In order to cash-in a life insurance policy, a failing business owner asks one of his employees, who has financial woes of his own, to aid him in disguising his suicide into a robbery-murder... Read allIn order to cash-in a life insurance policy, a failing business owner asks one of his employees, who has financial woes of his own, to aid him in disguising his suicide into a robbery-murder.In order to cash-in a life insurance policy, a failing business owner asks one of his employees, who has financial woes of his own, to aid him in disguising his suicide into a robbery-murder.
- Lt. Richard Webb
- (as Henry Morgan)
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
- Office Worker at Meeting
- (uncredited)
- Officer Hogan
- (uncredited)
- Tip
- (uncredited)
- Canon
- (uncredited)
- Employee at Meeting
- (uncredited)
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
On the very day that this meek, mild-mannered male musters sufficient courage to request a raise, his boss (Richard Gaines) offers him an unexpected windfall, provided that he is prepared to be the pivotal figure in a bizarre murder/suicide insurance scam. Will Lynn, the archetypal shrinking violet, shrink from violence?
Following Gaines suspicious death, cantankerous colleague, Henry 'O Neill is the investigation's centre of interest, but the shudder at his own shadow, wouldn't say boo to a goose Lynn also comes under the microscope of diligent, disabled detective and local celebrity, Harry Morgan, respected for a war record superior to anything that Glenn Miller ever released.
At an efficient, in-BANG-out 68 minutes Strange Bargain ought to have been fairly flab free, but there are moments of unnecessarily leaden footed talkiness along the way. With injury time approaching, the movie finally wriggles free from its inertia and hits pay dirt, courtesy of a couple of nifty plot twists and some eyebrow raising surprises.
The title bargain is his boss's asking him to help him make a suicide look like murder so that he (the boss) can leave insurance money for his family.
Hey! This doesn't figure in the softball and charity meetings of this town! Nor does Lynn's having, before this, been laid off by the boss.
Katherine Emory is excellent as the not so very grieving widow. Harry Morgan is just fine as a police detective who walks leaning on a cane. And Martha Scott is superb as Mrs. Jeffrey Lynn: She's most famous for her touching portrayal of Emily in "Our Town." but she had fa greater depth, as shown most notably in her magnificent performance in "So Well Remembered" a couple years before this little charmer came out.
Ah, for the days when local television showed low budget movies like this to fill up time. Now we have to wait fore them to appear out of nowhere on Turnwer Classics or be programmed at places like the Film Forum here in New Yiork. After all: What self-respecting person what want to waste a plasma TV on a black and white movie?!
He's an assistant bookkeeper at a law firm that is going through hard times. On the day that he gets up enough courage to ask for a raise, he's told that because of all the cuts being made, he has to be let go. His boss, however, has a strange bargain to make with him and that's the nub of the story without giving any more of the plot away.
MARTHA SCOTT is fine as his loving wife who never suspects anything is wrong until she makes a certain discovery. HARRY MORGAN is the detective who knows something isn't quite right when Lynn's boss is found not a victim of suicide, as had been planned, but a victim of murder. KATHERINE EMERY, an interesting actress who had been used well in THE LOCKET, has a pivotal role as the dead man's widow but plays the role so stiffly that it's not easy to believe the film's ending.
It's a story that catches interest from the start and maintains that suspense throughout. JEFFREY LYNN, never an actor given to much emotion, is calm and stalwart as the innocent victim of circumstances beyond his control.
A B-film worth catching if you can.
The script is excellent. Dialogue supports characterization so that we 'know' all of these people. I liked Lynn. He's a decent man, one who on the spur of the moment makes the wrong choice. His mistake in judgment ensnares him in a tightening web of trouble. I liked Scott, who exemplifies the perfect mate. I liked Morgan, who always gets his man, but who makes sure that he gets the right one. The ending is a surprise, though once revealed, seems obvious. I liked the director's touch at the finish of having Morgan's cane disarm the murderer just in the nick of time. In fact, I liked everything about this little B film.
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to contemporary articles in Los Angeles newspapers, Pat O'Brien and Robert Young were considered for the lead in this picture at various times during pre-production.
- GoofsWhen Sam pulls into the circular driveway of his boss's home, he pulls completely past the house. When the camera cuts to him getting out of his car, the car is parked very close to the front door of the house. The same shot of the car pulling far around the driveway is used again when he drives over to see Mrs. Jarvis; again, the shot of him getting out of the car puts him very close to the house's front door.
- Quotes
Sam Wilson: Darling, I made a terrible mistake. But I'll never make another one.
Georgia Wilson: Oh, yes, you will. You'll make lots of them. Not like this, of course. But you're a man, and men are always making mistakes. Even -- even women make them sometimes.
- ConnectionsEdited into Arabesque: The Days Dwindle Down (1987)
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Extraño convenio
- Filming locations
- Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California, USA(Where Sam Wilson disposed of the gun that Malcolm Jarvis used to kill himself)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 8m(68 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1