Dangereuse profession

I'll admit the first 30 mins were tough-going; Raft's blank-faced, ironing-board-stiff acting had me dream-casting other actors in his place. Then, with the whole blandness of the scenes and the drabness of the sets along with the byzantine storyline and ambivalence of attitude and the femme fatale lite and the grey moral dilemmas aplenty, suddenly I started to really love it - even Raft's flatness fit right in with the dreary decor and one-dimensional bit players - besides the labyrinthine plot, there is the sheer variety of locations and interaction, including some fascinating outdoor shots in the latter half. It would never win awards - but with the qualities mentioned above - the odd great shot and the occasional catchy zinger - this has an exquisite pleasure all its own. I commend this to your good self.

During the late forties, George Raft made several film noirs for RKO pictures, mostly directed by Edwin Marin: NOCTURNE, INTRIGUE, JOHNNY ANGEL, RACE STREET, but here he works with Ted Tetzlaff, who gave us WHITE TOWER, and several other good films, such as the terrific THE WINDOW, his most notorious movie. So that said, here, George Raft gives us Raft's stuff, but I was more interested by Ella Raines and her wonderful eyes. It is for me only a good atmosphere film, which plot is totally lame and forgettable. Only atmosphere and George Raft - Ella Raines presence justify the watching of this crime noir.

The twist of this film is that Bill Williams is in jail with his bail set at $25,000 and Ella Raines, his wife, seeks to have him bailed out by bail bondsman George Raft, with whom she had a platonic affair (the production code still held some sway in 1949) while married to Williams. But she only has $4,000 and Raft and his partner Pat O'Brien want her to come up with the whole $25,000. Duh, if she had the $25,000 she wouldn't need them; she would post the bail. The whole point of the bail bond business is that you pay them about 10% of the bail amount and they put up the rest. In return for their fee they assume liability for the whole amount if the defendant skips town. Later, when a mysterious and obviously fraudulent stranger offers Raft and O'Brien $12,000 towards the $25,000 bond, they somewhat unethically keep that plus the $4,000 and still worry that they're not being paid enough.

Williams's crime is also hard to understand. He is said to have cashed $150,000 in securities for two men without knowing they were stolen. Somehow he is unable to name or describe these men, although one of them owns a night club he frequents. Similarly, incorruptible cop Jim Backus wasn't able to find Williams for two years despite his being in plain sight. And despite Williams being unable to identify the two men, they want him killed so he can't identify them.

This film has the noir look and cast but it's more like a routine detective story where the detective (or ex-cop bail bondsman in this case) goes on a sort of treasure hunt where person A sends him to B who sends him to C and so on until the movie has gone on long enough for him to solve the case.

Backus acts like Raft's posting bond for this inept patsy was equivalent to springing a mass murderer. O'Brien keeps acting suspiciously for no reason. Raines doesn't strike me as the femme fatale she's supposed to be, but that's just personal taste.

Obligatory car-driving-over-cliff scene. L. A.'s canyons were littered with auto bodies in those days.

A career police detective turned bail bondsman (George Raft) meets his ex-flame (Ella Raines) (he knows it's her because of the scent of the perfume that's in her and her husband's hotel room which he and detective Jim Backus search) in a fairly intricate story about her husband (Bill Williams) whose arrested for suspicion of killing a cop and then bailed out by Raft, against the wishes of his partner (Pat O'Brien). Why he's bailed out and who actually comes up with sufficient money to get him out of jail make for interesting viewing. As well, Ella Raines hits some of her more sultry looking scenes in this movie, which may not be the best movie she's ever been in, but still percolates along more than acceptably, especially when the real killer emerges as the sharp little film heads out of LA and into a convenient canyon.

George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O'Brien, Jim Backus, and Bill Williams star in "A Dangerous Profession," a 1949 film directed by Ted Tetzlaff.

Vince Kane (Raft) is an ex-cop who now works as a bail bondsman with his friend Joe Farley (O'Brien). A detective, Nick Ferrone (Backus) arrests Claude Brackette (Williams) a suspect in a robbery during which a police officer was killed. Kane finds out that Brackette's wife is none other than his old girlfriend, Lucy (Raines).

Lucy wants her husband out on bail. She believes he's innocent. The bail is set at $25,000, and she only has $4,000. Still angry over their breakup, and the fact that he didn't know she was married when they were together, Kane shows her the door. Then a mystery man gives Kane $12,000 toward the bail. Vince puts the company's money over the objection of his partner.

Vince thinks that an associate of Brackette's, a nightclub owner, was the brains behind the robbery. Kane poses as a crook, something that his demeanor lends itself to, and blackmails McKay to see if he can find out if he's guilty.

Fairly routine, with Raft his usual dapper and smooth self. This plot gets a little convoluted, probably due to edits. Not the best, but if you like Raft and the lovely Ella Raines, you'll enjoy it. Bill Williams played Kit Carson on TV and married to Barbara Hale, TV's Della Street on Perry Mason, for 46 years, until his death. He's the father of actor William Katt, and there's quite a resemblance.