Red Light (film)
| Red Light | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Roy Del Ruth |
| Written by | Story: Don 'Red' Barry Screenplay: George Callahan Additional dialogue: Charles Grayson |
| Produced by | Roy Del Ruth |
| Starring | George Raft Virginia Mayo Gene Lockhart |
| Cinematography | Bert Glennon |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
Production company | |
Release date | September 30, 1949 |
Running time | 83 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Red Light is a 1949 film noir, directed and produced by Roy Del Ruth. It is based on the story "This Guy Gideon" by Don "Red" Barry, and features strong religious overtones.[1]
Plot
Embezzler Nick Cherney plots revenge after he is fired from Johnny Torno's freight (truck) line. Just before his release from a California prison four years later (and to give himself a clever alibi), Nick hires his former cell mate, Rocky, to murder Johnny's brother, Jess, a Catholic chaplain just returned from World War II.
Both Nick and Rocky know who Jess is, having seen the reunion of the two brothers on a newsreel in the prison movie theater.
Jess is staying in a local hotel room, about to depart for his first parish in another city. Not long before Rocky's arrival at the hotel to do the evil deed, Jess and Johnny meet with a local priest, Father Redmond. It is during that meeting that Johnny finds out Jess is moving away. Part of the discussion revolves around Johnny's childhood penchant for breaking windows. As a matter of fact, Johnny's very prosperous trucking business has enabled him to donate a $20,000 stained glass window to the parish that Father Redmond ministers to (more than $200,000 in today's dollars).
Johnny coincidentally arrives at his brother's hotel room, not long after Jess is shot by Rocky. Knowing that he is about to die, Jess vaguely indicates that a clue to his being shot can be found within the covers of the room's Bible. Johnny takes this to mean that the name of the killer himself is inscribed somewhere therein.
The remainder of the movie is taken up by Johnny's hunt for the missing Bible. In the course of his all consuming search, it is inherent that he locate several strangers who occupied the same room as his brother. He believes that one of them has what he is so frantically looking for.
Along the way, Johnny meets Carla. She is one of those who occupied the hotel room, but she doesn't have the Bible. Johnny then hires her to help him find it, inviting her to stay at his luxury apartment, while he moves to his office. Although a bit suspicious of Johnny's motives, Carla nevertheless agrees to both work for him and to stay at his apartment.
When Johnny finally locates the missing Gideon Bible, he finds written therein a warning from his deceased brother. In a way, the cautionary note helps him to avoid the sins of revenge and murder, thus presumably avoiding eternal damnation.
On the other hand, it is likely that both Nick and Rocky ended up in hell, but at the hands of divine providence one could speculate.
Sometime before the final showdown at Torno's freight office, Nick punches Rocky and throws him off the rear of a moving train. Then, Nick goes to Torno's office to witness the search of the Gideon Bible found earlier by Carla.
After finding that the name of the brother's killer is not actually written in the Bible, Nick thinks he's off the hook. Relieved, he turns to leave.
However, when he gets to the head of the stairs, he looks down to find a very surprisingly resilient Rocky looking up at him from the floor below, just inside the front door. Rocky gets a shot off at Nick, but Nick finally does Rocky in once and for all...but not before Rocky literally and figuratively "fingers" Nick as the mastermind behind Jess's murder.
On the other hand, Nick's demise occurs outside in a rainstorm, Johnny in quick pursuit. Nick accidentally steps on the main power supply to Torno's huge rooftop neon sign advertising 24-hour service. The combination of pooling water and electrical current do the rest.
Cast
- George Raft as Johnny Torno
- Virginia Mayo as Carla North
- Gene Lockhart as Warni Hazard
- Raymond Burr as Nick Cherney
- Henry Morgan as Rocky
- Barton MacLane as Detective Strecker
- Arthur Franz as Father (Chaplain) Jess Torno
- Arthur Shields as Father Redmond
Critical reception
Film critic Dennis Schwartz said of the film, "Roy Del Ruth directs a routine film noir infused with themes of revenge and religion, as it veers more towards a regular crime drama except for photographic flashes that reveal the film's dark undertones. The film's classic noir shot is of the villainous Raymond Burr smoking and smiling as his frightened victim is being crushed to death while hiding under a trailer, as Burr has just kicked out the jack holding it up... The film held my interest mainly because this was a perfect part for Raft and it was well-crafted."[2]
References
- ^ Red Light at IMDb.
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, March 21, 2004. Last accessed: November 30, 2009.