WasAnnon
Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Maidexpl
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
Ketrivie
It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Michael O'Keefe
Joe Gargen (George Raft) is an ex-con, who takes a job at a tire factory. Trouble seems to be brewing as factory workers have been enticed to borrow money to payoff gambling debts. The factory owner knows of Gargen's past and offers him a job to go undercover to learn how his business is being infested by loan sharks. Gargen finally goes to the dark side to bust up the organized loan racket.May not be true noir, but crime stopping in B&W with thrills and shadows. Kudos to director Seymour Friedman. Rounding out the cast: Dorothy Hart, Paul Stewart, Helen Westcott, John Hoyt, Russell Johnson and Margia Dean.
Panamint
While not a fan of Raft's starring qualities for major studio films, I really enjoy him in tough little black and white B films like this. Low budget, filmed quickly, they seem a good fit for his real life tough, sometimes lowlife persona and abilities. I intend this as a compliment to Raft and if you watch "Loan Shark" you will see what I mean.In addition to Raft you have here a fine supporting cast including one of the best John Hoyt crime performances of his long distinguished career.Factories, lunch boxes and cheap hoods. Really evokes the underside of the 1950's and moves along briskly. Surprisingly entertaining.
JohnHowardReid
It's marvelous what skillful photography and a good tailor can do. Here's George Raft, just a year away from his tired, weary, sagging, crumpled pseudo-hero of Man from Cairo, looking as neat and natty and almost as vigorous as his just-stepped-out-of-a-bandbox tough-guy of the 1940s. George not only looks like a star, he's in fiery action and smart-talking fettle. And he has a wonderful support cast here too, led by superbly costumed Dorothy Hart. Margia Dean in a small role as a café waitress is also up front in the looks department as is gorgeous TV cheer-leader, Spring Mitchell, in her only movie appearance. The villains are top too, with Paul Stewart in fine form as a suspicious blood-sucker. The plot, stolen from Richard L. Breen and Warren Duff's Appointment with Danger (1951) – and used again by Lippert in Portland Expose (1957) – generates plenty of excitement, thanks to the pacey, always-on-the-mettle direction of Seymour Friedman, one of the more inventive and astute of "B" men. Of course with this movie, he did enjoy four big advantages in the solid cast line-up; the ability to use atmospheric natural locations such as the Goodyear Tire Factory; and the inventively noirish cinematography contributed by Joseph Biroc, a master of the art of black-and-white suspensers such as Johnny Allegro, Cry Danger, Glass Wall and World for Ransom; and last but not least, a $250,000 budget!
David (Handlinghandel)
OK: That's only at the beginning. catch the start of this nice little noir. Raft makes an entrance any diva would have been pleased with. And he arrives to visit his sister. On the way, he passes a squabbling couple. The sister greets him with love and concern, commenting on how tired he looks. And then he goes to soak in a hot bath! Later in the movie, we see that the authors have been influenced by another play that became a movie: The girlfriend of one of the bad guys suddenly sounds like Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn, from "Born yesterday." It may indeed have been unconscious. But wait: The climactic scene -- and this is giving nothing away -- is set in a theater.All this said, it's an excellent movie for something on so obviously low a budget. Raft is the same as he usually was. He's not exciting but he gives a solid performance. The lead female, Dorothy Hart, is attractive and convincing. The supporting cast is very good and they're all well directed.It's by no means a great movie but it's a decent, good one, worth your time.
