Ilusión mortal

This is a film about what you don't see and what they don't say. When one girl claims Nick is going to introduce her to theatrical producers another girl says "So that's what he calls them."

When the cops come to the club unannounced they're swarmed with 4 young ladies all anxious to get to know these total strangers. When the cops make it clear they are not interested in this bevy of beauties, the girls all slink away looking of greener pastures.

The word "talent" is used like a code, maybe for sexual availability: "He said I have a lot of talent," "They're looking for new talent," "that girl didn't have any talent."

I'm not sure what the latin guy is planning but it requires a truckload of friendly young females. We're just left to imaging this orgy.

I'm wouldn't call what's going on here sex trafficking. These women seem free to leave if they want. They don't have a lot of optional occupations in mind. Make a note, if you're a hot girl with no plan B, someone sleazy will have a suggestion.

SMOKING RITUAL

At times, Conrad Nagel is engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke. Imagine how he must have smelled.

Watch the conversation at the bar between the new recruit ("He's going to give me the lead part") as the seasoned escort handles a 4 inch cigarette holder. This trashy/classy accessory is one I've seen only in the movies.

Pitiful acting, a crashing bore. Skip this one. Kane Richmond wasn't what you could call first rate in the acting department, but he was handsome--in this one as in all his films. Poor Audrey Long never had a chance in Hollywood--she was just a nice girl, hardly Hollywood material. In fact Richmond was also a "nice guy"--very boring by Hollywood standards of the time. Anyway this picture is a flop--Richmond left movies after this and so did the director, and probably with relief.

Nightclub owner Benny Nordick is arguing with his hostess Helen Howard. They fight over his gun and he shots her dead. Petty criminal Nick Mantee offers to cover it up and dumps the body in the streets. Police Lt. Williams and Sgt. Tom Ramey starts the investigation by interviewing the family. Helen's sister Nancy gets involved. Meanwhile, Nick blackmails Benny over the murder.

The investigation is too slow. The movie spends too much time with the family. Everything about the cops move at about half a step too slow. Even their walking is a slow mosey. The family is bland. Maybe they could streamline it to just Nancy. The movie slows to a crawl when the cops take over the narrative. Nick is the only truly interesting character. The criminals have some fun. It's the saving grace in an otherwise bland crime drama. The cops need to be more compelling.

Nightclub and model agency owner John Gallaudet (Benny) defends himself when an enraged Wanda McKay (Helen Howard) pulls a gun on him in his office. In the ensuing struggle, she is shot dead. The incident is witnessed by nasty employee Kane Richmond (Nick) who uses blackmail to promote his status and become co-owner of both businesses. Gallaudet agrees to the arrangement in return for Kane's silence. The police team of Conrad Nagel (Williams) and Ralph Byrd (Ramey) try to uncover the murderer but when they don't seem to be treating things as urgently as they should be, the murdered girl's sister Audrey Long (Nancy) takes matters into her own hands.

The film is ok. Nagel entertained me the most with his moments of unconvincing acting in the style of Whit Bissell. This is evident when he delivers all the preachy stuff about 100s of girls going missing every day and the classic ending where he pretty much tells all young women to stay at home with their mums. Hilarious. I also learned how not to deliver bad news to people.

Interesting to take note of the scam in this film whereby young girls are fooled into thinking they are signing up for a course that will turn them into movie stars. In reality, they are being groomed to act as hostesses in a gentleman's club. It's your basic escort work. Pretty clever idea for whoever thought of it first. Anyway, this film presumes the murdered McKay was an innocent girl who was obviously wrongly killed. We never know the truth surrounding this and I have to admit to feeling sorry for Gallaudet during this film. He seems alright and he's no fool. Unlike Richmond.

Structured much like an exploitation film, but minus any sleaze

or cynicism, this 1948 crime drama exposes the sordid world of "modeling agencies" set up to entrap and exploit lonely runaway young women from small towns who find themselves in the big city, waiting for some kind of "break" toward a career in modeling or acting. With a first-class supporting cast (Conrad Nagel, Evelyn Brent, Wanda McKay, Ralph "Dick Tracy" Byrd), the film pits Audrey Long--the sister of the young woman whose murder opens the film-- against the seedy yet suave Kane Richmond. Richmond, in one of his last roles before retiring from the screen and re-entering the business world, is best-known as leading man in many 1930s/1940s action films and serials, yet here he is the heavy, and he uses his personal charm to comfort then exploit the young women who are all to eager for a "break." Director William Nigh--whose last film this was and whose credits as director-writer-actor-producer date back to the mid-1910s--keeps the action moving at a brisk pace, but clearly worked with each actor to capture the right tone of performance, so that as "predictable" as the elements of the film may be to the genre-film fan, each character seems real. I first saw this film six or eight years ago and just watched it again, and it's just as solid and riveting as I remember it. Kane Richmond is especially memorable in a rare villain role, and the devoted fan of B-crime films of the 40s (this was a Monogram release) should search for a copy.