Edmond O'Brien

Marla English

John Agar

Emile Meyer

Carolyn Jones

Claude Akins

Herbert Butterfield

Hugh Sanders

William Schallert

Richard Deacon

John Beradino

Robert Bray

Stafford Repp

Vito Scotti

William Boyett

Richard H. Cutting

Lawrence Ryle

Mickey Golden

David Hughes

Frank Marlowe

Gregg Martell

Tom McKee

Grazia Narciso

Norman Ollestad

Jack Perry

John Phillips

Joe Ploski

Aubrey Schenck

William P. McGivern

Paul Dunlap

Gordon Avil

Howard W. Koch

Richard Alan Simmons

John C. Higgins

John F. Schreyer

Charles D. Hall

Jack Rabin

Louis DeWitt

Alfred E. Spencer

Crime

Drama

Shield for Murder

Camden Productions Inc.

United States of America

CinemaSerf

We discover right from the outset that "Nolan" (Edmond O'Brien) is a dodgy cop, and that he has killed a bookie's runner so he can take the $25k he was carrying and use it to build a new life for him and his girlfriend 'Patty" (Marla English). Unfortunately for him, he was seen by a deaf mute and so has to think on his feet before his partner "Brewster" (John Agar) gets to the truth or before the mob, whose cash it was, decide to take their own form of retribution. He has a reputation as a bit of a shoot-first merchant so faces a considerable degree of internal suspicion and that doesn't help as his initially loyal colleague begins to smell a very big rat. Can he get away with it and make it to to his retirement bungalow? On that front, there's not so much jeopardy nor is the writing really up to much either. What does help this stand out, though, is the strong characterisation of the odious "Nolan". O'Brien almost sweats the role, effectively demonstrating his loathing of his fellow cops and of the arrogant mob as he treats them all with contempt and disdain. Even the usually underwhelming Agar is likewise quiet effective as this story quite cleverly marries the crooked cop with the crooked system and the crooked gangsters all in the hope that somebody, somewhere, might actually prove decent enough to avenge the slaughtered man. It's quite a potent little eighty minute thriller, and worth a watch.

English

Shield for Murder (1954) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]