Truly Dreadful Film

Sadly Over-hyped

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Shoot To Kill takes Luana Walters out of her usual western cowgirl outfits and puts her in modern dress as a woman with one incredible scheme that involves bringing down a crooked prosecutor. Doubly hard because prosecutor Edmund MacDonald is regarded as a hero with a bright future.MacDonald has brought down Robert Kent a big name hoodlum. But it was at the bidding of three others racketeers who frame Kent because they want him out of the way. Kent escapes and therein lies the tale.Walters who usually was the girl that any number of Saturday matinée cowboys would be vying for did a really good job as a woman on a mission. You'd hardly know this was the same woman as this is one hardboiled dame. Walters is aided and abetted by reporter Russell Wade who also has a big size torch for Walters. In fact the whole story is related in flashback by Walters to Wade and Wade sees for the first time how his role fit in the big picture. Shoot To Kill obviously had a different ending in mind when you see it. For whatever reason, Lippert Pictures chose the wrong one. It should have ended like Humphrey Bogart's classic The Big Shot. It really spoiled what could have been a minor noir classic. You'll see what I mean when you watch it.

We open the film with a high-speed chase. Police are after a car containing attractive brunette Luana "Susan" Walters (as Marian Langdon), district attorney husband Edmond MacDonald (as Lawrence "Larry" Dale), and convicted gangster Douglas Blackley aka Robert Kent (as "Dixie" Logan aka Judge Joel Conroy). The car crashes, with only Ms. Walters surviving. In a hospital bed flashback, she tells her story to reporter Russell Wade (as George "Mitch" Mitchell), who is prone to his own flashbacks...From once scene to the next, the four principle performers do not always demonstrate a clear understanding of where they're going. However, with all the cross and double crossing going on, focused characterization makes "Shoot to Kill" a task. In hindsight, the story doesn't add up too well. Otherwise, it's sometimes stylishly directed and photographed by William Berke and Benjamin Kline. Darrell Calker, with Gene Rodgers contributing some fine on-screen piano work, nicely makes the music score.***** Shoot to Kill (3/15/47) William Berke ~ Luana Walters, Russell Wade, Edmund MacDonald, Robert Kent

SHOOT TO KILL is a nice paced crime drama that has Douglas Blackley playing a known gangster Dixie Logan who is framed by District Attorney Larry Dale(Edmund MacDonald). Logan's secret wife Marian Langdon(Susan Walters)takes a job assisting Dale in order to dig up proof corruption in the office and that Logan was framed. Helping Marian is ace reporter George Mitchell(Russell Wade)and not knowing her real situation falls in love with her. The story is being told by the pretty DA's assistant from her deathbed. Photography is top shelf and story does hold some suspense. A brief highlight is piano player Gene Rodgers playing the tunes "Ballad of the Bayou" and "Rajah's Blues". Supporting players include: Charles Trowbridge, Joe Devlin, Vince Barnett and Frank O'Connor.NOTE: Later Blackley changed his name to Robert Kent and Walters became Luana Walters.

It's a fact that over fifty percent of the films made prior to 1950 will never again be seen due to the deterioration of the film's negative, from nitrates or fire. God, how I wish "Shoot to Kill" was one of those films.I'm not going to go into what this movie was about, because with all of the flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks, you're going to grow tired of watching it, like I did, and not care.The acting is horrendous. Through the whole picture whenever Edmund MacDonald appeared, all I could think of was, "Murder! Murder at Midnight!"(fans of Abbott and Costello will know what I mean). It's sad to think that he was better in "Who Done It" than he was in this thing.Russell Wade showed his usual range of dull to bland. The highlight was when he was in the nightclub with Luana Walters, and the angle of the shot had a table light covering the bottom part of his face.Avoid at all cost.2 out of 10