Quarto grado

I love it when Mississippi Mac bangs out a tune on his head using a rubber mallet, a clever touch getting comedy relief from a TV parody of a country and western telethon. Otherwise, it's a pretty somber movie and extended showcase for Rogers then coming off a reverse blacklist of Hollywood right-wingers.

As it is, Rogers gets ninety minutes of snappy dialog with more brass than spent cartridges on a rifle range. But, frankly, all the tough talk and attitude does get tiresome despite her spirited effort. The fact that she's 40-something and starting to bulge strikes me as just right for the aging party-girl part. Remember, Sherry (Rogers) is supposed to have been around the block more than a few times and is now looking back over what she suspects is a misspent life. That's what makes her otherwise hardened character rather poignant and vulnerable.

What a shrewd piece of casting to pair the high-key Rogers with the low-key Bryan Keith. At this career stage, Keith was one of the more subtle actors around, able to convey a lot by doing very little. Director Karlson apparently liked him too, casting him also in his 5 Against the House (1955). And for Robinson and Rogers, it must have seemed like old home week at Warner Bros.

But truth be told, cult director Karlson is wasted in a crime drama that any one of a dozen lesser directors could have handled. At the same time, I didn't see the major plot twist coming which strikes me as the most memorable part of a too-stagey film; although, like other reviewers, that family spat with sister Clara (McVeagh) is a real barn burner and high point. Anyway, the film's an okay crime story that really serves as a vehicle for a Ginger Rogers career revival.

Ginger Rogers sheds her usual movie ways and portrays a girl surviving a sentence for hiding a criminal. She is offered her freedom if she will testify against someone who the government is trying to get. Problem is that her ex-boyfriend has already taken a fatal bullet on his way to testify.

Edward G. Robinson is the D.A. here in this exciting film. There is a marvelous supporting performance by Brian Keith, as the cop, assigned to watch her. Naturally, romance blooms and there is quite a surprise waiting for viewers when we realize who he really is in this film.

Here is a girl telling those in prison to keep their mouths shut and do as little as possible. "Never volunteer" is her motto. How quickly the situation and her beliefs change.

As Sherry Conley, Rogers depicts a girl whose environment led her astray. The film is well worth catching.

Lloyd Hallett (Robinson) has developed a case against the murderous Mafia kingpin Benjamin Costain (Lorne Greene, in his second film) to have him deported, because they can't get him indicted for any of his other crimes. Trouble is, all his other witnesses who could have testified against Costain have been killed. Sherry Conley (Rogers) who is serving a prison term, is their last chance to get him deported. She is offered a carrot - commutation of her sentence and a comfy hotel room with food much better than she had in prison. Will that be enough to get her to go through with testifying? If she lives? Watch and find out.

Rogers is excellent as an aging model/gangster's moll who was too softhearted in the past, and is paying for her decisions. Whether she's being sarcastic or dodging bullets, Rogers gives one of her best performances.

Robinson is matter of fact and businesslike in his role. Hallett's job is his life, and Robinson gets that across to the viewer. It's close to the role he played in "Double Indemnity" (1944), but Robinson makes the cardboard role human.

Brian Keith is very good in his role as the Fed who's at first disgusted with Sherry, then starts to care for her.

Lorne Green is one great menacing scumbag. Who knew the future wise papa of the Ponderosa had it in him? The shadowy cinematography is by Burnett Guffey, who also did the photography for "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967). The taut script was by William Bowers. Absolutely a hidden gem of noir, done by that economical studio, Columbia, which was full of good surprises such as this one, during the studio system era.

Ginger Rogers is good as the tough-talking woman sprung from prison to testify in a trial. What a strange career she had! Best known for her movies with Fred Astaire, she was also a delightful comedienne. She did some serious work in her prime, winning an Oscar for an only-OK soap opera. But she's good in "Primrose Path." She turned tough in many of her fifties outings, and she looked tough too. Here she has sort of a pixie haircut that doesn't quite work with the character and isn't flattering to her. But she's excellent.

Edward G. Robinson, billed second to her, is superb. He always was. That man was incapable of giving a bad performance, no matter how oddly cast he might have been at times. Brian Keith, whom many know for sunny outings in later television, is exceptional as a very tough cop. He really is the focus of this movie, though the Rogers character is the lead.

Who in the world was Lucy Marlow, who got fourth billing? It says prison girl. Hmm. The woman playing the matron, Katherine Anderson, is important to the plot. She is very touching as well.

Lorne Green is another actor who played some mean hombres before he became the benevolent dad on TV's "Bonanza." His character is less nuanced than the one he plays in "Autumn Leaves." But he does well by it.

Phil Karlson was an excellent director, who had some of the nastiest, darkest, roughest noirs of the fifties under his belt. This is among the best of them.

Tight Spot is directed by Phil Karlson and adapted to screenplay by William Bowers from the play "Dead Pigeon" written by Leonard Kantor. It stars Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson, Brian Keith, Lorne Green and Eve McVeagh. Music is by George Duning and cinematography by Burnett Guffey.

Sherry Conley (Rogers) is offered a way out of her prison term if she agrees to testify as a witness in the trial of mobster Benjamin Costain (Green). Holed up in a hotel room under police protection, Sherry starts to form a close relationship with Lt. Vince Striker (Keith). Just as Costain's hit-men start to close in...

Is it noir or not? That's a question that has cropped up quite a bit since Columbia released it as part of their Film Noir Classics III Collection. The presence of Karlson (Kansas City Confidential), Guffey (In A Lonely Place), Bowers (The Mob) and Robinson (Scarlet Street) certainly gives it strong noir credentials on the makers front. What transpires is more crime melodrama than noir, but Tight Spot does feature noir traits. From Guffey's shadows and half lights photography, to the characterisations portrayed by Rogers and Keith, there's enough here to keep the noir faithful replenished.

Rogers' performance (casting) has also been much cause for debate, which is understandable as it is a role that could quite easily have been given to better femme fatale actresses of the time. Yet although she takes some getting used to, and that hair cut is just bizarre, Rogers does a nice line in sharp tongued sass, even putting some sexy sizzle in to the bargain during a slow dance sequence with Keith. She does fine work, a bit over theatrical maybe? But she nestles in nicely alongside the strong turns from Keith, Green and Robinson to lift an average story to better heights.

Much of the film is set within the confines of one hotel room, which is both a blessing and a curse. At times it works in the film's favour because Karlson is able to wring out some claustrophobia, a real sense of impending threat is evident at times. However, at other times the picture feels just too stage bound, stripping away some of the realistic atmosphere the makers strive for. There's also a problem of tonal shifts as comedy sticks its oar in at regular intervals, including a frequent visit to a hillbilly television show that serves no purpose other than to annoy Keith's increasingly agitated detective.

A mixed bag without doubt, and at the half way point some may be wondering what they have let themselves in for? But the cast and makers come through in credit once the second half arrives. Because then we get action, twists and a grand finale. 7/10