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 It's not often that film noirs are allowed to escape their essential dark alleyways and lowbrow dives. Once in a blue moon these stories can surpass expectations, which is the case with 1942's This Gun for Hire. As the film begins it looks like standard noir material, casting Alan Ladd as the morose anti-hero and Veronica Lake as the seductive female lead. But the picture's hardly begun before you get the feeling that it's more than mere dime-store pulp. There's quite a bit of ambition running through This Gun for Hire's veins; and it's a much more memorable movie for its efforts.
Veronica Lake
Ladd (Shane) dons a trenchcoat and rumpled fedora for the role of Philip Raven, a cold-blooded killer for hire. Raven heads back home after his latest assignment, only to discover that he's been paid off with hot money. With the police on his tail, Raven has no choice but to hunt down and exact revenge on Willard Gates (Laird Cregar), the hefty chemical executive who hired him. But soon, our unlikely protagonist comes to take on an unexpected partner. On a train ride to Los Angeles, Raven crosses paths with Ellen Graham (Lake), a nightclub performer who's been hired by the feds to get the lowdown on Gates and his dirty dealings. Discovering that they're after the same creep, Raven and Ellen reluctantly combine forces, as the cops -- led by none other than Ellen's own boyfriend (Robert Preston) -- start to close in.
On the surface, This Gun for Hire might not sound like anything special. But when you take the finer details into consideration, it's as densely-plotted as your average James Bond flick. This seemingly innocent noir manages to cram in turncoat executives, scheming politicos, and a poison gas formula under one roof.
It's all the more impressive an accomplishment considering that not only does the film clock in at a mere 80 minutes, it does a pretty good job of keeping all the craziness in check. Tracking the pretzelesque path these subplots weave can get confusing, but they're mostly there to add extra excitement to the proceedings. At heart, This Gun for Hire is still a pulpy crime story that sticks to basics and pays little heed to what's essentially window dressing. Never losing sight of what makes noirs so popular, director Frank Tuttle crafts a lean thriller out of what would've otherwise been a cluttered mess. The story even reflects this modest mindset; Raven has no interest in withered company men selling secrets to the enemy, just in giving the double-crossing Gates his just desserts.
Laird Cregar & Alan Ladd
Though film noirs are more often known for their style than their actual content, This Gun for Hire offers more than just a good cinematographer. The acting is quite good, enhancing genre archetypes into fleshed-out characters. He may not have gotten first billing, but Ladd is undoubtedly the star of the show, not to mention a morally ambiguous one at that. We know from the start that Raven isn't a nice guy, what with a cold demeanor and habit of slapping around women (in addition to the whole hitman angle). But at the same time, Ladd plays him with the tiniest hint of a conscience, one that inspires him to reflect on his violent existence in one of the film's quietly compelling moments. Lake is every bit Ladd's equal. Lake's an entrancing entertainer whose beauty and fiery personality make her character anything but a damsel in distress. Cregar is appropriately weasely as the villain. Although his role is a fairly thin one, Preston makes the best of his time with a decent performance.
While I wouldn't call This Gun for Hire wholly spectacular (thanks to a couple of scenes that drag and an all-too-abrupt ending), it's more enriching than expected. Not a typical tale of broads and bullets, the movie takes a journey to cinema's seedier side viewers won't soon forget.
Director: Frank Tuttle
Writers: Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett (based on a novel by Graham Greene)
Cast: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Laird Cregar, Robert Preston, Tully Marshall, Marc Lawrence
Rating: No MPAA Rating (violence)
Classic Movie Guide Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Run Time: 80 minutes
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Format: Black-and-white, fullscreen
Photo credits: Paramount Pictures
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