MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

dougdoepke A big time lawyer is shot on a street. The cops investigate, finding a tangled web of suspects, while the head cop gets involved with one of the suspects.Thoroughly forgettable crime drama (not noir). Two reasons for watching might be to catch evil-eye Lee Van Cleef as a cop, of all things, and still early in his unusual career. Then there's Vera Hruba Ralston often mocked as Hollywood's worst actress. She's not too bad here as a lounge singer. Can't help but sympathize with her fruitless effort to become the Hollywood queen Republic's head honcho Herbert Yates insisted upon. And that's despite her not speaking English and having little talent. She does show some accomplishment here, however. Note, in passing, the spiffy suits the men wear, even the cops. Like maybe, they just came off the studio rack, which I expect they did. Too bad pedestrian Joe Kane directs without a single imaginative touch, while actor Brian literally walks through his cop part. Anyway, the cars are clean and shiny, the candy-box colors near perfect, and the run- time fairly brief. So it all swallows down easily if unmemorably.

JohnHowardReid Although there are some quite promising plot ideas in this screenplay, adapted by Bob Williams and W.R. Burnett from Burnett's 1952 novel titled "Vanity Row", Republic's stereotyped, "B"-movie handling leaves a lot to be desired. The film emerges as a dull and dreary low-budget thriller, complete with uninspired characters yet hardly a second of action. Certainly, despite a fine cast line-up headed by David Brian, Vera Ralston and Sidney Blackmer, director Joe Kane does not evince even a spark of interest throughout the whole dreary proceedings which seem to drag on and on well over the film's actual running time of 74 minutes. Production values are negligible.

PhilAFN Detectives Brian and Van Cleef are assigned to investigate the murder of Mob lawyer Blackmer. The case becomes complicated when Brian falls for Ralston, who is a suspect in the case. This causes friction between Van Cleef and Brian. Meanwhile witness Grey tries to blackmail Stevens who she believes killed Blackmer. Plenty of plot twist make this a good story with unexpected ending.One might ask what Republic Pictures was doing making a color film in what is otherwise a "B" crime drama. Well, this was another showcase film for Vera Ralston who happened to be married to Herbert Yates, head of Republic at the time. It's to bad. Had Ralston's part been played by the likes of Marie Windsor or Audrey Totter and filmed in black and white, it would be a good little film noir. Still worth a watch for the story as well as noir characters Barry Kelley and Elisha Cook.

kong-7 Pretty mediocre murder mystery with Vera Ralston totally unappealing as nightclub singer. Her hand motions during her opening number are hilarious. David Brian makes a convincing cop if not a convincing lover. Sidney Blackmer's reactions to Ralston's singing are pretty funny too. Filmed in Naturama, whatever that is