Arson, Inc.

ARSON, INC. is a very low-budget film and its obvious for several reasons. First, almost everyone in the film are unknowns other than Eddie Brophy in a supporting role. Brophy was in the latter part of his career and wasn't exactly a huge name, but at least he's a recognizable actor. Second, occasionally the dialog and acting are very poor--especially the prologue and epilogue by the fire chief. He had the acting talent of a tomato and the dialog they had him read was definitely the worst in the film.

As for the rest of the film, it's a reasonably interesting movie about an arson investigation. It seems that quite a few suspicious fires have occurred lately and it appears to be the work of organized crime. And, when people are killed, it's up to the hero to go undercover and learn who's responsible. Interesting and rather reminiscent of the film LOAN SHARK in plot--which is bundled on the same DVD as ARSON, INC..

By the way, the best aspect of the film was the comic relief by Maude Eburne (playing "Grandma"). She was exceptional and the few times she was in the film, it really brightened the whole thing up.

Overall, a decent little low-budget time-passer and that's about it.

A fireman goes undercover to catch a gang of professional arsonists.

I wish the movie had some memorable feature, something to distinguish it from other crime features of the period. But it doesn't. The undercover plot is borrowed from a hundred scarier crime dramas of the time. Lead actors Gwynne and Lowery are certainly capable performers, much better than the predictable material. Still, I wonder about Brophy (Pete). He's faintly comical, a colorful character right out of Damon Runyon. The trouble is he seems out of place in a serious movie like this. I guess it's left to the archly villainous Douglas Fowley to project needed menace. All in all, the movie's a Lippert production, which probably accounts for the various cost-cutters (cheap sets, absence of big fires to menace hero), plus a general lack of imagination. My advice is you've probably seen it before, so skip it, unless you're a fan of Lowery or Gwynne.

Simplicity is the secret to vintage B movies like Lippert's "Arson, Inc.". Watching it almost 75 years after release I wondered the obvious: is there something missing here?

Movies cover a wide range of subjects and are generally designed to entertain and at least provide escape from the mundane, the routine of everyday life. With a B movie, aiming at just an hour or so in length and nothing pretentious in content, the diversion can come from colorful characters, amusing situations or novel plot twists. Of course, exploitation subject matter, whether it be sex, drugs or "forbidden" topics, is a sure-fire way of interesting the viewer.

Too many Bs like "Arson, Inc." are mundane and ordinary, almost reveling in their generic nature. (Sometimes this was on purpose: I remember as a drive-in and grindhouse enthusiast in the '70s watching some features, often dubbed foreign films, that existed as "chasers" -boring junk designed to empty the theater or drive-in parking area as few people would want to sit through them a second time.) I suspect "Arson, Inc." was tolerable when released, as a simple story, easy to follow, and easily consumed, to be forgotten immediately. Decades later there's a tendency to put such simple artifacts on a pedestal, whether for nostalgic reasons or simply to magnify the contrast between the old & standard cultural norm with current gimmicky entertainment. I try not to fall into that trap.

"Arson, Inc." is relentlessly uninteresting, presenting the story of a profession that is dull -basically a fireman acting as a specialized insurance investigator. Watching it, my mind quickly wandered to the current psa commercials broadcast about disability insurance fraud - a real-life problem, but trivialized in the tv pitch of how we should all be vigilant (in the 9/11 style of "if you see something, say something") to report miscreant employers or employees cheating the government and thereby us taxpayers out of many millions of dollars annually. Methinks these psa appeals to the public will not make the slightest dent in the problem.

So stalwart (say, wooden) hero Robert Lowery working undercover is a boring way of introducing the captive viewer to a boring subject. Sure, fires and arson are potentially exciting -as witness the current hit tv series "Fire Country", a procedural broadcast show generating more interest than many a big-deal gimmicky cable miniseries. But with a dependable hack William Berke directing this movie goes nowhere, not even the usual car chase and shootout scene perking things up -soon we're right back to cliches a mile a minute, and nominal villain Douglas Fowley playing "Frederick P. Fender" up to his old dastardly tricks.

More mind-wandering: was it a coincidence that singer Freddy Fender, born in 1937 so the right age to have watched "Arson, Inc." on a Saturday afternoon double feature, came up with that catchy stage name? I hadn't thought of him in ages.

An eager young fireman played by Robert Lowery suspects arson in a store fire and he's got good reason to think so. His suspicions are confirmed and he gets a promotion to the arson investigation squad. The job gets doubly dangerous when a previous arson investigator is killed and his briefcase containing all his investigation notes go missing.

The trail leads to insurance investigator Douglas Fowley who has a sweet little kickback racket going about his insured clients kicking back money from their settlements to Fowley.

Fowley even supplies his own torch in the person of roly poly character actor Edward Brophy. Usually Brophy played good natured mugs in films and he starts out that way here. But he's far more dangerous than Lowery originally thinks.

In its short running time Arson, Inc. does deliver the entertainment goods. There's not a frame of film wasted and it's nicely edited, unusual for film from a poverty row studio like Lippert Pictures. Look also for a nice performance from Maud Eburne as the wise cracking grandma for Lowery's girlfriend Anne Gwynne.

But it's Brophy who really steals the show. It's a side of him rarely seen on screen.

Interesting little film offering an unusual topic, a firemen story, a fire fighter also a lead invesigator about an arson case. Arson is not new in thriller category, but this one is really fast paced, thrilling, a good William Berke's flick, better than many othets he made in the past and even later. Solid story, above average production for this kind of stuff, yes, a very good little gem. I guess only a handful of movie buffs know this film. Robert Lowery is a bland actor who shines here, compared to what he did in most of the other films he played in. A good gem to discover, it is worth watching.