This Gun For Hire-1942

Director Frank Tuttle

Starring Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Alan Ladd

Scott’s Review #285

Reviewed November 3, 2015

Grade: B

This Gun for Hire (1942) is an early film noir that influenced later films of a similar genre. Starring marque headliners of their day, Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, this film is a surprisingly violent experience for its period.

Shot in black and white, the film is wonderfully lit, adding style and substance.

The film begins with a bang, as hitman Philip Raven (Ladd) murders a chemist and blackmailer in exchange for a hefty amount of loot.

His wealthy boss double-crosses him and reports him to the Los Angeles Police Department. Detective Michael Crane takes the case aided by his sexy girlfriend and nightclub singer Ellen Graham (Lake).

Adding a wrench to the story is the tangled love affair between Ellen and Raven, the film’s main draw.

I love the black and white shooting of this film, as many were in 1942, and found this only enhances the tone given that it is of crime/hit-man variety.

The chemistry between Lake and Ladd smolders and Lake is great as a femme fatale with long blonde locks and a sultry pout.

She is the inspiration for the character conceived for L.A. Confidential as Kim Basinger portrays a Veronica Lake look-alike. Ladd is brooding in intensity as the hit-man with the damaged childhood and ultimately sympathetic personality.

The setting of San Francisco and L.A. is wonderfully perfect and adds depth as the warm and sunny locales are mixed in with murder, corruption, and shenanigans. Who wouldn’t make comparisons to Chinatown (1974)??

A flaw I found in the film and which I found it difficult to buy into is the implausibility of Ellen falling in love with Raven as he tries to murder her-unsuccessfully so. This point seems plot-driven and a way to incorporate a mainstream love story amid the thrilling film noir.

Surely, she would find satisfaction in a romantic sense with her detective boyfriend since the duo has no conspicuous problems, the love between her and Raven is all the more inexplicable. Still- sparks do indeed fly on-screen.

An action-packed crime affair, This Gun for Hire laid a crisp blueprint for film noir and hitmen, action-type films for decades to come and I admire it for this reason.