Red Light (1949)

That was an excellent one.

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

How sad is this?

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This film was memorable in ways that the director probably didn't intend it to be. George Raft's performance is over the top, in a good way. He doesn't hold back his anger with the church yet shows his inner conflict by donating money and praying at the altar. That's the serious part. And Raymond Burr is seriously evil. But many other scenes cracked me up with laughter. All the scenes with the Bible, the guy who comes back after the train scene, and of course the ending which was spectacular in a hilarious way. The phrase "24 hour Service" will always remind me of this film... In fact, that should have been the title...This film is worth seeing because it is so unusual for a noir picture to combine the serious with the humor and the religious themes. And the cast has plenty of interesting characters....

George Raft (Johnny Torno) owns a trucking company. Because of his real-life gangster connections you can't help but think he's corrupt. Anyway, he seems to be playing a good guy who owns a trucking company. His army-decorated holy brother Arthur Franz (Jess) comes across as an annoying priest who is thankfully murdered at the beginning of the film and thus begins Mr Raft's campaign to dish out some revenge. His only clue is a bible that needs to be tracked down.The cast are good in this film, especially the bad guys Raymond Burr (Nick) and Harry Morgan (Rocky). George Raft plays himself and that's completely fine. The film throws you a curve ball at one point when Raft meets up with blind Phillip Pine (Pablo). We hit a sentimental streak and start groaning at the piousness of it all before Raft provides the funniest moment of the film which provides a superb counter-balance to what we have just heard. Raft gets straight to his point with a very frank "have you got it or not?" to Pine. It's brilliant. It's delivered in a way that suggests he has absolutely no time for the story that he has just been told, just like the audience can't be bothered with it. Priceless! I assume the lights in the final scene are red - it's a bit of a strange title for a black and white film.

"Red Lights" doesn't really meet enough of the classic criteria to be called a true "film noir." In reality, it's just a somewhat sappy revenge drama peppered with some unexpected moments of mad violence. Note how the plot wraps up nicely at the end, but not in the way George Raft's character would initially have hoped. Even the masterful composer Dmitri Tiomkin turns in a by-the-numbers performance, shoe-horning "Ave Maria" into the score every time a Bible or a priest is mentioned (as well as the "Dies Irae" in the death scenes).This is the only film I can think of where a Gideon Bible plays a primary role. It's also one of those 1940s flicks that is loaded with actors that were about to become household names through the medium of television: Wiliam Frawley (I Love Lucy, My Three Sons), Raymond Burr (Perry Mason, Ironside), Henry Morgan (Dragnet, December Bride, Pete and Gladys, M*A*S*H), and Victor Sen Young (already known through the Charlie Chan films, but soon to play Hop Sing on Bonanza). Also keep your eyes open for voice actor Paul Frees (Boris Badenov/Pillsbury Doughboy), who plays the hotel bellhop who's with George Raft when he discovers the body. It was one of Frees's first on-screen roles. Within a decade, he would give up film almost completely to concentrate on more lucrative voice work.

Red Light is an independent production released by United Artists and starring George Raft as a man on a mission. Raft plays the self made successful head of a trucking operation who is used to taking care of business himself. But when his younger brother who is a priest and an army chaplain from the late war played by Arthur Franz is shot in a hotel room, Raft is going to deal with killers himself and not let it be handled by the police in the persons of Barton MacLane and Bill Phipps.Before checking out of this mortal coil, Franz said he wrote something in the hotel Gideon Bible for Raft. But the book from that particular room has been stolen and Raft spends most of the film trying to locate it with the help of Virginia Mayo.There's not much suspense in this film mainly because Raymond Burr who was a former employee sent to prison for embezzlement is acting so guilty. He does have an ironclad alibi however, but you know it will be broken. Whatever suspense is in the how.The other suspenseful component of this sub par noir film is what will Raft do when he does learn the truth. What he gets from the bible are some eternal truths, but what he seeks comes out in its own way.Besides the players mentioned such folks as Gene Lockhart, Stanley Clements, William Frawley, Harry Morgan, and Arthur Shields are all in Red Light. The film had the potential to be a lot more, but Raft just doesn't carry it off right.