Feu rouge

I'm not all that familiar with director Roy Del Ruth, but this was a surprisingly solid little film noir. George Raft's brother is murdered, but left a clue as to the identity of his killer in a Gideon Bible, the MacGuffin of the piece, which Raft spends most of the film trying to locate. There's a fine cast for a low budget crime picture, which includes the under appreciated Virginia Mayo, along with Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, William Frawley, and Henry Morgan (who nearly steals the picture with his villainous phychotic supporting role). Del Ruth directs this film noir with a fair amount of visual style, which was the main reason for holding my interest. Dimitri Tiomkin provided the score. Overall, the film isn't all that original, but it has a strong cast and solid direction, which makes it a must see for fans of film noir. FUN FACT! I recently learned that star Raft was a functional illiterate who had to have his scripts read to him by others.

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!

With so much of this gangster melodrama revolving around the Gideon Bible holding the clue to the murderer, it's no wonder that Dimktri Tiomkin plays up the pious "Ave Maria" every time any mention of "the clue" is made. George Raft's monotone voice and intense expression never changes much throughout, but he's convincing as a man on a mission to find and kill his brother's murderer.

Along the way, he enlists the aid of the lovely Virginia Mayo, who helps him track down the killer while reminding him that his brother was strictly a "Thou shalt not kill" sort of Army Chaplain. Thus, the grim ending for the killer comes not from Raft but providence when he's disposed of quite dramatically.

Raymond Burr plays the "heavy," a sadistic thug who seems to enjoy every kill, even if it means pushing a man off a train or having a truck falling on top of a man in hiding. A good cast, including Arthur Franz as Raft's brother, Gene Lockhart, Harry Morgan, Barton MacLane, Ken Murray, William Frawley and Arthur Shields. Virginia Mayo gives an excellent performance as the gutsy gal who helps Raft in his quest to find a killer.

Trivia: Interesting to note that most of the supporting cast would go on to TV fame in an era when that medium was just starting to give film players some iconic breaks.

Summing up: Good revenge melodrama with film noir touches.

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.

One man (Raymond Burr) avenges being sent to prison for embezzling from a San Francisco trucking company by having the younger brother, a priest played by Arthur Franz, of the owner of the trucking company (George Raft) killed, shot in cold blood in a hotel room by Burr's prison associate Henry Morgan. The killing itself is impressively done and Morgan looks surprisingly mean. Burr is in top form looking downright menacing, and basically carries a lot of this film, as Raft's part goes way overboard as the vengeful older brother, though the Gideon's Bible angle of the film gives the part some saving grace. Virginia Mayo's role as one of the people who stayed in the hotel room where the murder took place, does not add much, as she is used by Raft to help find the Bible in which there is supposedly a clue to the killer's identity. As well, the great talent of Gene Lockhart gets somewhat squandered in his role as company VP. The role of the Bible itself makes the film a bit of a religious noir, an element that is also captured in some superb cinematography by the great Bert Glennon. The final fifteen minutes do definitely not let one down as Burr and Raft meet in the trucking company office on a rainy night, and the pieces fall efficiently together.