Red Light

Plot synopsis:
Bookkeeper Nick Cherney is sent to jail for embezzling from Johnny Torno's trucking company. In a California prison, he sees a newsreel showing Johnny welcoming home his brother Jess, a heroic Catholic chaplain just returned from a World War II prisoner-of-war camp. Just before his release four years later (and to give himself a clever alibi), Nick hires Rocky, an inmate who has just finished his sentence, to murder Jess.
Jess is staying in a local hotel room, about to depart for his first parish in another city. The brothers meet with a local priest, Father Redmond. It is during that meeting that Johnny finds out Jess is moving away.
Johnny arrives at his brother's hotel room not long after Jess is shot by Rocky. Knowing that he is about to die, Jess vaguely indicates that a clue to his murderer can be found within the covers of the room's Bible. Johnny takes this to mean that the name of the killer himself is inscribed somewhere therein. However, the book is not there.
Johnny refuses to wait for the police to investigate. He tracks down and questions several strangers who occupied the same room, among them Carla North. He believes that one of them has the Bible. Once he satisfies himself that Carla is not a suspect, he hires her to help in the search, inviting her to stay at his luxury apartment, while he moves to his office. Although a bit suspicious of Johnny's motives, Carla agrees.
While Johnny is questioning another hotel guest, he notices Rocky watching him. Setting a trap, he lets Rocky see him buying a book from the former guest and wrapping it up, then leaves it lying around while he gets his shoes shined. When Rocky steals the book, Johnny catches him and reveals that it is just a cookbook. Rocky manages to escape, though Johnny wounds him slightly with his gun.
Later, aboard a train back to town, Rocky tells Nick that he is through, and that he intends to blackmail Nick. Nick sucker punches him, causing him to fall off the rear of a moving train. Then, Nick goes to Torno's office to witness the search of the Gideon Bible found earlier by Carla.
When Johnny finally locates the missing Gideon Bible, he finds written within not information about the killer's identity, but a plea from his brother not to seek revenge. Nick thinks he is off the hook. Relieved, he turns to leave.
However, when he gets to the head of the stairs, he spots Rocky on the floor below. In a shootout, Nick fatally wounds Rocky, but before he dies, Rocky identifies Nick as the mastermind behind Jess's murder.
Johnny pursues Nick to the roof, out in a rainstorm. Nick accidentally steps on the main power supply to Torno's huge neon sign and is electrocuted.

Tags: revenge

Review:
The Lord may say: "Vengeance is mine," but Georgie says "the heck with that noise -- this one's MY baby!" He rampages through a multi-state search-and-destroy mission in his quest to find the message hidden in the Gideon Bible that was in his brother's room when he was killed.
One man (Raymond Burr) avenges being sent to prison for embezzling from a San Francisco trucking company by having the younger brother, a priest played by Arthur Franz, of the owner of the trucking company (George Raft) killed, shot in cold blood in a hotel room by Burr's prison associate Henry Morgan.
Burr is in top form looking downright menacing, and basically carries a lot of this film, as Raft's part goes way overboard as the vengeful older brother, though the Gideon's Bible angle of the film gives the part some saving grace.
Virginia Mayo's role as one of the people who stayed in the hotel room where the murder took place, does not add much, as she is used by Raft to help find the Bible in which there is supposedly a clue to the killer's identity.
The role of the Bible itself makes the film a bit of a religious noir, an element that is also captured in some superb cinematography by the great Bert Glennon.
Mystifying title for a revenge crime melodrama featuring George Raft and The Bible....
With so much of this gangster melodrama revolving around the Gideon Bible holding the clue to the murderer, it's no wonder that Dimktri Tiomkin plays up the pious "Ave Maria" every time any mention of "the clue" is made.
George Raft's monotone voice and intense expression never changes much throughout, but he's convincing as a man on a mission to find and kill his brother's murderer.Along the way, he enlists the aid of the lovely Virginia Mayo, who helps him track down the killer while reminding him that his brother was strictly a "Thou shalt not kill" sort of Army Chaplain.
Thus, the grim ending for the killer comes not from Raft but providence when he's disposed of quite dramatically.Raymond Burr plays the "heavy," a sadistic thug who seems to enjoy every kill, even if it means pushing a man off a train or having a truck falling on top of a man in hiding.
A good cast, including Arthur Franz as Raft's brother, Gene Lockhart, Harry Morgan, Barton MacLane, Ken Murray, William Frawley and Arthur Shields.
Virginia Mayo gives an excellent performance as the gutsy gal who helps Raft in his quest to find a killer.Trivia: Interesting to note that most of the supporting cast would go on to TV fame in an era when that medium was just starting to give film players some iconic breaks.Summing up: Good revenge melodrama with film noir touches..
George Raft stars in the 1949 "Red Light" with Virginia Mayo, Raymond Burr, Gene Lockhart, Arthur Franz, and a host of other familiar faces.Raft plays Johnny Torno, the head of the Torno Freight Company.
When he caught Nick Cherney (Burr) embezzling from him, he had him put in prison.When Johnny's brother Jess, an army chaplain, is discharged, Nick sees a chance to get back at Johnny, who adores his brother.
But the Gideon Bible is missing by the time Johnny gets back there.Johnny sets out to find the Bible by tracking down anyone who had stayed in the room since Jess, determined to find out who killed his brother and killing the murderer himself.The Bible plays an important part in the film, not just the physical Bible, but what's inside.
And it isn't what Johnny thinks.I really liked this movie because of its interesting slant, and also, I don't know what it is, but I like George Raft.
One thing Raft had on screen was warmth, and here, you see Johnny's love for Jess, and his pain when his brother dies.The other thing about this movie that is wonderful is all the familiar faces - besides actors known primarily for films: Raft, Mayo, and Lockhart, we have TV star Burr, Harry Morgan (September Bride, Pete & Gladys, MASH), William Frawley (I Love Lucy), Victor Sen Young (Charlie Chan, Bonanza), Barton MacLane (I Dream of Jeannie), Arthur Franz, who was in everything, Philip Pine, who must have done every TV show ever, Ken Murray, known for his home movies of celebrities, Paul Frees, the "Man of a Thousand Voices" who was the voice of Boris on Rocky the Squirrel), Bob Jellison (Bobby the Bellboy when "I Love Lucy" was in Hollywood), and Marlon Brando's first wife Movita.Dmitri Tiomkin's music ranges from riffs on Ave Maria, Dies Irae, and some Tosca thrown in.
Four years earlier Torno's bookkeeper Nick Cherney (Raymond Burr) was sent to prison for embezzling from Johnny's company - he was embarrassingly guilty and it was really a lot of money.
This starts Johnny on a search for the missing Bible and all of the guests in the hotel room since Jess' death who might have taken it.
Nick, now out of prison, along with the hit man, are right on Johnny's heels hoping their plans are not discovered.It is very odd to see later TV good guys Harry Morgan and Raymond Burr playing such sinister characters but the performances ring true.
Red Light is directed by Roy Del Ruth and adapted to screenplay by George Callahan from the story This Guy Gideon written by Don Barry.
It stars George Raft, Virginia Mayo, Raymond Burr, Harry Morgan and Gene Lockhart.
Music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and cinematography by Bert Glennon.Something of an oddity, Red Light finds George Raft up to his neck in religion, revenge and a smouldering Virginia Mayo.
Find the Bible, find the killer.It is brought into the film noir sphere of things via Glennon's photography, which kicks in at the hour mark and runs concurrent with the murky thematics in the narrative, Frisco a rain sodden place of sleaze.
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).
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).
Fine film noir with George Raft bringing a "WB gangster from the '30s" edge to things.
Great cast backing him up, including Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, Barton MacLane, and Harry Morgan.
Brutal at Times the Film is Punctuated with Messages from the Bible and the Look is Acutely Dark and Shadowed with Iconic Flourishes.George Raft is at His One Note Best as He goes on a Man-Hunt Looking for the Killer of His Priest Brother.
The Gideon Bible Itself is the McGuffin and Plays an Ending Twist of its Own. Raymond Burr is a Sleazy, Nasty and Violent Thug along with His Partner in Crime Henry Morgan (who was never dirtier).Although the Preaching at Times is a Heavy Load of Thumping it Never Quite goes Over the Top and Film-Noir Wins Out. A Couple of Times Raft Stops the Sermonizing with a Speech of His Own that Keeps Things where They Ought to be..."Save that eyewash for your Sunday Sermon".What a bit of Nastiness this is.
Red Light is an independent production released by United Artists and starring George Raft as a man on a mission.
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.
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.
There's a fine cast for a low budget crime picture, which includes the under appreciated Virginia Mayo, along with Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, William Frawley, and Henry Morgan (who nearly steals the picture with his villainous phychotic supporting role).
Solid film noir from the wooden yet watchable George Raft.
Solid film noir from the wooden yet watchable George Raft.
George Raft's brother is murdered, but left a clue as to the identity of his killer in a Gideon Bible, the MacGuffin of the piece, which Raft spends most of the film trying to locate.
George Raft's brother is murdered, but left a clue as to the identity of his killer in a Gideon Bible, the MacGuffin of the piece, which Raft spends most of the film trying to locate.
There's a fine cast for a low budget crime picture, which includes the under appreciated Virginia Mayo, along with Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, and Henry Morgan (who nearly steals the picture with his villainous phychotic supporting role).
By a series of of unfortunate but not related incidents the owner of a large freight company named Johnny Torno (played by George Raft) is trying to solve the mystery of a missing motel bible that his recently murdered brother while taking his last dying breath alludes to will solve who murdered him in that motel room.
After eliminating Carla North as a suspect he engages her to work with him in finding out the current location of the other motel room customers who may have stolen the motel room bible that his brother said provides the only clue to his murder.So big brother Johnny ignores his freight company responsibilities and with the help of the motel bellhop and the beautiful Carla North finds out who subsequently rented that same motel room over the next week in an effort to find out who took that bible that is the key to solving his brothers mysterious death and murder.I am sure you noticed that I rated this film a dismal 3 out of 10.
The 3 points are all attributed to the classy Virginia Mayo who plays Carla North, as well as to actor Raymond Burr who plays the recently released convict Nick Cherney.
So the big burly bad convict Nick Cherney sought vengeance from Johnny Torno for putting him behind bars and what better way to seek vengeance than to have Johnny Torno's little priest brother whacked by his cellmate Rocky (Harry Morgan aka Dragnet's detective Bill Gannon) who was being released from prison before he was.This film noir is an okay time waster except for the fact that the so called male star of this film, Johnny Torno, played by the cardboard acting emotionless little George Raft kept sinking the film every time he opened his mouth and/or moved across the black and white screen with his hands stiffly held next to his hips as if he was a robot.
The convict that Johhny Torno is supposed to be laying a beating on Nick Cherney, is played by the burly Raymond Burr who at the time, stood at least 6 feet tall and 250 pounds.
This is just another example of how poorly cast George Raft was in the leading role of Johnny Torno.The Red Light title was merely used as a result of the very recent huge success that was ALL Virgina Mayo's for starring in the earlier 1949 release of another film noir titled "White Heat" which starred a real action/drama star in James Cagney.
It is unfortunate that the attractive and good performance of Virginia Mayo was assigned to work with one of the worst actors of the time period, that being the short cardboard acting of George Raft.Sorry, but I call them like I see them.
First of all, we all agree that George Raft was wooden and didn't have a clue what a good script looked like.
A waste of her time and effort especially since she was in a flurry of excellent films like WHITE HEAT and Colorado TERRITORY.At least Raymond Burr and Henry Morgan bring some life to the proceedings.
Meticulously groomed George Raft was a notoriously one-note actor, but his monotone worked harmoniously in the flattened acoustic of film noir.
In Roy Del Ruth's Red Light -- an unusual "religioso" thriller -- he owns a trucking empire; his brother, a priest and army chaplain, has just been gunned down in a hotel room.
Raft enlists the aid of Virginia Mayo to track down both Bible and killer.
(Spoilers) It's when his kid brother US Army Chaplin Captain Jess Torno, Arthur Franz, was found shot at the hotel he was staying at that Johnny Torno, George Raft, owner of Torno Fraight Lines made it his first order of business to bring Jess' killer to justice.
There was something that Jess with his last dying breath told Johnny who was at the murder scene that it's the bible in his hotel room, that disappeared from sight, that holds the answer to what happened and then kicked off for good.Determined to find Jess' murderer Johnny didn't realize that the person who was behind the crime was a lot closer to him at he could have ever imagined.
As we all saw at the start of the movie Johnny's former book-keeper Rick Cherney played by a pre liposuction 300 plus pounds Raymond Burr, whom Johnny caught embezzling his business, who was behind Jess' murder.
It was Cherney who hired ex-con Rocky, Harry Morgan, who was in the can, San Quentin Prison, together with him to gun Jess down as an act of revenge against Johnny.
In Cherney being dead broke, without a job or any other means of support, at the time to give Rocky the contract to knock off Jess?Looking for the Gideon Bible that was in the hotel-room with Jess at the time of his murder Johnny recruits pretty Carla North,Virginia Mayo, who needs the money and who was in the same hotel-room Jess was in after his death to track down anyone else who spent the night at hotel room #812 after Jess was killed and could have possibly taken the bible.
In the end all turns out to be well and good in Johnny finally seeing the light and when he did have the chance not do in the fleeing Cherney a hesitant and Johnny instead let the supernatural or a bolt of electricity, as Jess advised him in the magic hotel Gideon Bible, do it for him.P.S Check out Johnny's and later Clara's Chinese house-boy at his San Francisco luxury suite Vincent played by former Charlie Chan's goofy #2 son Victor Sen Young..
Raft puts him up at a hotel till he gets settled in again.At the same time, Raymond Burr, a former book-keeper of Raft's is doing a bit in prison.
Raft has Clements bring him a list of people who have stayed in the room since his brother.First up on the list is Virginia Mayo, a night club singer from Los Angeles.
He wants her to hunt down the other names on his list of hotel guests for that room.Now Raymond Burr shows up just fresh out of prison.
He was still in Prison when the murder happened.As Mayo tracks down the names on the list, Raft pays them all a visit.
Raft returns to his office to look for Mayo.While all this is going on, Burr has taken his prison buddy, Morgan for a train ride.
When everyone rushes out of Raft's office to see what is happening, Burr points at Morgan.
Figurative (and, later in life, literal) heavy Raymond Burr plays Nick Cherney, an embezzler doing time for ripping off his employer, shipping company boss Johnny Torno (George Raft).
The cooperative Rocky obliges by murdering Johnny's priest brother Jess (Arthur Franz), but Johnny isn't willing to take his sibling's death lying down - until he reads some marginalia in Jess's bible.
Shot on location in beautiful Carmel, California, Red Light also features Virginia Mayo, Gene Lockhart, and William Frawley (who has an interesting telephone conversation about plumbing), first rate James Van Trees cinematography, and an original score by Dmitri Tiomkin..
I'm sure Burr, who must have weighed twice as much as Raft, could have demolished him with a couple of punches.Then Virginia Mayo is a suspect by Raft in the murder of Raft's priest brother Jess who has returned from a prison camp overseas.
Mayo doesn't have the Bible, but instead has a photo of Jess, because her now-dead brother was in the military with Raft's brother.
At the end, Harry Morgan shows up at Raft's office just as Burr is on his way out and fingers him as the killer.
(Is it a spoiler to say Raymond Burr plays a bad guy in this?
I can't blame that on Mr Raft, that's solely down to the production team.Unless you're a Raymond Burr fan, this film is just a waste of time.