IMDb > This Gun for Hire (1942)

This Gun for Hire (1942) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.7/10   2,120 votes
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Down 12% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Frank Tuttle
Writers:
Graham Greene (novel)
Albert Maltz (writer) ...
(more)
Contact:
View company contact information for This Gun for Hire on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
13 May 1942 (USA) more
Genre:
Film-Noir | Crime | Thriller more
Tagline:
Lover without a heart...killer without a conscience! more
Plot:
Hit man Philip Raven, who's kind to children and cats, kills a blackmailer and is paid off by traitor Willard Gates in "hot" money... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
User Comments:
Hooray for Gates and Tommy! more (43 total)

Cast

  (in credits order) (verified as complete)

Veronica Lake ... Ellen Graham
Robert Preston ... Det. Michael Crane
Laird Cregar ... Willard Gates

Alan Ladd ... Philip Raven
Tully Marshall ... Alvin Brewster
Marc Lawrence ... Tommy
Olin Howland ... Blair Fletcher (as Olin Howlin)
Roger Imhof ... Senator Burnett
Pamela Blake ... Annie
Frank Ferguson ... Albert Baker
Victor Kilian ... Drew
Patricia Farr ... Ruby
Harry Shannon ... Steve Finnerty
Charles C. Wilson ... Police Captain
Mikhail Rasumny ... Slukey
Bernadene Hayes ... Albert Baker's Secretary
Mary Davenport ... Salesgirl
Chester Clute ... Rooming House Manager
Charles Arnt ... Male Dressmaker
Earle S. Dewey ... Mr. Collins (as Earle Dewey)
Clem Bevans ... Scissor Grinder
Lynda Grey ... Gates' Secretary
Virita Campbell ... Little Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Anderson ... Plainclothesman (uncredited)
Don Barclay ... Piano Player (uncredited)
Ernest Baskett ... Porter (uncredited)
Jack Baxley ... Innocent Dupe (uncredited)
Karin Booth ... Waitress (uncredited)
Harry Brown ... Superintendent (uncredited)
William Cabanne ... Laundry Truck Driver (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler ... Demolition Foreman (uncredited)
Jack Cheatham ... Policeman (uncredited)
Kenneth Chryst ... Workman (uncredited)

Yvonne De Carlo ... Showgirl at Neptune Club (uncredited)
Gordon De Main ... Superintendent (uncredited)
Joan Evans ... Saleslady's Mother (uncredited)
Jim Farley ... Night Watchman (uncredited)
Virginia Farmer ... Maid in Dress Shop (uncredited)
Betty Farrington ... Woman on Bridge (uncredited)
Harry Hayden ... Man in Restaurant Recognizing Gates (uncredited)
Bern Hoffman ... Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Charles Irwin ... Old Irishman (uncredited)
Louise La Planche ... Dancer (uncredited)
Lora Lee ... Girl in Car (uncredited)
Arthur Loft ... Man who Bumps into Raven (uncredited)
Patsy Mace ... Young Girl in Reception Room (uncredited)
John Marston ... Superintendent (uncredited)
Charles McMurphy ... Detective (uncredited)
Ivan Miller ... Doorman (uncredited)
Charles R. Moore ... Pullman Waiter (uncredited)
Frances Morris ... Receptionist (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley ... Conductor (uncredited)
Sarah Padden ... Mrs. Mason (uncredited)
Reed Porter ... Workman (uncredited)
Lee Prather ... Gateman (uncredited)
Cyril Ring ... Neptune Club Waiter (uncredited)
Julian Rivero ... Man with Monkey (uncredited)
Dick Rush ... Lt. Clark (uncredited)
Tim Ryan ... Weems - Guard (uncredited)
John Sheehan ... Keever (uncredited)
Alan Speer ... Frog (uncredited)
Edwin Stanley ... Police Captain at Train Station (uncredited)
Elliott Sullivan ... Officer Glennon (uncredited)
Phil Tead ... Machinist (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan ... Sgt. Carlisle (uncredited)
Fred Walburn ... Walt - Newsboy (uncredited)
Richard Webb ... Young Man (uncredited)
Pat West ... Janitor (uncredited)
Robert Winkler ... Jimmie (uncredited)
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Directed by
Frank Tuttle 
 
Writing credits
Graham Greene (novel "A Gun for Sale")

Albert Maltz (writer) &
W.R. Burnett (writer)

Produced by
Richard Blumenthal .... associate producer
 
Original Music by
David Buttolph 
 
Cinematography by
John F. Seitz  (as John Seitz)
 
Film Editing by
Archie Marshek 
 
Art Direction by
Hans Dreier 
Robert Usher 
 
Makeup Department
Wally Westmore .... makeup artist director
 
Sound Department
John Cope .... sound recordist
Philip Wisdom .... sound recordist (as Phillip Wisdom)
 
Special Effects by
Farciot Edouart .... special photographic effects
Gordon Jennings .... special photographic effects
William L. Pereira .... special photographic effects (as William Pereira)
 
Costume and Wardrobe Department
Edith Head .... gowns: Miss Lake
 
Music Department
Martha Mears .... singing voice (uncredited)
George Parrish .... orchestrator (uncredited)
Walter Scharf .... orchestrator (uncredited)
Leo Shuken .... orchestrator (uncredited)
 
Crew verified as complete


Production CompaniesDistributors
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
80 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Certification:
UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2006) | Australia:M | Finland:S | Norway:16 (1942)
Filming Locations:
Los Angeles, California, USA
Company:
Paramount Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Gates discovers Graham and Raven sleeping, on the train. Raven's head is on Graham's shoulder, but the next shot after the one of Gates retracing his steps shows them separated. more
Quotes:
Sen. Burnett: No mystery about me, just a hick lawyer the voters got stuck with. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Alan Ladd: The True Quiet Man (1999) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Now You See It, Now You Don't more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
29 out of 34 people found the following comment useful.
Hooray for Gates and Tommy!, 6 July 2004
Author: theowinthrop from United States

Frank Tuttle is one of those directors (like William Seiter) who is not consistently good, but who could do a terrific job now and then that retains our admiration. Seiter directed Laurel & Hardy in their best feature film, THE SONS OF THE DESERT (and turned in an above average job with the Marx Brothers in ROOM SERVICE). Tuttle did this film noir classic, and did it well. Based on a novel (or, as the author called it, an "entertainment") by Graham Greene, Tuttle made a star of Alan Ladd, and created the first of a series of films co-starring Ladd and Veronica Lake (as his cool, opposite number). He was ably abetted by a good cast of character actors: Laird Cregar, Tully Marshall, Robert Preston (at the start of his career), Marc Lawrence.... It was a terrific little thriller.

Laird Cregar's Willard Gates is one of the funniest neurotics in film noir. An overweight lady's man, he seems to go in both directions: using his money and nightclub to pick up women, and yet being a trembling tub of lard who enjoys reading "Naughty Paris at Night" while eating a box of chocolates in his private bedroom on his train. Cregar's Gates is augmented by his chauffeur - bodyguard - factotum Tommy, who has a wicked sense of ghoulish humor, and is able to make his queasy boss go nuts with fear just by describing a possible method of getting rid of Lake's prospectively dead body tied with cat gut that would disintegrate in a month (allowing her body to rise in a river, and leave her death a mystery. "Cat gut, what a horrible word!", quivers Gates. Marvelous - just look at Lawrence's grin as he speaks. He knows what he's doing.

The novel is a peculiar problem, not too frequently mentioned in discussing the film. It was set in 1935 in the midlands of England. At the beginning Raven is shown going to the office of a man who turns out to be Europe's leading peace advocate. He comes in using a letter from an unknown person. The peace advocate is happy at the recognition given to him by the letter's author and sits down to read it. In a moment Raven kills the man and then his secretary (who is a witness). This is changed in the movie to the murder of Baker, a blackmailer, and his girlfriend by Raven. The letter is from an important industrialist and munition dealer - Sir Marcus. His associate is the middle man between Sir Marcus and Raven, as Gates is in the film. But it is not in southern California in 1942 (and not dealing with treason with Japan). Instead Greene's villain is planning to help cause a new European War, for his profit.

Who is Sir Marcus? How is he different from the industrialist played by Tully Marshall? Marshall is a traitor for profit working for the Japanese Empire. Sir Marcus was Jewish.

Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh were the two greatest English Catholic novelists of the twentieth century, but in different ways. Greene's novels dealt with the issues of good and evil in us all, usually told in stories of crime or spies. Waugh wrote of a fading Catholic English aristocracy, and had a masterful sense of comedy. They complement each other as writers. Both were deserving of Nobel Prize recognition, and both failed to achieve it. Other Englishmen did get the prize (Shaw, William Golding), but they never did - though repeatedly they were recommended for it. The possible reason was their open anti-Semitism. Waugh's novels are full of Jewish stereotypes, like Augustus Fagin in DECLINE AND FALL. Greene did the same, with Sir Marcus and Colleoni in BRIGHTON ROCK. The only difference is that Greene (in later years) edited out the anti-Jewish sentiments in the novels. But if you get the original novel you have Raven (a murderer-for-hire, mind you) telling off Sir Marcus about his ancestry before shooting him. The screenplay keeps to the storyline, with the American and non-religious changes. It was all to the good, but we all should be aware of Greene's religious bigotry.

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