Highway 13

William Berke, who rose from assistant boy to director/producer of B noirs, and died a young 55, certainly can claim some merits in the finished product of HIGHWAY 13. Obviously operating on a shoestring budget that even had model shots, trucks and sedans careen off Highway 13 before disappearing in explosions, he also had to make do with a clearly substandard cast. The only member of the latter that I recognized from small parts in various minor movies was Clem Bevans, the endearing old "Pops" accumulating more mischief and a longer rap sheet than I had seen coming.

Perhaps the cleverest touch in this cheap Lippert production is Mary Gordon throwing, or threatening to throw, blueberry pies in Bevans' face... I ought to have known that she was doing it for a reason, but I decided - wrongly - that she and the old geezer were two geriatrics and nothing more, thereby ignoring the consistency of "Pops'" presence in this 58-minute noir.

Robert Lowery is a third rate actor but he does not compromise; as indicated, Bevans and Gordon actually elevate the film's acting standard; and Maris Wrixon and Frank Whalen play suave villains. The real poor choice, sadly, is Pamela Blake, who cannot act to save her life, and is given far too significant a role saving the day in the end.

The screenplay by Maurice Trombagel is concise and keeps you interested, cinematography by Carl Berger reflects the film's low budget but I have seen far, far worse. I found the ending rather fitting, too, with justice rightly served to the deserving parties. 7/10.

There's a Lot Packed-In this 58min...3.5 Day Shoot...

Truck-Driver Robert Lowery is Under Investigation for Sabotaging Rigs Originating from the Fleet He's Working For.

Multiple-Suspects, Multiple Over-the-Cliff-Crashes, a Neat-Little Mystery to be Solved, with a Plenty of Action Along a Side-Dish Diner Romance.

Atypical, Rather Nasty Murders Take Place On and Off the Road, and the Guilty Party is Hard to Spot, but Maybe Not.

Everything Comes Crashing Down in Less than an Hour, and the Bang-for-the-Buck is a Good Bet on this Nifty, Pulpy, Entertainment that Contains some Edgy Characters.

The Old-Geezer who Runs the Diner/Truck-Stop Needles His Wife Once too Often and Gets a Pie-in-the-Face, that is Oddly Not Done for Laughs and is Quite Odd.

That's a Good Description of the "Lippert-Studios" Under-Card...Odd...

as it Rides the Road Right In-Line Behind other Popular "Top-Card" Movies from the Era with the Likes of George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, and Richard Conte.

This One Belies Its Own Low-Low-Budget and Delivers the Goods, and if You're Lucky Enough to Spot it on Your Travels.

Looking for Obscure, Little Movies with Big Rewards, it's...

Worth a Watch.

An amiable war vet trucker is suddenly surrounded by bad dialogue, weak acting, and a rash of fatal truck accidents with cheesy butane lighter explosions!

Robert Lowery drives a truck for a living and is sort of engaged to Pamela Blake, a waitress at a truck stop diner run by her uncle Clem Bevan and aunt Mary Gordon. But too many of the company's trucks have been getting into accidents near the stop, destroying cargo and vehicle. Lowery is purportedly fired, and sent in to investigate.

For a Lippert movie directed by William Berke, there are some nice touches here, if you ignore all the toy cars that wind up falling off mountainsides. The acting is decent, and there are some pleasant moments in the script, like when Lowery and another driver are discussing how they came to drive trucks: one on the Burma Road, and the other in the Red Ball Express. Then they admire each other's coolness. Other than that, it's a standard sort of movie, competent handled on a short budget -- the IMDB trivia claims it was shot in 3.5 days. As a result, there aren't many subtleties, but there is professionalism.

Never in cinematic history have so many Dinky Toys crashed and burned in such close proximity, in such rapid succession. A series of 'accidents' involving H. G. V.s owned by Norris Trucking is quickly followed by a similar car wreck causing the death of company heiress Henrietta Denton, witnessed by well meaning trucker, Robert Lowery - though smoking a pipe at the scene of the inferno was hardly the wisest move he could have made!

The affable Lowery frequents Pops' diner, where his delightful fiance, Pamela Blake is employed, but when a further death occurs involving his own vehicle, his Johnny on the spot presence arouses suspicion of murder, amidst ongoing murmurings of sabotage.

This Poverty Row, Robert L. Lippert outing, replete with William Berke's clunking, low-budget direction raises a number of smiles along the way. Never quite descending into so bad it's good territory, the simplistic, ham fisted delivery ensures that 'Highway 13' is consistently entertaining and the snappy running time helps to keep dull moments to a minimum.