Big Town After Dark

After an argument causes his best reporter "Lorelei Kilbourne" (Hillary Brooke) to tender her 2-week notice, a newspaper's managing editor "Steve Wilson" (Phillip Reed) immediately hires a fairly attractive young woman named "Susan Peabody" (Ann Gillis) to replace her. Naturally, the fact that Susan just happens to be the niece of the man who owns the newspaper causes some speculation but what concerns Lorelei even more is the suspicion that Susan isn't being totally honest about her past. However, when news breaks that Susan has been kidnapped by some local gamblers, things begin to take a deadly turn for everyone involved. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a passable crime-drama which was diminished somewhat by the paint-by-numbers direction and rather mediocre acting overall. Be that as it may, although this clearly wasn't a great movie by any means, I found it to be adequate for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

It''s the kind of crime drama that spread in the forties, it is easy to confound it with many other of this kind. It iis talkative, boring, despite the short length. A newspaper man denouncing, fighting against gambling ring. Who cares? I tried to watch it closely but failed. I got asleep, I highly prefer Phil Karlson's SCANDAL SHEET or any other Horace McCoy's novels adaptation. I won't advise to any buff to watch this one at any cost. Watch it only if you have nothing else to do, because it is rare and bearable. I don't know the director and am not in a hurry to discover his filmography. That's all.

Hillary Brooke has published a novel and has another under contract. So she's quitting as crime reporter on the newspaper. Editor Phillip Reed doesn't want her to go, so when the publisher's niece, Ann Gillis, comes in asking for a job, he assigns her to Our Miss Brooke's beat, with a couple of weeks to train her. On Miss Gillis' suggestion, the paper begins beating the drums to close down the poker clubs around the state. Then Miss Gillis gets kidnapped by club owner Richard Travis. Or is she?

It's a Pine-Thomas production, and the Dollar Bills always turned out a decent B movie. They have exceeded themselves with this one, with a plot so twisty you can't see what's going on, and a particularly fine performance by Travis, who exudes an air of menace far from his usual nice-guy demeanor. Even Vince Barnett is enjoyable for once. There's also fun in a reference to Hildy Johnson, the center of THE FRONT PAGE. Does this mean Big Town is Chicago? The exteriors look like LA.

Big Town After Dark from 1947 stars Philip Reed and Hillary Brooke.

Reed is Steve, managing editor of Illustrated Press and receives the sad news that his top reporter, Lorelei Kilbourne (Brooke) has sold her novel and giving twovweeks' notice.

Steve hires the publisher's niece, Susan (Ann Gillis) as a replacement. Her uncle wanted him to convince her to stay in college, but Susan confesses that she flunked out and has actually been working part-time as a reporter. Lorelei is convinced Steve hired Susan to make her jealous.

Susan says she is on a crusade to close gambling clubs in the city, so Steve takes her to dinner at the Winners Club. During a fight, he's knocked unconscious. The next day, it appears Susan has been kidnapped. Her uncle winds up handing over $50,000 in a stock deal which he interprets as a kidnap demand.

Turns out, Susan wasn't kidnapped. Lorelei becomes suspicious and starts checking her story.

Okay programmer with an interesting plot. Reed at certain angles reminds me of Tyrone Power around the eyes. Low production values, low budget, strictly poverty row.

A typical reporter crime movie. As usual, there is a crack female reporter and her sidekick, the guy she loves, who's having to go it alone. Enter a little 21 year old femme fatale who plays the innocent and disrupts things. She is trouble from the start, but the blinders are on and she manages to work things up. She has connections to a gang that runs a gambling palace in Big Town. Anyway, this is pretty much what you would expect. There are misleading clues, bad judgments, sloppy reporting, just plain carelessness. It's interesting how these guys get themselves into life and death situations and don't bother to have any backup. Suffice it to say, even though the big lug has a fixation on this little woman, it's the rock solid older woman who pulls him back to his senses. Unfortunately, he ends up in the hospital in the process. A decent film, but no new territory.