Review of Red Light

Red Light (1949)
7/10
Lights out
26 May 2013
George Raft (Johnny Torno) owns a trucking company. Because of his real-life gangster connections you can't help but think he's corrupt. Anyway, he seems to be playing a good guy who owns a trucking company. His army-decorated holy brother Arthur Franz (Jess) comes across as an annoying priest who is thankfully murdered at the beginning of the film and thus begins Mr Raft's campaign to dish out some revenge. His only clue is a bible that needs to be tracked down.

The cast are good in this film, especially the bad guys Raymond Burr (Nick) and Harry Morgan (Rocky). George Raft plays himself and that's completely fine. The film throws you a curve ball at one point when Raft meets up with blind Phillip Pine (Pablo). We hit a sentimental streak and start groaning at the piousness of it all before Raft provides the funniest moment of the film which provides a superb counter-balance to what we have just heard. Raft gets straight to his point with a very frank "have you got it or not?" to Pine. It's brilliant. It's delivered in a way that suggests he has absolutely no time for the story that he has just been told, just like the audience can't be bothered with it. Priceless!

I assume the lights in the final scene are red - it's a bit of a strange title for a black and white film.
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