Sadly Over-hyped

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A newspaper headline reveals ten bodies dumped overboard, and the suspicion of human trafficking is made by the Press. Ambitious reporter Claire Trevor manipulates her way onto a City newspaper, and finds herself working on this story with veteran reporter Brian Donlevy. A shooting in a nightclub leads them to witness Rita Cansino AKA Rita Hayworth, and sudden violence breaks out which leads Trevor and Donlevy to believe everything that they've suspected is true. This story of a serious issue, still prevalent today, is at its height when Trevor and Donlevy are having their disputes, but surprisingly faces during moments when the action is at its highest.Classic film audiences will be curious to see the 18 year old Rita Hayworth in one of her earliest speaking film roles, and she commands every scene that she is in, mainly out of curiosity but also because of her not yet studio created beauty and her intensity. For comic relief, there's a receptionist played by an actress named Helen Troy who gets a few good lines, speaking extremely fast and gossiping about the goings-on not only at the newspaper but in her off screen life as well. Ralph Morgan is commanding as a local D.A. Hundreds of racket related film's came out in the 1930s and 40s, but I don't recall offhand having seen a film on this particular subject. As some of the survivors described their situation, it becomes a horrifying example of things still happening today. Trevor and Donlevy, in one of a handful of films they were in together, are great together.

Thanks to a friend's discovery of a print, I was finally able to view this little gem from Fox Films. Director Alan Dwan does a great job here and is provided a very good cast, including Brian Donlevy and Claire Trevor (who was to work with Dwan on a half dozen films at Fox--titles like NAVY WIFE and the marvelous ONE MILE FROM HEAVEN). Set in the brutal world of alien smuggling, it tells the story of a hard nosed reporter and a wannabe reporter from society who mix it up as they try to get to the mysterious leader of the gang--men who think nothing of drowning their "human cargoes" in reservoirs or killing cops. This is a fast paced film with a lot of snappy dialogue and Rita Hayworth as an alien who ends up dancing in a club for a vicious killer. Some great character actors including Alan Dinehart and Ralph Morgan help things along nicely. Good "B" made on the cusp between Fox and 20th Century Fox as the closing credits suggest. Must see viewing for Rita fans and those who like good action "B" movies. Bob Connors ([email protected]).

Viewed this film through the UCLA Film and Television Archive (though they sent me to their Paramount Lot to view since the print was being restored at the time). Since that time, this was shown at Cinecon Film Festival in 2014 in Los Angeles. This starred Claire Trevor in her usual role as a reporter trying to uncover the facts about illegal aliens being smuggled into the country and then used for slavery since their wages go to the gangsters who smuggled them in the country. Rita Hayworth is a nightclub performer who knows more about the operation than she would like, and is used to get a story for the reporters and ends up getting shot. Claire and Brian Donlevy do a great job as reporters with an easy banter and this is a very topical movie (even more so in today's climate). This is a movie that was worth saving and glad it is being shown more today.