A Dangerous Profession (1949)

The only thing missing here is Charlie Chan showing up at the end to tell the viewer what just happened. Actually it's not all that complicated, but you do have to pay attention because there's a bit of sleight of hand with character Roy Collins (Robert Gist), who's using the alias of Max Gibney doing a money hand-off to an attorney named Dawson (David Wolfe), who winds up having nothing to do with the murder mystery. Not exactly a maguffin, but a distraction nonetheless.The early going can be a little confusing so don't get up for a cup of coffee. Eventually it's revealed that former cop turned bail bondsman Vince Kane (George Raft) once had a thing for sultry Lucy Brackett (Ella Raines), and now finds himself in a vise between his partner Joe Farley (Pat O'Brien), police lieutenant Nick Ferrone (Jim Backus), and night club owner Jerry McKay (Roland Winters). Might as well mention Lucy's husband just got nailed for securities fraud and a two year old murder rap of another cop. Claude Brackett (Bill Williams) took the easy way out getting himself knocked off by one of the guys who framed him; it's Kane's job to try and figure it all out.Ella Raines has the perfect femme fatale persona going for her in this little noir mystery but somebody goofed with her hair, looking like she just came in out of the rain. Jim Backus offers up a much harder edge to his character than one might be used to seeing, and gets tough with Kane for putting up the extra bond money for Brackett, suspecting a collusion angle with Lucy. After everything gets sorted out in the frantic finale I was left with a single but giant question mark - why would Vince hand his gun over to McKay on the way to pick up Collins/Gibney?

A Few Shots with Shadows do not a Film-Noir make. But it adds a bit of Atmosphere to otherwise Mediocre Melodramas and Crime Procedurals.The Overrated and almost always Stiff Screen Persona of George Raft has Puzzled Modern Film Historians. Competent, but Never Compelling, Likable, or even Very Good He managed a Long and Inconsistent Career Playing, well, George Raft.Ella Raines, She of the Piercing Eyes, is the Dame in this Drama that is Mildly Interesting but hardly Essential Viewing. The Plot Plods at a Mundane Pace and it's Talky and Tepid most of the time. Pat O'Brien gives one of His Better Outings as an Ambiguous Bail Bondsman and Partner of Raft.The Ending is Wrapped in a Neat Little Bow and the Direction and Screenplay are Pedestrian. Worth a Watch, just don't Expect a Solid Film-Noir or anything approaching First Rate.

Although George Raft and Pat O'Brien share star billing in A Dangerous Profession, the film's action is mainly carried by Raft with O'Brien strictly in support. The two of them play bail bondsman, partners in a bail bond firm. But Raft has a professional and romantic past that get in the way here.Ella Raines with whom Raft had a fling while she was separated from husband Bill Williams comes to Raft for help with bail. Williams comes from a rich background, but his daddy squandered the family fortune and he's not up to a lifestyle change. Williams gets himself in with some crooks doing a little white collar crime and finds himself hung with a murder rap of the investigating detective.The plot starts out like a poor man's Casablanca with Raft like Bogart coming to the aid of his former love's husband whom he didn't know anything about. O'Brien who's not thinking with his hormones doesn't want the firm involved, but Raft insists. Later on Williams turns up dead himself and then Raft's old profession of police detective kicks in despite O'Brien warning him of an inherent conflict of interest.I wish we had seen a little more of Pat O'Brien, but A Dangerous Profession is a competently made noir film. Ella Raines does well as a combination of Lauren Bacall and Lizabeth Scott in her role as the woman that everyone can't resist. Jim Backus plays Raft's former partner as a cop and he's showing some versatility here that will surprise those who only know him as the inept Mr. Magoo and the rich Thurston Howell IV. One of the competently made noir films that Raft was doing in the later part of the Forties. His films would go considerably downhill shortly.

A Dangerous Profession is a mildly diverting crime picture featuring a fine cast headed by veterans George Raft and Pat O'Brien, both of whom had seen better days by the time they appeared in this picture. Nor is the direction of the usually reliable Ted Tetzlaff up to his usual standard. This is the kind of small scale but not quite grade B movie that television was about to make obsolete, and as such an interesting historical footnote of a bygone era for those who care for such things.