mature is surprisingly good as a gangster, but he really has a good nature and looks heroic, so it is hard to see him as a thug. Moore was 21 years old at the time of the movie and Mature was 37. This type of age difference is not unusual in Hollywood movies of this time, but unfortunately, Moore looks 18 years and talks like she is 16, and Mature looks in his 40s, so the blossoming love relationship between them seems misplaced. There were probably 50 actresses from 25-45 who would have been great with Mature, but Moore just seems in the wrong picture. Moore is great in other pictures, like "Mighty Joe Young," but at 21, she lacks the gravity to be a counter-balance to Mature's brooding performance. He is also about a foot taller than her. She looks like his daughter when she is next to him.

Worse, William Bendix, one of the great comic actors of this time plays the villain. Anybody who has seen him in his "Life of Riley" television series or other comic roles he has played in can only be disappointed that he plays the villain straight without any comic touches. He is not bad as the villain, but it does seem a waste of his talents.

It does move along fairly well and does generate some suspense in the key scenes. Don't go in with high expectations and you'll enjoy it.

A very good part for Victor Mature as an associate in a gambling operation run by William Bendix, who finds out, when he's about to be deported, that he isn't a US citizen, even though he fought in WW2. When he's banned to Ellis Island for a brief time, he looks lost amid the newly arrived immigrants. His romance with Terry Moore, a young looking idealist who helps recent immigrants, doesn't have much heat, though it leads to a great scene with the two of them driving along a dark road in New Jersey on the way to one of Bendix's out of the way gambling houses in the Jersey woods. The closing scene on a dark corner, with Bendix and his men and Mature is text book noir. To its detriment, the film's two distinct parts don't unite very well into a cohesive whole.