Mal Granger announces he's joined with "National Press Service" but earlier it's shown as "National Wire Service".
When Mal and Chippie first enter the loan company (the front for Walters' bookmaking organization), the signs on the windows both say "Libert Finance" - both "Libert"s clearly have a last letter - a "Y" - painted over.
Eight minutes later in the film, when L.
's new "Gangster Squad" is going over a file about the company, both signs in a photo say "Libertt Finance" (with a "T" replacing the blacked out "Y" seen earlier).
After Larry's funeral, after Mal and Gail talk to Carl Stephans and they walk away, the whole filming crew is reflected on the door of Carl's black car.
The tape recorders Mal uses to manipulate the Vegas sports book only have one reel.
Skirting the periphery of Film-Noir this one probably lands more than not in the Police Film or the Authorities Are Your Friend Category. These Types were Everywhere after the War.
This is a fairly decent picture but it was largely of interest to me for the backdrops. It was great to get a good look at the cutting edge telephone technology of the day, which was probably not without it's inaccuracies.
Edmond O'Brien is great in this old school noir about the fate of a working-class telephone specialist with a gambling problem who makes an unlikely move to the mob. Deeply entertaining, straight down the middle, crime yarn where the tension builds nicely to a terrific, anxiously noir payoff!
The drab title doesn't do the movie justice. Well done film noir that few have heard of or seen.
Mal Granger (Edmond O'Brien) is a simple telephone man. His bookie Chippie suggests a way to make some money.
Ed O'Brien is in good form here as an electronics expert who almost accidentally becomes involved with and then a big player in mob activities centred on gambling. Many good scenes and convincing bad guy performances from all involved.
Yes, I was heavily rooting for O'Brien to prevail in this flick. The cops seemed to get too much out of the smallest bits of info in taking him down.
I didn't believe O'Brien for a second as ruthless hood clawing his way to the top--too regular a guy. And how did Mr.
That's the epilogue of this film noir set in the world of track betting where a hard working and struggling telephone repair man (Edmond O'Brien) gets a little too involved in the $2 bet and ends up as part of a very large racket that is expanding thanks to its suave secret head (Otto Kruger) who stays as clean as those who work for him get dirtier. This is one of those films that you really have to concentrate on, a very complex film noir that if one detail goes over your head, you might have to watch the film over to try to understand what you missed.
