Shoot to Kill (1947)

Janitor's Crushed Body Found At Bottom Of Elevator Shaft!

Shoot to Kill (AKA: Police Reporter) is directed by William Berke and written by Edwin V. Westrate. It stars Robert Kent (AKA: Douglas Blackley), Luana Walters (AKA: Susan Walters), Edmund MacDonald and Russell Wade. Music is by Darell Calker and Gene Rodgers and cinematography by Benjamin H. Kline.

When gangster Dixie Logan (Kent) is framed by crooked Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Dale (MacDonald), his wife Marian (Walters) and a reporter, George Mitchell (Wade), set about proving how corrupt Dale is.

You see the phrase poverty row B noir mixed with statements like double crosses and disloyalties, and it pricks up the ears of the film noir fan. Unfortunately Shoot to Kill has gained a small cult fan base without any surface justification. The film quite simply is a mess, oh the twists and flashback structure look impressive in the page, but the construction by the director is awful, with cast performances to match as well! This is amateur film making 101 and we even get a Keystone Cops like fist fight...

It opens with a promising car chase and crash, but that is a false dawn, from there it's a collage of weak characterisations as the director throws it all together and hopes it works. The best things in the film are an extended piano playing sequence by Gene Rodgers, some of the blaring newspaper headlines that raise a smile and the odd bit of noirish shadow play. While mercifully it only runs at just over an hour. Don't be fooled, this is no hidden treasure for the noir head to seek out, it really doesn't know what to do with the plot machinations. 3/10

There's actually quite a lot of meat on the bones of this thriller. When "Dixie Logan" (Robert Kent) is framed for murder by the crooked District Attorney "Dale" (Edmund MacDonald) it falls to Luana Walters ("Marian") to take a job as his secretary and ingratiate herself into his organisation where, with the assistance of the newly befriended investigative reporter "Mitchell" (Russell Wade), she hopes to be able to prove the corruption. Needless to say, there is little jeopardy here - we know from the start who did what, and we can also easily anticipate the denouement and the burgeoning romance that gives "quickie quota" an whole new meaning. The acting is adequate, nothing more, as is the writing, but William Berke does manage to keep this moving along without a surfeit of wasteful dialogue for just over an hour - we even get some expertly choreographed fisticuffs! It's standard afternoon fayre - or maybe just a little better than that.