Faux monnayeurs

Ray Danton stars with Leigh Snowden in Outside the Law from 1956.

Danton is Johnny Salvo, ex-army and currently on parole. He has a chance to wipe his record clean if he can help catch the members of a counterfeit ring.

He has an "in" - someone he knew in the Army whom the treasury department believe played a part in the ring was recently murdered. The problem is that the head of the investment is Johnny's father (Onslow Stevens), and they are estranged. He agrees to be part of the investigation, but reluctantly.

Johnny meets his friend's widow Maria (Snowden) and falls for her. He has competition in the sinister Don Kastner ( Grant Williams). Are they involved with the counterfeit ring?

The most interesting thing to me was Snowden, who at some angles bore a strong resemblance to Marilyn Monroe. In fact, she was signed as a Monroe type by Universal.

She didn't have MM's personality but few women were signed to a film contract by walking on stage in front of soldiers during a Jack Benny show. She retired early and sadly died young.

Exciting scenes at the end, and fascinating as the authorities search for counterfeit money in a linens shipment.

"Johnny" (Ray Danton) is an ex-soldier drafted in by the US authorities in Germany to help investigate the death of one of his old army pals. Not long out of prison, he is keen to clear his name and is soon on the trail of a clever gang who are counterfeiting cash and taking advantage of the post-WWII confusion to, quite literally, make a mint. His search is further complicated by the involvement of both his father - the policeman who gives him the gig in the first place and with whom he has a strained relationship; and with the widow of the murdered man "Maria" (Leigh Snowden) who is as keen to get to the bottom of this perlous mystery and, of course, a romance starts to blossom. There's no getting away from it. Handsome as he is, Danton is as wooden as a plank. He has precisely no charisma and that really impacts on this film that, from a criminal perspective, is actually a little bit better than a routine caper. There's far too much by way of chatter and really very little action until the last ten minutes when the threads start to pull together. A bit more creative casting could have made this more memorable, but as it is - well it's worth a watch but you'll never remember it afterwards.

Ex-con Ray Danton is recruited by his father, Onslow Stevens, to help track down and break a gang of counterfeiters in Germany. Danton is angry with his father, but accepts. Stevens can't keep his love for his son from interfering with the operations.

It's a nice, murky little movie directed by Jack Arnold, with some love interest provided by Leigh Snowden, and a general air of "just doing my job" on the part of the other agents and the counterfeiters, even when they look like they're about to get violent. Utility cinematographer Irving Glassberg shows his usual high level of professionalism in the sort of throwaway programmer that Arnold was able to put something extra into.

Army parolee Johnny Salvo (Ray Danton) is offered a chance to "wipe his slate clean" and regain his citizenship rights if he agrees to help the Secret Service investigate the suspicious death and activities of another Army parolee while in Berlin. It's a dicey situation because he'll be under the supervision of his own father, whom he deeply resents, and the investigation leads to an international counterfeiting ring who'll stop at nothing, including murder, to protect their operation. With his life in danger, Johnny falls for the attractive widow in the case who may or may not be part of the criminal gang. Charming but sinister gang boss (Grant Williams) is determined to get Johnny out of the picture. Suspenseful and absorbing drama as the complicated operation is gradually uncovered will keep viewers engaged.

The noirish theme of the returning G. I. is perpetuated in this film made as late as 1956, more than a decade after most had returned from the War. In this case, Ray Danton plays an Army Staff Sergeant who has been called back from Europe to help the U. S. Treasury crack a counterfeiting case which has been plaguing them for 15 years. Danton had been permitted to join the Army as a condition of his parole, having been imprisoned for a minor offence when younger. He has done well in the army, been promoted, won a medal, was wounded, the whole lot. He is now offered the chance to have his "slate wiped clean" for his earlier crime by cooperating in solving the case. The head of the enquiry team in Washington is his own father! They are severely estranged and tensions run high between them. The reason why Danton is considered important is that he knew a member of the counterfeiting gang who was recently murdered. He is asked to call on that man's widow (played by Leigh Snowden) and see if he can glean any information on the gang. It turns out that Snowden had only known her husband for three months before he left for Europe and is ignorant of his criminal activities. But she is jealously watched by another member of the gang. Things get violent very fast. Will our hero survive? Will he fall in love with the pretty widow? Can the villains be traced? And can the case be solved? The film is competently done and all is eventually revealed.