Dangereuse profession

Richard Winnington was a bit unfair on George Raft when he accused him of just going through the motions "without a flicker of expression or removing his hat", since he takes his hat off quite often in this involved but uninvolving tale of bail bond officers, the Dangerous Profession of the title.

It's actually far more laid back that the rather dramatic title indicates and too brightly lit to qualify as 'film noir'. Pat O'Brien and Jim Backus (who also supplies the opening narration) seem to be enjoying cynically sauntering about in big suits more than Raft himself.

"A Dangerous Profession" is a decent enough film...the sort mildly entertaining stuff that George Raft made in the post-war years. It begins with Vince (Raft) working as a bail bondsman along with his partner (Pat O'Brien). Apparently Vince used to be a cop but decided to change careers. Why he wanted a change soon becomes apparently when his old girlfriend, Lucy (Ella Raines) shows up to try to bail her stupid husband out of jail. This IS a surprise...as Vince hasn't heard from her since she disappeared some time ago...nor did he know she was married...and had been when he knew her! Of course it's a surprise but Vince is a dope...so he helps her and her dopier husband. But when the husband soon is murdered, things get really, really confusing. So what's next?

This is a mildly interesting film but it suffers a bit from Raft's relatively dull screen persona as well as his being a bit too trusting to be realistic. The story also becomes a bit confusing and is, if you think about it, a bit like a reworking of "Casablanca"! Odd but worth seeing if you like old film noir movies.

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.