This Gun for Hire

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Frank Tuttle
Starring:	Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd
Release date:	06 July, 2004
List price:	~~$14.98~~
Our price:	$13.01 that is 13% off!

This Gun for Hire

Average rating: Stars

A top-notch thriller with gorgeous picture quality!

This review is for the 2004 release of the Universal Studios DVD

The story opens in San Francisco with Philip Raven (Alan Ladd) killing a blackmailer who has an incriminating letter about a valuable chemical formula. Next, we find out that Raven was hired by Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) who works for major chemical company and Raven gets paid $1,000 in fresh ten dollar bills. Gates later goes to the police and betrays Raven by reporting the marked money he gave to Raven as stolen from a deadly payroll heist. We also learn that Gates owns a nightclub in Los Angeles and hires a beautiful singing magician named Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake). Immediately after Ellen is hired she is approached by a Senator to essentially spy on Gates to see if he is selling deadly chemicals to one of America's enemies (this film was made in 1942 - during WWII). To add another twist to the plot, Ellen is dating a policeman who is looking for Raven. So this obviously sets up a neatly woven plot between the four characters as the story moves to Los Angeles.

In spite of the overtly coincidental plot setup, the story holds up quite well with plenty of tension and thrills throughout the movie. The film clearly has the unmistakable noir look and there are very few wasted moments in the entire movie. This was Alan Ladd's major screen debut and he does a stellar job as the hired hitman.

As for the DVD, the black and white picture quality is one of the best I've seen for a movie from this era. Film wear is virtually nonexistent and the picture is very sharp. A few scenes had some noticeable graininess, but overall it's a superb transfer. The sound is fine as well. There are no bonus features which is disappointing for a movie of this caliber, but I'm still very pleased with the DVD.

Movie: A-

DVD Quality: A

This Gun for Hire - Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd

Not Great Noir-but You Won't Be Bored!

There is something about a film that features 35 characters in only an 80 minute running time! (Credit Silver and Ward's "Film Noir", which listed all characters, bits included.) Such a level of activity may make a movie a tad difficult to follow. Viewers must watch closely at the outset: TGH opens in a tattered rooming house. Alan Ladd immediately marks himself as a good guy by protecting a stray cat from his mean old landlady. He then calmly dispatches a man and innocent bystander in a professional hit, paid for by smarmy Laird Cregar. We are then treated to a wonderful soft-shoe routine by sultry Veronica Lake who whirls while performing magic acts! What talent! In any noir worthy of the name, the two must not only meet but become entwined. That they do on an old Southern Pacific night train from `Frisco to LA. Lake pockets the Pullman fare to sleep in coach, winding up next to none other than AL. As virtually required by noir rules, the two soon discover a common bond in the form of a common enemy: Cregar. LC's boss has been selling military secrets to Germany and Lake has been recruited as an undercover agent. Ladd has been paid for his hit in counterfeit money-and ratted out to the cops. AL has a score to settle. The head lawman on his trail is none other than Lake's fiancÃ©, Robert Preston! These plot contrivances are a bit too convenient for this reviewer and prevent TGH from achieving noir greatness. The plot proceeds to unravel when AL and VL detrain in L.A. The strongest moments of TGH are those early ones. While there are some fine nighttime noir elements in an old mansion and in a railyard, TGH winds down to a requisite Wartime conclusion. The chemistry twixt the leads is strong but this is Lake's movie. It is hard to believe that TGH made Ladd a star; this is not the same actor who played "Shane". The aforementioned 35 characters in 80 minutes actually have an overall positive effect. TGH moves along briskly! Credit Director Frank Tuttle for that. Viewers concentrating on the willowy Lake will not be bored. Credit the genius who decided to cast VL too.

Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd - This Gun for Hire

Greed, Patriotism & Murder Intermingle in WWII-era Film Noir

"This Gun for Hire" is an early film noir adapted from the novel by Graham Greene. Phillip Raven (Alan Ladd) is a stone-faced assassin whose only sympathies seem to lie with cats. He murders a blackmailer for industrialist Alvin Brewster, but Brewster's assistant Willard Gates (Laird Cregar) pays him in "hot" money. When Raven spends one of the $10 bills, it puts the police on his trail. In the meantime, lovely nightclub singer Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake) has been approached by a Senator who is investigating Brewster's collaboration with enemy powers. The Senator asks her to take a job at Willard Gates' Los Angeles nightclub in order to spy on him. She accepts the mission, and leaves for L.A. on the same train that Raven is taking to flee town. Gates see Raven and Ellen together on the train and assumes she's in cahoots with Raven, who's determined to kill Gates' for setting the police on him. Ellen's boyfriend, police Lieutenant Michael Crane (Robert Preston) follows them to L.A. in pursuit of Raven, whom Brewster and Gates claim robbed their payroll.

If the plot sounds convoluted, it is. That's just the set-up. Every character is either ignorant or mistaken about the others' role in this web of treachery. Ellen is privy to the most information, but she can't tell anyone. Veronica Lake has a lot of charisma, even if Ellen's role is convoluted. Ellen is a different thing to every person in the film, to the extent that the audience has to think at times to keep it all straight. It's interesting that she plays the role of a femme fatale to the assassin Raven, but her actions are selfless and righteous. Ellen isn't an ambitious seductress; she's a steadfast, practical woman who loves her boyfriend, her country, and wants a family. Raven is the film's protagonist, but he's a bad guy, so when Ellen manipulates him, it's a good thing. It's not a good thing for Raven, who suffers for having acted selflessly for once. Alan Ladd gives a wonderful performance that makes Raven ruthless, cruel, and frightening, but not at all superficial. Laird Cregar is also memorable as the thoroughly criminal Gates, who nevertheless abhors violence and loves peppermints.

"This Gun for Hire" has a mixture of indoor and outdoor location scenes. Its undisguised allusion to film noir's gothic roots surprised me. There is a sequence in Willard Gates' gothic mansion that takes place at night during a thunderstorm. It could have been the set of a gothic horror picture. I halfway expected a lecherous nobleman or terror-stricken maiden to come running into the scene. Of course, Gates and Ellen are a perversion of that theme. The gothic theatrics are eye-catching and a little creepy. "This Gun for Hire" is an entertaining World War II-era noir with a memorable cast of characters.

The DVD (Universal 2004 release): There are no bonus features. Captioning is available in English for the hearing impaired. Subtitles are available in Spanish and French.