ऋण शार्क

I found this little gem in the library. It was part of a "Hollywood's Attic" collection and had no information on the case other than the title, but I decided to check it out and have a few laughs. When I saw the credits, I decided anything with George Raft couldn't be all bad and decided to watch it through. Even though he was middle aged at the time, Raft was true to form in his portrayal of the ex-con tough guy infiltrating a loan shark operation responsible for his brother-in-law's death. Nice acting by everyone, including a young Russell Johnson. Definitely not Oscar caliber, but worth it if you're a film noir fan.

OK: That's only at the beginning. catch the start of this nice little noir. Raft makes an entrance any diva would have been pleased with. And he arrives to visit his sister. On the way, he passes a squabbling couple. The sister greets him with love and concern, commenting on how tired he looks. And then he goes to soak in a hot bath! Later in the movie, we see that the authors have been influenced by another play that became a movie: The girlfriend of one of the bad guys suddenly sounds like Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn, from "Born yesterday." It may indeed have been unconscious. But wait: The climactic scene -- and this is giving nothing away -- is set in a theater.

All this said, it's an excellent movie for something on so obviously low a budget. Raft is the same as he usually was. He's not exciting but he gives a solid performance. The lead female, Dorothy Hart, is attractive and convincing. The supporting cast is very good and they're all well directed.

It's by no means a great movie but it's a decent, good one, worth your time.

Loan Shark finds George Raft an ex-con come to live with his sister Helen Westcott after his release. Their neighbor and secretary to the owner of the factory where Westcott's husband is employed, Dorothy Hart puts in a good word for Raft for a job.

Owner Charles Meredith has a special job in mind for Raft, investigating and finding out who's behind a group of loan sharks who have been putting many of his employees in their debt. Raft doesn't want this kind of work, but changes his mind when his brother-in-law Bill Phipps is killed.

But unfortunately this involves Raft going undercover and working for the gang until he can find out who the real boss is. He makes a lot of enemies, including Westcott and Hart until the job is done.

The film was done for B picture studio Lippert films and possibly at a major studio it would have had a lot of the plot holes filled. The writing could have used some improvement, but action goes along at a nice pace and Raft is perfectly cast in the hero part. During this time Raft was doing most of his work in B films and some of them are not bad at all. Loan Shark is one of them.

Loan Shark is a nice little gangster melodrama centering in on the loan sharking racket. By the time this movie was made, George Raft's popularity was dwindling. But for George Raft fans, this movie still makes the grade. In my opinion, with the exception of "Each dawn I Die", "They drive by night" and "Invisible Stripes", his best movies were done in the 1950's. In Loan Shark, Raft is cast as Joe Gargan, a tough ex con who wants to settle down and go straight by working with his brother-in-law's tire company. But alas, the tire plant is infected by a wave of assaults and killings. The plant's general manager pleads with Raft to find the criminals responsible and perhaps put an end to the bloodshed. Watch for Russell Johnson (TV's "the professor" on Gilligan's Island")in an early role.

Good little crime drama at a time when TV and Technicolor were shoving B-flicks off the marquee. Raft may be along in years (51) for his romantic clinches, but he sure as heck continues as one of Hollywood's premier tough guys. Then too, he's in rough company with two of the industry's best no-nonsense supporting actors, Hoyt and Stewart. Together the three create a solid core of tough-guy menace that carries the storyline.

Seems Joe (Raft) is just out of prison and wants to go straight, but his sister's husband has been killed by loan sharks whose ruinous effect on working people he soon learns about. So he decides to to expose the criminal organization by going undercover and using his savvy tough-guy skills to disrupt their operation. Those scenes of him undercover in an actual tire factory are riveting and heighten the movie's general sense of menace, almost like a mechanical version of hell. On the other hand, too bad the producers used empty studio sets for supposed city streets that disrupt that general sense of realism. Also, the shootout could use less clumsy staging. Nonetheless, be sure to catch the naughty innuendo between Vince (Hoyt) and his cheap blonde mistress (Dean) - yeah, censorship's deadening 20-year grip is loosening.

Anyway, the flick's got a solid core of drama and suspense that also rewards fans of the inimitable George Raft, so don't pass it up.