FILMOGRAPHY: MOVIE LISTINGS

Simply Film Noir at its best.

From the outset we know Raven (Ladd) is bad. He's so bad that he could easily kill the pictures female lead character and for once you actually believe that the writer actually will do it. Film Noir is not your cosy happy ending type movie or even a "get the girl kill the baddies" type, it's the birth of the anti-hero. The lead character you want to see make it even if he or she is basically evil. With the odds stacked against him and being played as a pawn in a dangerous game. Raven is a killer for hire.

This was Lake and Ladd's finest moment together and Noirs finest hour. The movie pulls no punches, twists & turns and delivers in a real life manner that Hollywood shied away from till then and has come full circle to again now. I felt that Lake's part in the movie was somewhat tacked on in that anyone could have played the role and she didn't have enough to do, but what she did was good. Ladd comes off best and you can see why he was given the part. Lake and Ladd click in this movie and their similarly short height meant that they were a perfect screen match.

The scene with the cat is very powerful and copied several times in later years. If you like your movies black - watch this and you will realise why it has been remade and copied so often.

Moody and Dark Film Noir Masterpiece

This film with it's psychological undertones and dark nuances takes you on a journey into the tortured soul of Raven - a hired gunman who fulfils his part of a contract killing, and is then double crossed by the evil conglomerate that hired him. The viewer will be struck at once by the dichotomy of this man in the opening scene of the film as he slaps around a hotel maid for mistreating a hungry little kitten that he had been tenderly feeding.

Somehow even though he continues to kill you get the feeling that deep down inside there is something good yet tragic about this man and that's where Veronica Lake comes in. She plays Ellen Graham - a beautiful club performer who just so happens to be involved in a government scheme to indict the same people Raven is after for selling secrets to the Japanese. She somehow has the power to reach into this troubled man's soul and bring out the good that deep down inside you knew had to be there. When Veronica appears during her cabaret sequence it is simply breathtaking. She looks like a glowing, platinum goddess in this predominately dark, shadowy film and her smile is radiant. Her performance in this film is excellent and well suited to the exceptional portrayal of Raven given by Alan Ladd.

This is their first screen pairing together of course and it's so obvious why these two were so perfectly suited for each other. "This Gun For Hire" is a masterpiece from Hollywood's golden age. Don't miss it.

Noir.,. what the girl was made for

Lake once again gets a juicy role as a somewhat hapless but brave side kick to an unusual leading man. She is surprisingly tough in a role that you'd assume would be simpering and frightened as she is manhandled and threatened but instead her character goes toe-to-toe with her male co-stars.

What I love about This Gun is that it's not a Saturday afternoon TV flick. It's dark. Raven is a bad man and boy does he show it in his actions. You can tell this was based on something written since there's nuance and character built into the plot and you get shown things via peoples actions and not so much their words.

Lake and Ladd might have had a less than harmonious acting partnership but the appeal of their partnership and maybe those off screen sparks made for some method acting gold on screen. These characters aren't lovers, Raven just doesn't seem capable and that's a role to lean into and Ladd nails it.

A noir any noir lover should discover.