Copyright 26 February 1943 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 24 January 1943. U.S. release: 16 November 1942 (sic). Australian release: 27 April 1944. 7,463 feet. 83 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Gangster tries to dodge the draft.
NOTES: Thanks to Ladd's popularity, a big money-spinner in America and Australia.
COMMENT: The star and director of This Gun For Hire are here employed on a small-budget, war-time propaganda, espionage thriller in which a gangster, forcibly inducted into the army, goes AWOL and rounds up a Nazi spy ring! No wonder Ladd's performance and Tuttle's direction are perfunctory. True, it opens promisingly with the street slaying of a look-a-like double and the door of the inner sanctum swinging open (as in This Gun) to reveal the king of the rackets behind an enormous swivel chair; and we like the drafting of a moocher as "Mrs Jordan".
But then the clichés take over. "Something happened to me down at the Draft Board. I began to think you really were my son!" And the whole episode of Lucky spending his day in the canteen and insulting the colonel is absolutely nonsensical.
There were racketeers inducted into the army but after an initial squawk they soon settled down and had things organised. The English film On the Fiddle presents a truer picture of this sort of situation.
Anyway, the story goes from bad to worse. It is impossible to believe in it, yet it's not funny enough to be a comedy. The chase climax in the location gardens is not badly staged, but otherwise the film is a write-off.
The cast is not much. Only fans of Marie McDonald are going to obtain any satisfaction, though her scenes are disappointingly brief. Sheldon Leonard overdoes the double-crossing, but we like him, and there are a couple of effective cameos from Miles Mander and John Wengraf as a pair of Nazi spies.
Despite Ladd's presence (this was his third film as a star) and the line-up of behind-the-camera talent, the film was obviously shot very quickly and very cheaply. Production values are emphatically "B" and are way below the capabilities of those employed - this is especially true of the photography and art direction.
SYNOPSIS: Gangster tries to dodge the draft.
NOTES: Thanks to Ladd's popularity, a big money-spinner in America and Australia.
COMMENT: The star and director of This Gun For Hire are here employed on a small-budget, war-time propaganda, espionage thriller in which a gangster, forcibly inducted into the army, goes AWOL and rounds up a Nazi spy ring! No wonder Ladd's performance and Tuttle's direction are perfunctory. True, it opens promisingly with the street slaying of a look-a-like double and the door of the inner sanctum swinging open (as in This Gun) to reveal the king of the rackets behind an enormous swivel chair; and we like the drafting of a moocher as "Mrs Jordan".
But then the clichés take over. "Something happened to me down at the Draft Board. I began to think you really were my son!" And the whole episode of Lucky spending his day in the canteen and insulting the colonel is absolutely nonsensical.
There were racketeers inducted into the army but after an initial squawk they soon settled down and had things organised. The English film On the Fiddle presents a truer picture of this sort of situation.
Anyway, the story goes from bad to worse. It is impossible to believe in it, yet it's not funny enough to be a comedy. The chase climax in the location gardens is not badly staged, but otherwise the film is a write-off.
The cast is not much. Only fans of Marie McDonald are going to obtain any satisfaction, though her scenes are disappointingly brief. Sheldon Leonard overdoes the double-crossing, but we like him, and there are a couple of effective cameos from Miles Mander and John Wengraf as a pair of Nazi spies.
Despite Ladd's presence (this was his third film as a star) and the line-up of behind-the-camera talent, the film was obviously shot very quickly and very cheaply. Production values are emphatically "B" and are way below the capabilities of those employed - this is especially true of the photography and art direction.