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There was a time when the studio system had the actors and actresses like Ava Gardner and Victor McLaglen making about 5 films a year. Actors and actresses in the studio system worked hard and some films never became brilliant but did entertain audiences. This film was on my compact disc with three other fair films with other actresses like Jane Wyman, Marilyn Monroe in a small role but still, and Joan Crawford in "Rain." One cannot stop looking at Ava Gardner playing Mary, a girl who returns to her small town life from the big city of Chicago which she left in a mystery. She returns to her boyfriend who is unmotivated gambler and meets a rich businessman who takes a liking to her. Ava steals this film hands down. It's not a great film but it's more about characters and story lines than anything else.

Returning from Chicago swathed in fur, small-town gal Ava Gardner precipitates a crisis for ne'er-do-well George Raft, who stayed behind to moulder. Gardner hadn't yet reached the apex of her insolent sexuality (she looks close to plain in some scenes), and Raft plays, what else, George Raft. Whistle Stop is no masterpiece, but it intermittently sparks into life, generally when Victor McLaghlin shows up, trying to lure Raft into a murderous scheme or taking revenge on his sneering boss. The Madacy video of this movie is recorded at cheap EP speed taken from a scratchy print (standard practice for the firm). But then this movie isn't worth more than the three or four bucks it takes to pick up a copy.

I wanted to see this movie because I had read the novel "Whistle Stop" which was written by Maritta Wolff when she was a college student and was recently republished. The novel gave a great presentation of the Post Depression era and Wolff's beautifully descriptive writing won her a prestigious award. The scriptwriter changed the story significantly. While one part would probably have been too sensitive for the time, I think today's movie writers would portray more of Wolff's imagery of life on both "sides of the tracks". I doubt if an author today would allow his or her book to be an inspiration to a screenwriter who would use some characters and some dialogue yet change the story so dramatically. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the movie AFTER reading the book as it was fascinating to see the similarities and the differences. I'd recommend reading the book and then enjoying the mid-1940's black & white film with the gorgeous Ava Gardner and a young Victor McLaghlin. This certainly isn't the best of '40's crime drama but it was fun to see. If you've already seen the movie, read the book!!

This movie doesn't quite make it into the ranks of noir. Although it's interesting to watch George Raft and Ava Gardener, there isn't any chemistry between them and their relationship is not believable.

Nevertheless, Gardner is amazing eye candy, a screen goddess, and steals every scene she is in. Frankly, she is so gorgeous that she is completely miscast in this little melodrama about small town hicks.

The story takes place in the post-depression era and contains a few nice plot twists. Victor McLaglen delivers a terrific performance as Raft's drinking buddy and partner in crime, but the rest of the cast don't do much for the movie except provide forgettable characters.

The direction and cinematography are okay but the biggest problem is the casting. None of the main characters except McLaglen fit their roles. The DVD (Classic Film Noir, Volume 2) is worth watching for Gardner and McLaglen, who sparkle in a movie that is otherwise quite ordinary.

This turkey came as an entry in a set of eight noir DVD's. I almost returned the set on the basis of this single movie. Leonard Maltin's Film Guide charitably characterizes the 82 minutes as "stupid". In my little book, that's too generous. From the cheap sets, to the slack direction, to the incoherent script, the movie's nearly laughable, especially when a zombified 51- year old George Raft deadpans sweet nothings into the luscious ear of 24-year old Ava Gardner. It's enough to make you want to call the cops or check your eyeglasses. And that's when Raft's not playing the wayward son of parents maybe 10 years closer to retirement than he is. If he could show a little emotion, he might get away with it, but you almost have to stick a fork in him to make sure he's breathing. Raft doesn't so much walk through the part as blankly stare his way through. No wonder the script turns to McLaglen to carry the action through the last third. And the miscasting doesn't stop with Raft. The sleekly urbane Tom Conway of British accent fame is cast as a small town hood, no less. It's as if both Conway and Raft got confused about which movie they were supposed to be in, and wandered onto the wrong set. Of course, there's the compensation of a ravishing Gardner for the guys, and in a flimsy dressing gown, no less. Too bad, her ability to do anything with the muddled script sort of comes and goes. The sometimes brilliant Philip Yordan's name is on the screenplay, but I can't believe it's actually his. The plot simply meanders all over the page like a bottle of spilled ink. There's no need to go on. This may be somebody's idea of noir, but the shovel has to scrape bottom to find it. Too bad mine did.