George Raft

Ella Raines

Pat O’Brien

Bill Williams

Jim Backus

Roland Winters

Betty Underwood

Robert Gist

David Bauer

Harry Brown

Don Dillaway

Mack Gray

Jonathan Hale

Charmienne Harker

Kenner G. Kemp

Phyllis Kennedy

Frances Morris

William J. O'Brien

Yvonne Rob

Lynne Roberts

Frank Shannon

Michael St. Angel

Ken Terrell

Nancy Valentine

Terry Wilson

Clem Portman

Earl B. Mounce

Michael Woulfe

Albert S. D'Agostino

Alfred Herman

Roy Webb

Harley Miller

Darrell Silvera

Sid Rogell

Warren Duff

Robert Sparks

Ted Tetzlaff

Frederic Knudtson

Martin Rackin

Friedrich Hollaender

Robert De Grasse

Crime

Drama

Mystery

A Dangerous Profession

RKO Radio Pictures

United States of America

Penal Code - 1096

A Dangerous Profession is directed by Ted Tetzlaff and written by Warren Duff and Martin Rackin. It stars George Raft, Ella Raines, Pat O'Brien, Bill Williams and Jim Backus. Music is by Frederick Hollander and cinematography by Robert De Grasse.

The scene is set, it's Los Angeles and Police Lt. Nick Ferrone (Backus) explains to us with stentorian narration about the whiles of bail bond brokers. This story is concerned with one in particular, Vince Kane (Raft), a one time policeman who followed the lure of the coin into a partnership of a bail bonds operation. It's all going swimmingly well, he's making lots of cash, has gals eating out of his hand, but when a pretty face from his past turns up requesting a favour? Vince suddenly finds himself in a quagmire of murder, deceit and emotional discord.

What cop ever reformed?

Shall we cut to the chase here? This is not a "great" film, though I do believe that it's very under seen and therefore the meagre internet ratings it has - and the lack of reviews for it - don't quite tell the whole story.

There's nothing particularly striking about the visual aspects here, De Grasse's photography occasionally falls in line with what film noir fans consider standard procedure, which has led a few critics to question the film's film noir status. This is all about Vince Kane and how he is thrust into a murky new world by a slinky femme, it may be a whodunit in essence, but the Vince and Lucy Brackett (Raines) axis is most assuredly noir.

You phony Gumshoe!

Action is in short supply, leaving much of the piece in talky territory. There's a few zinger lines of dialogue in the mix, but mostly it's screen writing 101. Yet in spite of the mixed qualities on offer here, it's a film that Raft fans are sure to enjoy, because he's very much great value as the stoic but emotionally troubled Vince. In fact O'Brien turns in one of his better performances and Raines is pleasingly sultry, meaning the cast perform well up to scratch, even if the screenplay does them few favours.

A mixed bag for sure, and hardly essential for fans of such cinematic fare, but there's just enough from the cast to make this one above average. 6/10

English

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