L'engrenage fatal

I totally forgot this little crime thriller from the director of THIRD VOICE and PLUNDER ROAD, and don't forget NIGHT OF THE FOLLOWING DAY too. It was one of his earliest films, starring a western actor: Bill Elliott; I still can not believe that Bill Elliot played in features other than westerns. I still can't believe it. This one brings absolutely nothing to the genre investigation, mystery and detective in search of the real guilty man. But the quality is good and the movie not too long. It is just bearable, but that's not my stuff and I won't see it again. Just destined to discover Bill Elliott with something else than a stetson and a horse;

This is one of five mysteries Westerns star Bill Elliott did in the fifties. He returns as a Lieutenant in the L.A. Sheriff's Department but is now called Andy Doyle. I preferred this entry into the series over the first due to the superior supporting cast of Tom Drake, Beverly Garland, Lyle Talbot and Minerva Urecal. Also, this entry was more of a true mystery than Dial Red 0. The first mystery is whether Wallace Curtis' (Drake) mother committed suicide or was murdered, a mystery that Lt. Doyle resolves. But if murder, whodunit? A prime suspect would be Curtis since he was accidentally blinded by his mother. Drake and Beverly Garland, who plays Curtis' girlfriend, Phyllis, really shine in this movie. In fact, their characters are more memorable than Elliott's. Garland had a long television career and is noted for her groundbreaking although short lived television series "Decoy." A good mystery with a solid cast.

In the second of Bill Elliott's quintet of police stories his character surname was changed from Flynn to Doyle and he was to stay Doyle for the rest of this series. Why it was changed God only knows, but these films were nothing that the public couldn't get on television.

This time Lieutenant Doyle of the Los Angeles Police Department is called in on a case that looks like suicide. The woman's blind son Tom Drake called it in after discovering his mother's body and an open gas jet. The coroner even says it was suicide, but Elliott keeps investigating.

Of course it was murder and of course Elliott first zeroes in on Drake because he needed his mother's insurance money for the operation to cure his blindness. But in the end it turns into something entirely different.

Nice, but nothing special.

Det Andy Doyle (Bill Elliott) suspects that a suicide is actually a murder. He suspects the victim's son, Wallace (Tom Drake) who is blind and he pursues him until he gets to the truth..

This is a good detective mystery that is well-acted by all. A special mention must go to Minerva Urecal who plays the nosy landlady and neighbour "Mrs Kelly" and Beverley Garland who plays Drake's girlfriend "Phyllis". Andy Doyle has a similar style to Columbo in that he keeps coming back to pester people. It's quite amusing although I'm not sure that this was intended. He's a right pain in the arse. But a pleasant one! He's very straight-talking but meets his match with several other straight-talkers in the cast, notably Mrs Kelly on their first meeting. She's quite funny.

The storyline will keep you guessing as to what really occurred and it moves along at a nice pace. This was a surprisingly good discovery and I will be looking out for more of these Bill Elliott detective stories.