Bunco Squad

While some might call this a film noir picture, it's really more of a true crime movie...and a very good one at that. The story is about psychics and how they prey upon gullible folks who want to communicate with dead loved ones....and one particular case involving a very rich lady who seems to be the perfect victim.

They story begins with a smart bunco artist, Tony Weldon (Ricardo Cortez), organizing the local phony psychics behind something he calls the Rama Society. Using this seemingly legitimate organization, they plan on bilking Jessica Royce...and when the police find out, they work hard to stop them...even though Mrs. Royce is 100% sure the Society is doing wonderful work and she refuses to listen to the police.

This is a very good B-movie from RKO because it manages to take a simple story idea and tell it well due to very good acting and writing. The ending also is very rewarding. Overall, a very good film despite it being relatively low budgeted.

This one plays like a (boring) chapter from Dragnet; local vice squad, led by Detective Johnson (Robert Sterling) tries to round up the local occult film-flammers who have moved into town. Unfortunately, there is already a group trying to take a rich old dame's dough. Ricardo Cortez, Bernadene Hayes, and Robert Bice team up to pretend to be able to speak with the old lady's deceased son. Elisabeth Risdon plays Jessica Royce, and totally buys into it. Dick Elliot is the gabby real estate guy who gives them some of the info on her son.... of course, he was the mayor in "Andy Griffith". Things get pretty rough, when the gang tries to knock off everyone trying to get in their way... which seems like a lot of trouble. Probably would have been easier to just pack up and find a new town rather than get involved in murder. Directed by Herb Leeds; didn't end well for him.. .he offed himself at age 54, just a couple years after making "Bunco". Anyway... this one is OK. Some great scenes of old Los Angeles. Going to give this one a "6" for being just OK.

Almost All of these "Mystics and Psychic" Types so Popular in the 20th Century are Bunk.

Nothing More than Scams Offering Vulnerable and Gullible People "False Hope" for Donations in the Collection Plate.

Sound Familiar.

Religions do the Same but are Respected Tax-Exempt Institutions Promising "Pie In The Sky" Unverifiable Results from Beyond the Earthly Realm.

It's a Fine Line to Cross.

In this Story there is an Active Targeted Fraud and the Hucksters Make No Attempt to Pretend Otherwise Behind the Scenes.

This Type of Fringe Culture is Used Regularly in Film-Noir. That's Where Film-Noir Exists.

On the Fringe.

Many a Noir has done this sort of Thing much Better using Cracker-Jack Film-Makers and Budgets.

"Nightmare Alley" (1949) to Name one of the Best.

"Bunco" is done on the Cheap and in a Hurry (13 day shoot) with Contrivances so Frequent and Glaring that it Almost Loses Credulity from Frame One...Almost.

For what They had to Work With it Turns Out to be a Fast-Paced, Lively Movie About Contacting the Dead as a Come-On to Fleece an Elderly Widow.

There are a Couple of Nifty Scenes and Set Pieces that Produce Enough Entertainment for Non-Discerning Viewers.

Sterling is Wooden but OK, Dixon Steals the Show, and Cortez Plays Sleaze with the Best and with some Help from a Special-Effect or Two and Moody Set Dressings...

Worth a Watch/

But it Only Skirts the Fringe of Film-Noir and doesn't Fully Commit.

Dull lead Robert Sterling plays the dully named detective "Steve Johnson." He's in the title squad investigating a phony medium racket lead by Cortez, who is trying to bilk a believing widow out of her fortune. Dixon is actress fiancé of Johnson enlisted to act as a medium to help trap the phonies. Lots of brakelines get cut in this film (three times!) to try and kill off Johnson and others. Chase finale features the cliché car-crashing-over-the-cliff, but the stock footage of the crash features a totally different car from the one the villain drives. A short film, but routine and flat. It looks like something out of a fifties TV cop drama. The cast tries but is defeated by a script that gives them little characterization.

You've got to hand it to post-war RKO-- they really knew how to turn out fast, efficient little crime dramas. Nothing special here, except a good look at LA locations circa 1950 and Detroit's all-time ugliest car—the "inverted bathtub" Nash sedan. Ricardo Cortez makes an excellent smoothie conning gullible women out of their fortunes. However, the phony medium set-up comes across as something of a stretch, but does lend needed atmosphere. Also, having cutie Joan Dixon play an actress allows for some clever "movie within a movie" set-ups; at the same time, the very last line sounds like an inspiration of the moment that was allowed to stand. Note too that usual bad guy Doug Fowley gets to work the other side of the law, and in a crime drama, no less. Still and all, I wish the screenplay had gotten more imaginative by using tricks from magician Dante to foil the crooks, instead of two guys in black beating up a crook in the dark, which may make an interesting visual effect, but makes no plot sense. Anyhow it's a good, fast hour of programming that shows again how well RKO could fill up a double-bill at the local theatre.