Passkey to Danger

The star of "Passkey to Danger" is Kane Richmond, an actor who made a lot of B-movies as well as movie serials (such as "Spy Smasher"). Because of this, many folks won't recognize him and the same can be said for most of the cast. Considering this is a cheap B (clocking in at only about 57 minutes), none of these casting decisions are unusual. And, as far as the story goes, it's also pretty much what you'd expect from a low budget film of the era.

Richmond plays Tex Hanlon, an advertising man who comes up with an advertising campaign about the Three Strings...and it turns out this churns up interest in an unsolved crime from two decades ago. He has no idea what it's all about...but the baddies all think he knows a lot...and they are willing to do just about anything to get him to talk. Well, it turns out that the String Brothers...crooks who were presumed to have died after a huge hold-up. And, if they are alive, they are worth millions and don't want anyone digging into the case.

Like many Bs, this one features some uneven acting, a bad accent and plot holes. As a result, it's mildly interesting but not much more. If you love Bs, by all means watch it. If you don't, this one won't change your mind!

Kane Richmond is selling Three Springs.... and no one knows what it is. It's a clever advertising campaign to drive up interest in it. Of course, you could buy it all right now for a set price, as he tells Jay Mohr, but who wants to buy a pig in a poke. So he thinks, until Adele Mara tries to steal the information.... and offers come from Mohr and Gregory Gaye.... and a woman is murdered.

It's a clever variation on the Maguffin. In your typical thriller, like THE MALTESE FALCON or NOTORIOUS, the Maguffin is the thing everyone wants, and is well defined, and it couldn't matter less. What matters is that everyone wants it. In this movie, the Maguffin is completely undefined; it's never revealed, but everyone wants it because they think they know what it is, and don't want anyone else to have it.

Other than that, it's the usual back-and-forth with silky-voiced villains, corpses turning up, thugs beating Our Hero, and the cops getting in the way. But for someone who has seen a thousand Maguffins, it's a pleasant switch.

The second film I've seen in two weeks made at Republic in the mid-40s starring Kane Richmond and Adele Mara is nowhere near as good as TIGER WOMAN (see my review). In this one, Richmond is some kind of advertising man who comes up with a concept for a women's clothing campaign (I think, based on the drawings we see) called THE THREE SPRINGS. Soon, various eccentric gangster types and crooked businessmen start expressing an interest in the campaign, feeling as though Richmond is actually making a reference to something else with the title and they are trying to cover that up. I won't give away the plot and say WHAT they think he's referring to with the ad campaign because that is the device that puts the plot, such as it is, in motion. Studios needed to churn out a certain number of b-movies per season, and often a project that might have sounded good on paper gets locked into the production schedule and it gets made even though it doesn't fully gel. That's what the problem is here. Each scene, on its own, is entertaining. Richmond--a kind of square-jawed, self-deprecating leading man who probably best resembles George Clooney among today's stars--is always a pleasure to watch. The top-billed star here Stephanie Bachelor--who was in films for a brief six year period, and who seemed to get leading roles mostly at Republic--as Richmond's girlfriend. She looks great and delivers the arguing-couple romantic banter well, but there's not much depth to her character. As for Adele Mara, she's given a thankless role here as a kind of femme-fatale, but we're not really sure how deep is her involvement with the bad guys, and the way the film disposes of her character cannot be excused. Unless my copy of the film is cut (and it's the Hollywood Television Service print, so it may be), I can't believe this script made it past ANY editor. My wife and I looked at each other as the "End" credit appeared, and asked, "What about Adele Mara"? We know what happens to her, but it is never resolved. WHAT??????? On the good side, this film is entertaining in pieces--the supporting cast (with such fine performers as Gerald Mohr and Gregory Gay) is colorful, there's a lot of witty romantic banter between Richmond and Bachelor AND Richmond and Mara. It's just that the plot doesn't hold together, the events in themselves don't command attention, and there's a rushed feel to many scenes as though the attitude was "let's get this in the can quickly." Some of the fights are the most phony I've seen in a Republic film--a studio known for its excellent stunt-men. Richmond and the bad guys seem as though they were just instructed to pull the punches because the stunt men couldn't make it today. Still, it was not an unpleasant way to kill 60 minutes and b-movie and Richmond fans will enjoy it. Bachelor and Mara are both wonderfully attractive and witty leading ladies. Just don't expend much energy or cost in trying to find a copy.