Overrated

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

One of those ideal thrillers you just have to return to for getting brushed up now and then, with Alan Ladd entering film history with his very reticent and restricted way of acting adding to his menacing toughness, and Veronica Lake sailing up as the first great romantic queen of the 40s. The story is even by Graham Greene, although geographically moved from England to California and involving much greater business and world affairs than just a gun for hire; but the Greene atmosphere is definitely there, marked especially by small details, such as the invalid girl dropping her ball (what eyes!) and the dinosaur landlady. To crown it all, there is Laird Cregar in one of his too few but the more impressing performances, here as an over-sensitive crook who orders murders about but can't stand blood. Robert Preston plays a minor part as the police but is quite convincing, getting mixed up with his passions for his girl Veronica and what justice demands. It's a noir and a tragedy, but such an entrance into film history by Alan Ladd just had to make him a milesone of a film star.

Philip Raven (Alan Ladd) is a harden killer hired by Gates to kill Baker who was a blackmailer. Raven recovers a chemical formula for Gates but he is double-crossed when he is paid with marked bills that have been reported to the police. LAPD detective Michael Crane (Robert Preston) has traveled to San Francisco to track down the bills for Gates and his boss Brewster who runs Nitro Chemical. Meanwhile Crane's girlfriend Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake) is a magician/singer who auditions for Gates's nightclub. She is approached by Senator Burnett who tells her about a plot to sell a deadly toxic gas formula to Japan. He asks her to spy on Gates and his boss after getting the nightclub job in LA. By coincidence, Ellen Graham happens to sit right next to Raven as he travels by train to LA to track down Gates and find out who is behind his double-cross.I love some of the hardboiled dialog. Overall, it's a compelling fun thriller noir. I love Veronica Lake although she has an unusual job as a magician in this movie. Maybe it's in the Graham Greene's novel, but they should have just changed her into a simple singer. Also the story has a few too many coincidences. The gas masks in the last act are a bit too much. Alan Ladd is a little too babyfaced to be that hard character. Even with all of these minor problems, the overall sense is one of thrills and spills.

I can understand that in the war years of the early 40s this film would have looked pretty impressive. But I can't help wondering what it might have looked like if it had been made by another studio, maybe First National or Warner Brothers in the late 30's/early 40s ~ when these studios were not afraid to produce topical themes and play them as straight drama. As it stands, it's good entertainment with some effective moments. The brilliant opening promises more than the sum of it's overall worth. Perhaps if Graham Green had also crafted the screenplay it may have played very differently. Paramount were obviously going for popular entertainment and seem to have watered the seriousness down to the level of a crowd pleaser. The first Hour has the dramatic feel of Green, but then you gradually begin to feel outside influences creep in (along with some weak, overly obvious war propaganda) Director Frank Tuttle may have been competent, but looks like he might have been more at home with comedy. He does manage to get good performances from his two primary players, but considering this was Ladd's first real chance at the 'big time', he was obviously working very hard. For a decade following his success here, he seemed to coast along in commercial, by the numbers roles, till George Stevens gave him some challenging direction in Shane. Veronica Lake was best suited to her impressive song and trick/dance segments, but seemed a tad too comfortable in some particularly dangerous situations. A lot of the films strength lies in it's look. Highly creative Director of Photography: John Seitz, who gave such strong visual appeal to dramatic classics like: The Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity, and Sunset Boulevard, pulls out all stops to create dramatic mood, without overshadowing the story. Art and Set designs by Award winner Hans Dreier also impress. This first time pairing of Ladd and Lake obviously worked at the box office and it's far superior to their third teaming ~ the rather silly 'Blue Dahlia' --that film also heralded the first credited screenplay by Raymond Chandler --Chandler at the time, they say, was on the wagon, but had to get drunk to finish the 'Dahlia' script....and it showed.Most will still enjoy 'This Gun for Hire' but it should have been far Superior. Perhaps it may also have faired better if given an English treatment, like some of Green's other filmed stories? The wonderful b/w image on the DVD re-mastering, is nothing short of superb, a joy to behold.Another IMDb review by: Terrell-4 summed it up quite well for me....FOOTNOTE: There is more than a passing resemblance to this film, and the 'el- cheapo' "Murder By Contract" that stared Vince Edwards in '58 (best thing about that one was the Music score by Perry Botkin Jr.)

Here's the problem; this is an ordinary crime flick injected at the center with a brooding noir protagonist. A man whose fate is always a little out of reach, because it was set in motion when he was still a kid, so he cannot settle down, cannot not shoot his gun even when he has promised, and pretty much he only wants to lay down and sleep.Now imagine this man dreaming up a woman, a ravishing blonde straight out of a dream, who just so happens to be a stage magician who can make things vanish into thin air. Imagine this as a dream where she makes his suffering go away, but first he has to concede to be a part of her staged show. Imagine all this flowing from the key exchange where he tells her of his dream so he won't have to dream about it anymore, or so he's told.It takes place in a gas works by night, really the dark side of the mind, a lot of cavernous architecture where he confesses innermost self, with the search-lights of the waking world outside looking for him.And notice, even more pertinently than anything else, that the tricks she performs to the stunned cabaret patrons are only possible because they're in on it, being actors on a movie set, and assist the trick in plain sight of us, all the while feigning surprised reactions. This would be a marvellous way to nod in the direction of the cinematic sleight-of-hand.I say imagine.. because the film has little time for all this. It plays out a straight comic-book style plot. The wartime lesson is that every man, even this hardened crook, must do his part to assist the national effort. In the last scene he is restated as a tragic hero who offered noble service, but of course is no longer there to receive his medal.Imagine this as Lady of Shanghai pulp in the hands of Welles.. there's no doubt in my mind it would be one of the best films of the decade.