Undercover Girl

Undercover Girl is the second noir movie directed by Joseph Pevney after the interesting Shakedown. A policeman is killed and his policewoman daughter (Alexis Smith) searches for the killer and his drug organisation, she meets all kind of weird and deranged people, the best being Royal Dano really creepy as a desperate wolf looking for a nasty thing to do, crawling along walls with his tie with a naked girl (he makes me think of Jack Elam we see in another script writer Harry Essex noir title, Kansas City Confidential). The all cast is great, giving an anguishing atmosphere to this too rare movie.

This intense and captivating film noir from 1950 feels groundbreaking and significant and deserving of noteworthy acclaim, which unfairly it hasn't received. While watching this remarkable film, I couldn't help but be keenly aware of how ahead of its time Undercover Girl is, not just for its content but cinematically. The story follows a female police officer named Christine Miller (played with mesmerizing brilliance by Alexis Smith in a career-best performance), who is determined to avenge the murder of her father by going undercover to take down the narcotics ring responsible for his death. In so many ways, this feels like a fantastic precursor for Police Woman, Cagney and Lacey, and even Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Yet, the gender of our main character is not the only celebratory element: this is a damn good movie from start to finish. Giving Alexis Smith terrific on-screen support is Royal Dano in a complex role (his movie debut nonetheless) with which the very talented actor gains the audience's sympathy - something tough to do for a desperate low rent character. Director Joseph Pevney (who would continue to helm films with strong female leads including Because of You with Loretta Young and Female on the Beach with Joan Crawford) knows how to hold his audience in a permanent state of suspense, masterfully creating a level of nail-biting intensity, evident in the last riveting ten minutes of this taut thriller (you'll be on the edge of your seat cheering our tough and clever heroine on). There's much to admire about this hugely underrated cinematic gem: from breaking gender norms (a woman on the screen who has a dangerous job and isn't relegated to housework and cocktail serving to her overworked husband) to being one of the best crime films made, Undercover Girl deserves far better glory and a lot of respect.

This is a highly unpleasant and nasty noir dealing with the very bottom end of dirty business and criminal rackets, the drug business manufactured and delivered through the respectable front of a doctor, while his gang of hoodlums, gangsters, murderers and inhuman racketeers is one of the worst possible conceivable rogues gallery, one constantly growing more desperate in fear and anxiety (Royal Dano) while the scariest is the bulky thug with a broken neck. They are really monsters all of them, while stepping down to them and standing out of the film with glory is Alexis Smith, always stylish and making a magnificent appearance, here also dressed up extra in the stola and luxury wardrobe of the dame she acts to personify in order to get at the gang and especially her father's murderer. It is one of the most revolting noirs for its abhorrent story but magnificently worked out and made real in nerve-racking realism, while once again you will never forget Alexis Smith.

This was only the second film directed by Joseph Pevney, and although it was made on the same old B picture shoe string which made the rounds of the footwear of every B producer, it is good sturdy stuff. Alexis Smith does an excellent job of portraying the lead character, revealing several different sides to the character with equal conviction. She can be soft, she can be tough, she can be nondescript, she can be glamorous. So she is very chameleon-like, and it works. Her two love interests are Scott Brady and Richard Egan, both convincing. The film is strengthened by the brief but reassuring presence of Connie Gilchrist as Sadie, who may have a small part but she adds fibre to the diet. Gerald Mohr is there, a smoothie psycho gangster, just the sort of guy we don't want to meet. And this film marked the film debut of the extraordinary character actor Royal Dano. He plays a loser 'groupie' to some gangsters, and of course after playing with fire gets seriously burned. We really worry about him as he whines his way from crisis to crisis. He has that lean, tormented look of a starving hound dog, and wears a wonderful garish tie with a naked girl on it, which he hopes makes him look tough. Edmon Ryan is interesting as a crooked doctor wracked with remorse, oscillating between killing people and wanting to be a good dad and renew his Hippocratic oath. The film is surprisingly robust, and it holds one's attention well. Will the undercover girl get the guys who killed her pa? Or will they get her first? This is a surprisingly early film about drug-dealers. Any undercover cop seeing it must get the shivers when he hears the line, delivered ominously: 'Nobody in Chicago knows you.' Watch out! Your alibi is unravelling! Yes, it has its nervous moments. Undercover work is best watched on the screen, far preferable to undertaking it in real life, dontchathink?

Rookie policewoman Alexis Smith (Chris/Sally) goes undercover to help Police Lieutenant Scott Brady (Trent) smash a drugs gang and exact revenge on the man who killed her father.

The story is ok but the picture quality isn't too good. It's also unbelievable nonsense. Smith is badly cast - she doesn't have the looks to physically attract so many people and she is too square-looking to convince as a top gangster woman. It also makes no sense why seasoned bad girl Gladys George (Liz) would open up to her and tell her all that she does. There is also no way that Smith would be sent in to carry out that final sting. There is so much that is just a load of tosh with this film, but it keeps the audience watching.

Goodness knows why the female trainee officers have to wear shorts during target practice. Very funny. They should also wear shorts when making arrests. And when answering the telephone.