THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942) is top notch film noir

Starring Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird, Cregar and Alan Ladd. Directed by Frank Tuttle. Running time: 80 minutes. Release date: May 13, 1942

Excellent film noir classic about a hitman named Raven (Ladd's break-through film) who after taking out a blackmailer and his girlfriend in San Francisco, realizes he has been set up by his anonymous employer. Now on the run from the police, Raven wants to find out why he was duped and score a little payback. The middle man named Gates (terrific performance by Cregar) who works for the anonymous employer informs police that Raven stole money from the company Gates works, Nitro Chemical. Detective Crane (a young Robert Preston, miles away from Professor Harold Hill of The Music Man) is assigned the case.

Crane's girlfriend, nightclub singer/magician Ellen (a sultry Veronica Lake) winds up meeting Raven on board a train headed to Los Angeles by accident. Raven ends up taking Ellen hostage. He finds out that Ellen also knows Gates, as Gates owns the nightclub where she works. So now Raven starts to play detective to find out what's going on.

With the police in hot pursuit, the pair are trapped at the train yards where Raven shares his hard upbringing that led him to his life as a hitman. She begins to sympathize with him. And as a final gesture, takes his coat and hat to pretend to be him to confuse the police while Raven escapes. He heads to Nitro Chemical to take down the man who set him up.

Man, this is one awesome movie. A perfectly tuned film noir film that just grabs you from the opening credits and doesn't let go. Alan Ladd is terrific as Raven, who is more than just your average gun for hire. His back story explains quite a bit about the life he has led. This is a true star making performance. His first pairing with Lake is really good as their had wonderful chemistry. Lake plies her usual trademark sultry good looks and smoky voice to good effect. And in the quieter moments with Ladd, is quite a revelation. Preston is all gung ho as the detective and Cregar makes a good slimy, sniveling middleman who says he is just following orders. No hard feelings Mr. Raven. Right?..Heck no. You're going down too big man.

This Gun For Hire is excellent entertainment.

The Glass Key(1942).

The Glass Key(1942). Cast: Brian Donlevy, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd.

Only out for himself.. Paul Madvig, plans to support candidate Ralph Henry for governor after falling in love with his daughter, Janet. Madvig's friend, Ed Beaumont, believes that he is making a big mistake and does not trust Janet, because she is in love with Beaumont. Madvig says that Henry, has given him the key to his house... Beaumont, warns him that it might be a glass key, that may break at any time.

Soon after, Madvig tells gangster Nick Varna, that he is cleaning up the city and that he, will no longer have protection from the police..

Henry's son, Taylor, owes Varna a lot of money, for his gambling debts and when Madvig finds out, Opal worries what he will do to her boyfriend.

Later, Beaumont finds Taylor's body and all evidence points to Madvig. When Varna hears that Beaumont and Madvig have gone their separate ways, he tries to recruit Beaumont. Beaumont turns him down, so Varna has him beaten to try to change his mind.

When Beaumont recovers, he learns that Varna has found a "witness" to Taylor Henry's murder. Madvig has Sloss brought to his office, but Sloss is gunned down before he gets there.

Beaumont finds Jeff and tries to get information from him. Just as Jeff starts to talk, Varna shows up and orders him to shut up. When Beaumont disarms Varna, Jeff strangles his boss. Beaumont, has the waiter call the police. Will Beaumont, be able to prove who killed Taylor?

In this classic film noir, you will be amazed at some of the physical stunts. Especially, when Ladd escapes out of a broken window has him falling off an awning and crashing through the ceiling where a family is having dinner.

Bonita Granville (February 2, 1923 – October 11, 1988). Made her film debut at the age of nine in, Westward Passage (1933).

Over the next couple of years she played uncredited supporting roles in films: as Little Women (1933) and Anne of Green Gables (1934) before playing the role of Mary in the film, The Children's Hour.

For her role, Granville was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1938, she starred as the mischievous daughter in the multi-Academy Awards nominated comedy film, Merrily We Live and as girl detective Nancy Drew in the film Nancy Drew, Detective. The Nancy Drew film success led to Granville reprising the role in three sequels from 1938 to 1939, including Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939).

She was cast in supporting roles in the films: Now, Voyager (1942), Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944) and Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946).

She is also remembered for her starring role in the World War II film, Hitler's Children (1943). Her career began to fade by the mid-1940's.

In 1947, Granville married Jack Wrather, who had produced some of her films. He formed the Wrather Corporation, and bought the rights to characters from both, The Lone Ranger and Lassie. Granville, worked as a producer for several film and television productions featuring these characters, including the 1954 TV series Lassie.

She performed in the film version of, The Lone Ranger(1956) and made her final screen performance in a cameo role in, The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981).

In 1949, she performed with Rod Cameron in the comedy film, Strike It Rich.

She was honored at the Disneyland Hotel, which Jack Wrather owned until it was sold to the Walt Disney Company.

The Bonita Tower and Granville's Steak House were named in her honor.

Great On Screen Couples: Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake

This duo made 4 films together plus one more where they played themselves. Their coming together as on screen partners was at first mainly out of physical necessity: Ladd was just 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall and the only actress then on the Paramount lot short enough to pair with him was Lake, who stood just 4 feet 11½ inches (1.51 m). So in their first pairing, This Gun For Hire (1942),which had Lake top billed as a singing magician trying to ferret out some enemy agents and Ladd as a hired killer looking for payback against the spies who double-crossed him. Audiences loved Ladd in this film and when it came time to reunite him and Lake in another film, The Glass Key (1942), he moved up from 4th billing to third. Both films were big hits for Paramaount. And the studio brought them back together for the third time in 1946's masterful film noir classic The Blue Dahlia where Ladd received top billing as his star was on the rise, while Lake's career was stalling. But their chemistry was still apparent as Blue Dahlia remains a film noir favorite. The duo played themselves in all star variety flick, Duffy's Tavern, which really is not fondly remembered as a bright spot for either star. Their fourth and final film was 1948's Saigon, which is widely regarded as the weakest film the pair did. Lake's career pretty much sputtered after the 40's ended while Ladd would go on to star in 30 more films inlcuding probably his most fondly remembered role as the laconic gunfighter Shane. But for three really good films, Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd joined the ranks of great Hollywood on screen couples.

Blue Dahlia (1946).

The Blue Dahlia (1946). Film noir directed by George Marshall and written by Raymond Chandler. The film is the third pairing of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.

Three United States Navy officers, Johnny Morrison, Buzz Wanchek and George Copeland, arrive in Hollywood, California. Johnny surprises his wife Helen and discovers she is having an affair with the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub. Helen, drunk, confesses to Johnny that their son Dickie, who Johnny believed died of diphtheria, really died in a car crash because she was driving drunk.

Not knowing who Helen really is , Buzz goes to her apartment for a drink. After Eddie ends the affair, Helen blackmails him into seeing her again. Johnny, is picked up walking in the rain by Joyce Harwood.  They spend the night in separate rooms in a Malibu inn. The next morning, the radio informs them that Helen has been murdered and that Johnny is suspected. How will Johnny prove is innocence?

 I just watched the film, Blue Dahlia, for the first time . I thought the film had plenty of action and a surprise twist or two that will keep you guessing.

Veronica Lake Fun Fact: When former lover Marlon Brando read in a newspaper that a reporter had found Veronica Lake working as a cocktail waitress in a Manhattan bar, he had his accountant send her a check for a thousand dollars. Out of pride, she never cashed it, but kept it framed in her Miami living room to show her friends.

Happy Birthday: Alan Ladd!

Alan Ladd, began his acting career performing in small role in the film, Citizen Kane, in which he played one of the reporters. His next featured role was in the film, Joan of Paris(1942). The film that helped launch Ladd's career was, This Gun for Hire, he played "Raven," a hit man with a conscience. Both the film and Ladd's performance played an important role in changing the "gangster" genre. Even though Robert Preston, played the romantic lead, the Ladd/Lake pairing stole the show, and would continue in another three films.

Ladd went on to perform in many Paramount films with a brief timeout for military service with the United States Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit.

He performed in, The Glass Key, his second pairing with Lake, and Lucky Jordan, with Helen Walker. The Filmwas about a crooked politician Paul Madvig, who decides to clean up his past, by refusing the support of the gangster Nick Varna and linking up with respectable politician Ralph Henry. When Ralph's son, Taylor Henry, a gambler and boyfriend of Paul's sister Opal, is murdered, his body is found ;on the street. Nick uses The Observer newspaper to point a finger at Paul Madvig.



In 1946, he starred in three adaptation of Richard Henry Dana's classic, Two Years Before the Mast, the Raymond Chandler original mystery The Blue Dahlia (his third pairing with Lake), and the WWII espionage thriller, O.S.S..

He formed his own production companies for film and radio and then starred in his own syndicated series Box 13, which ran from 1948-49. Ladd and Robert Preston starred in the 1948 western film, Whispering Smith, which in 1961 would become a short-lived NBC television series, starring Audie Murphy.

In 1949's version of The Great Gatsby, Ladd had the featured role of Jay Gatsby.

Ladd played the title role in the 1953 western Shane. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

When Albert R. Broccoli formed Warwick Films with his partner Irving Allen, they heard Ladd was unhappy with Paramount and was leaving the studio. With his wife and agent Sue Carol, they negotiated for Ladd to perform in the first three of their films made in England and released through Columbia Pictures The Red Beret/Paratrooper (1953), Hell Below Zero(1954) and The Black Knight with each co-written by Ladd's regular screenwriter Richard Maibaum. In 1954 Ladd formed a new production company, Jaguar Productions, originally releasing his films through Warner Bros. and then with All the Young Men through Columbia. In 1963 Ladd co-starred in his last film,The Carpetbaggers.