Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

the audience applauded

Such a frustrating disappointment

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Republic Pictures strikes again with this slick little programmer from under-rated director, George Blair.Two con artists, Dorothy Patrick and John Eldredge partner up to play the Lonely Hearts racket. They place ads with various Lonely Heart clubs looking for well off possible companions. Patrick plays the men and Eldredge the distaff marks.Their first mark they end up killing for the $7,000 in cash he has stashed. They move around the country burning various people for their savings.Sometimes they pose as brother and sister to put possible marks at ease. A new mark, widow Ann Doran is soon on Eldredge's hook. He promises her world travel etc after they get married. She falls for the smooth talking heel and dumps would be suitor, Richard Travis.Eldredge soon has Doran talked into selling her house and then traveling with him to Italy for a quick marriage, He then sends Doran off with his "sister" Patrick on a shopping trip to Chicago. Half way to Chicago, Patrick calmly shoves Doran off the back of the moving train they are on. She smiles as she watches Doran face plant onto the rail bed.While all this has been going on, a concerned Travis has contacted Doran's son, Eric Sinclair about what is going on with his mother. Sinclair is working in the Middle-East on an oil rig. Sinclair sends home a cablegram saying he is returning in a week's time. The cable is of course intercepted by Patrick and Eldredge. They send back a cable telling Sinclair that all is well and to stay at his job. Sinclair does not like the way the cable is signed and makes arrangements for his return.Doran in the meantime has been found alive beside the rails. She has been bounced around a bit and is in a coma at the local hospital. Since she had no id on her the Police have no way of finding where she might be from.Patrick heads off to the small out of town cabin the two keep as a base of operations. Eldredge stays to sell off the house and liquidate the rest of Doran's goods. He is interrupted in this by a visit from Travis. Travis confronts him and says that he knows something fishy is going on. He intends to call in the cops. Eldredge gives Travis a taste of pistol butt across the side of his head and splits.Travis comes to and does contact the Police. The Police put out an all points and set up a few roadblocks. Eldredge crashes his way through the roadblock and wounds a Policeman in an exchange of gunfire. He then hightails it to his and Patrick's cabin. The two decide to separate with Patrick staying at the cabin and Eldredge laying low in the seedy part of a nearby city.Doran's son, Sinclair as now returned from the Middle East and is filled in by the Police and Travis. The Police have Travis go through the mug books. They find Eldredge in one of the files and get his real name. They soon find that Eldredge is hiding out at a pool hall in a town across the state. Travis and Sinclair quickly drive there and pay a visit to the local Law. Police Lt, Robert Rockwell arranges for a raid to be launched on the pool hall.The raid is bungled and Eldredge manages to shoot his way out and car-jack a passing cab. He fires the cab driver out and speeds off to join Patrick at the out of town cabin. Back at the Police precinct, Travis is now going through the local mug books looking for the "sister". Turns out she is well known to the local bunco squad.Following all the leads soon has the Police at the front door of the hide-out. Eldredge and Patrick refuse to come quietly and start blasting at the boys in blue. Not at all amused, the Police return a barrage of lead in return. Patrick in wounded and Eldredge is shot dead as he tries to escape out the back door.Doran comes out of her coma and she now decides that Travis is really the man for her.A brisk and to the point programmer, that wraps everything up nicely in a 60 minute runtime.Also in the cast are, Barbara Fuller, Kathleen Freeman, Edward Dunn and William Schallert in his first billed role.The director was b-film veteran, George Blair. Blair cranked out a whole series of quite watch- able low rent film noir. These include, EXPOSED, FEDERAL AGENT AT LARGE, POST OFFICE INVESTIGATOR, SECRETS OF MONTE CARLO, INSURANCE INVESTIGATOR and UNMASKED.The d of p was, Ellis Carter. His work includes, BIG TOWN AFTER DARK, CAGED FURY, BIG TOWN SCANDAL, SPECIAL AGENT, THE BLONDE BANDIT, THE HUMAN JUNGLE and DAMN CITIZEN. He also lensed several of the best 50's sci-fi films such as, THE MOLE PEOPLE, MONOLITH MONSTERS and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. (B/W)Best crack: Police Lt Rockwell says to his cops as he sends them out after Eldredge, "Bring the rat in or put him in a drawer at the morgue!" (B/W)

Two lonelyhearts swindlers target a respectable widow.What can you say about a police roadblock that looks no more forbidding than a parking lot entrance or a tropical cooling fan that spins with all the speed of a clock's minute hand. Sure, not much is expected from a 60-minute Republic feature, especially when it's not a matinée western. And this tacky crime drama doesn't disappoint. But at least the producers got a bang for their buck from a decent cast. Especially from the great Ann Doran (Nancy), one of those unsung, unglamorous players who carry the movies on their collective backs. Here, she gets the screen time her talents deserve and makes even the occasional plot pitfall believable. Still, the story is filmed in unimaginative fashion, while the script shuffles players in and out in no apparent order. Okay there's little point in criticizing a cheap programmer like this. It's like complaining about a cheap used car when it won't go over 50 on the highway. Too bad the even the more penurious PRC didn't get the material first. That way we might have gotten at least a cut-rate noir.

Best known for its serials and westerns, Republic Pictures also regularly made mysteries and crime dramas throughout its lifespan. The ones from the post-World War II-era are very little known, and while I've seen some misfires among them, many are solid b-movies that are always competently made, well-acted by the supporting casts, and completely unpretentious. Republic's output in this era always had a slick look, and never had a very dark or fatalistic feel to them (DECOY or DETOUR would never be Republic releases!), so those seeking hard-boiled noir should probably seek out obscure PRC or Eagle-Lion or Film Classics or even Lippert releases. However, LONELY HEART BANDITS is a fine little b-programmer, with a con-man and his female partner fleecing and sometimes killing lonely people who answer personal ads for romantic partners. The film wastes no time in getting started, and features a wonderfully evil performance by veteran supporting player John Eldredge, well-known for his appearances in many Universal, Monogram, and Republic productions. He probably loved playing this juicy role, as a "distinguished" older man who charms rich widows, marries them, takes their money, and sometimes (when he feels it's "necessary") kills them. There are no surprises here, and like much of Republic's 1950s output it plays a lot like a TV episode, but I found it to be an entertaining way to kill an hour. Of special interest is a memorable performance by Kathleen Freeman (fine comic actress, known for many roles in Jerry Lewis films) as Bertha, a friend of the heroine, who finds a man who is perfectly suited for her (you'll see what I mean by that!) through a lonely hearts club. During one of her scenes, Ms. Freeman does a beautiful job with a speech about how it feels to be lonely and without love. What a great talent she was--she will be missed. Overall, LONELY HEART BANDITS is not something you need to track down immediately, but is a solid b-movie that achieves what it set out to do.