Red Light

When army chaplain Arthur Franz is shot and killed, his brother, San Francisco businessman George Raft sets out to discover who did it.... and to take vengeance before the police can stop him. His only clue are Franz's last words and a missing Gideon Bible. We already know it's Raymond Burr.

It's an unusual film noir produced and directed by Roy Del Ruth. Instead of the usual insistence on man's sinful nature in a world gone to ruin, this one has a clear religious message; it looks Catholic to me, but sufficiently worn down to avoid offending any rabid Presbyterians in the audience. Raft wanders through the movie with the same low-affect performance he gave in seemingly all his later movies, but that permits others to emote more fully without seeming to go over the top.

... because you always know what you're going to get. However, that doesn't mean that I don't really enjoy his movies. Nobody, I mean nobody does revenge like Raft. Here he plays businessman Johnny Torno, proud older brother of young Jess Torno, a priest recently returned from being a chaplain in WWII. Four years earlier Torno's bookkeeper Nick Cherney (Raymond Burr) was sent to prison for embezzling from Johnny's company - he was embarrassingly guilty and it was really a lot of money. Instead of blaming the man in the mirror, Nick blames Johnny for his fate and crafts a particularly cruel revenge. If he kills Johnny, Johnny's troubles are over. However, if he kills what is precious to him - brother Jess - he can plunge Johnny into a living hell of grief. He sends a hit man (Harry Morgan) out to do the killing. Johnny finds Jess just before he dies. Of course Johnny wants to know who did this so he can kill them in revenge - he tells Jess so - and Jess tells him the answer is written in a Bible.

Now at first Johnny thinks Jess means his own personal Bible, but after searching through it he finds nothing. He then realizes that Jess probably meant the Gideon Bible that is found in every hotel room. This starts Johnny on a search for the missing Bible and all of the guests in the hotel room since Jess' death who might have taken it. Nick, now out of prison, along with the hit man, are right on Johnny's heels hoping their plans are not discovered.

It is very odd to see later TV good guys Harry Morgan and Raymond Burr playing such sinister characters but the performances ring true. So does Virginia Mayo as a girl Johnny befriends along the way as the voice of reason and even redemption. Raft wrestles here not only with bad guys and a mystery but with God Himself - he treats the Almighty either like a traffic cop that he thinks can be bribed or an unreliable employee that he doesn't fire because he enjoys blaming him for his troubles, depending on his mood.

A good noir and good stuff from Raft - highly recommended.

How satisfying! What better casting than George Raft as ANGRY MAN?? The Lord may say: "Vengeance is mine," but Georgie says "the heck with that noise -- this one's MY baby!" He rampages through a multi-state search-and-destroy mission in his quest to find the message hidden in the Gideon Bible that was in his brother's room when he was killed. Raymond Burr and Harry Morgan are his Mutt and Jeff antagonists: The irony of course being that as he fervently seeks the Bible, he fervently disregards it. But with a little Mayo on the side, things turn spiritual on Georgie, forcing him to listen to The Man before he can do a Godzilla on Godzie's old pal Burr. This is George Raft vs. The Lord, and it's anybody's match! Great fun all around, and there are even moral lessons, if you're into moral lessons, and intense but effective music to learn by, in the bargain. If you can find it, it's worth an hour and a half in your busy schedule, and you might even end up spiritually uplifted -- but stay out from under big trucks -- they're heavy!

Businessman George Raft is out for blood after his priest brother is murdered. The brother's last words are about a bible so Raft scours the city searching for it, hoping it holds a clue to the identity of his brother's killer. Fine film noir with George Raft bringing a "WB gangster from the '30s" edge to things. It's a really good performance from tough guy Raft. This is about as sensitive as he gets on screen. He even cries in one scene. Great cast backing him up, including Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, Barton MacLane, and Harry Morgan. Virginia Mayo provides the lovely. Burr's a memorable heavy. Starts and ends well but middle drags some. Scene with the window washer is pretty cheesy stuff. Final scene is something of an eye-roller.

George Raft stars in the 1949 "Red Light" with Virginia Mayo, Raymond Burr, Gene Lockhart, Arthur Franz, and a host of other familiar faces.

Raft plays Johnny Torno, the head of the Torno Freight Company. When he caught Nick Cherney (Burr) embezzling from him, he had him put in prison.

When Johnny's brother Jess, an army chaplain, is discharged, Nick sees a chance to get back at Johnny, who adores his brother. Jess is found dying in a hotel room, and all he can say to Johnny is, "Bible...in the Bible." Johnny believes that Jess means his own Bible. Eventually he realizes he meant the Gideon Bible in his hotel room. But the Gideon Bible is missing by the time Johnny gets back there.

Johnny sets out to find the Bible by tracking down anyone who had stayed in the room since Jess, determined to find out who killed his brother and killing the murderer himself.

The Bible plays an important part in the film, not just the physical Bible, but what's inside. And it isn't what Johnny thinks.

I really liked this movie because of its interesting slant, and also, I don't know what it is, but I like George Raft. He normally stays in one range - he's dapper, he gets angry, he's tough -- and in this film, he's really tough. I mean, nobody gets to him, not even a blind man! One thing Raft had on screen was warmth, and here, you see Johnny's love for Jess, and his pain when his brother dies.

The other thing about this movie that is wonderful is all the familiar faces - besides actors known primarily for films: Raft, Mayo, and Lockhart, we have TV star Burr, Harry Morgan (September Bride, Pete & Gladys, MASH), William Frawley (I Love Lucy), Victor Sen Young (Charlie Chan, Bonanza), Barton MacLane (I Dream of Jeannie), Arthur Franz, who was in everything, Philip Pine, who must have done every TV show ever, Ken Murray, known for his home movies of celebrities, Paul Frees, the "Man of a Thousand Voices" who was the voice of Boris on Rocky the Squirrel), Bob Jellison (Bobby the Bellboy when "I Love Lucy" was in Hollywood), and Marlon Brando's first wife Movita.

Dmitri Tiomkin's music ranges from riffs on Ave Maria, Dies Irae, and some Tosca thrown in. Good movie.