Gambling House | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Ted Tetzlaff |
Screenplay by | Marvin Borowsky Allen Rivkin |
Story by | Erwin S. Gelsey (as Ervin Gelsey) |
Produced by | Warren B. Duff |
Starring | Victor Mature Terry Moore William Bendix |
Cinematography | Harry J. Wild |
Edited by | Roland Gross |
Music by | Roy Webb |
Production company | RKO Radio Pictures |
Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Gambling House is a 1951 American film noir crime film directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring Victor Mature, Terry Moore and William Bendix. [2]
A gangster, Joe Farrow, kills a man after a game of craps. He then offers gambler Marc Fury $50,000 if he will take the rap and stand trial. Farrow tries to renege on the money, so Fury steals a ledger with information that could put Farrow behind bars. While being pursued, Fury slips the ledger into the possession of an immigration social worker, Lynn Warren.
Subsequently, Fury is acquitted but immigration officers arrest him, take him to Ellis Island and threaten to deport him; neither he nor his parents ever become naturalized citizens. Fury tracks down Lynn Warren and, though the two are drawn romantically to each other, she does not believe his desire to remain in America is well-placed.
Farrow's gunman comes looking for Fury, but ultimately double-crosses his boss. When Fury offers the $50,000 to a family that longs desperately to remain in America, Lynn begins to trust him.
The story was originally called Mr Whiskas. It was purchased by RKO in 1947 and scheduled in 1948 as a vehicle for Victor Mature, who had a contract with RKO to make one film a year. However the project was postponed to enable Mature to make Easy Living. In July 1949 it was announced he would make Mr Whiskas next. Warren Duff was to write and produce. [3]
In late 1949 the project was renamed Alias Mike Fury. [4] Mature refused to make the movie and was put on suspension by Fox. [5] The script was rewritten and Mature ended up making the film, which was retitled Gambling House. [6] Filming started February 1950. [7]
When first released, critic Bosley Crowther panned the film. He wrote, "Don't look for very rich pickings in R. K. O.'s Gambling House, a run-of-the-mill melodrama that came to the Mayfair on Saturday. Your chances for solid satisfaction from this tale of a crook who goes straight after meeting a decent young lady are about as good as they would be from a fixed wheel ... Put it down as claptrap and the performance of Mr. Mature as another demonstration of an actor doing the best he can with a bad role. Miss Moore is entirely incidental and William Bendix is mulishly mean as the tough and deceitful rascal who crosses up Mr. Mature. To say any more about it might tend to incriminate somebody." [8]
Sitting Pretty is a 1948 American comedy film directed by Walter Lang from a screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert, adapted from the novel Belvedere by Gwen Davenport. The film stars Robert Young, Maureen O'Hara, and Clifton Webb, about a family who hires the mysterious Lynn Belvedere to babysit their rowdy children.
Victor John Mature was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include One Million B.C. (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), Kiss of Death (1947), Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Robe (1953). He also appeared in many musicals opposite such stars as Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable.
Vicki is a 1953 American film noir directed by Harry Horner and starring Jeanne Crain and Jean Peters. It was based on the novel I Wake Up Screaming, written by Steve Fisher.
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It's in the Bag! is a 1945 comedy film featuring Fred Allen in his only starring film role. The film was released by United Artists at a time when Allen was at the peak of his fame as one of the most popular radio comedians. The film has been preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive. The film is loosely based on the comic novel The Twelve Chairs (1928) of Ilf and Petrov, later filmed by Mel Brooks as The Twelve Chairs (1970). The team of screenwriters included Jay Dratler, Alma Reville, and Morrie Ryskind. Allen's encounter with Jack Benny in the film is notable as at this time they were involved in a famous 'feud', which ran for over a decade.
Dangerous Mission is a 1954 American Technicolor thriller film starring Victor Mature, Piper Laurie, Vincent Price and William Bendix. The film was produced by Irwin Allen, directed by Louis King and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It is remembered today mainly for its use of 3-D film technology.
Appointment with Danger is a 1950 American crime film noir starring Alan Ladd and Phyllis Calvert, supported by Paul Stewart, Jan Sterling, and Jack Webb. Produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the drama was directed by Lewis Allen and written by Richard L. Breen and Warren Duff.
A Dangerous Profession is a 1949 American film noir directed by Ted Tetzlaff, written by Warren Duff and Martin Rackin, and starring George Raft, Ella Raines, and Pat O'Brien. The supporting cast features Jim Backus.
Easy Living is a 1949 American drama film directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Victor Mature, Lucille Ball and Lizabeth Scott. The film features the real-life Los Angeles Rams football team.
Affair with a Stranger is a 1953 American comedy-drama directed by Roy Rowland and starring Jean Simmons and Victor Mature. It was originally to be released as Kiss and Run.
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Chief Crazy Horse is a 1955 American CinemaScope Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Victor Mature, Suzan Ball and John Lund. The film is a fictionalized biography of the Lakota Sioux Chief Crazy Horse. It was also known as Valley of Fury.
Red, Hot and Blue is a 1949 American musical comedy film directed by John Farrow and starring Betty Hutton, Victor Mature, William Demarest and June Havoc. It was released by Paramount Pictures. Hutton plays an actress who gets mixed up with gangsters and murder. Frank Loesser wrote the songs and plays a key role. The film has no connection to Cole Porter's play of the same name.
Race Street is a 1948 American crime film noir directed by Edwin L. Marin. The drama features George Raft, William Bendix and Marilyn Maxwell. It was one of several collaborations between Raft and Marin.
Blaze of Noon is a 1947 aviation adventure film directed by John Farrow and based on writer and aviator Ernest K. Gann's best-selling novel Blaze of Noon (1946), a story about early air mail operations. The screenplay was from well-known writer and aviator Frank "Spig" Wead and Arthur Sheekman and starred Anne Baxter, William Holden, Sonny Tufts and William Bendix.
Johnny Allegro is a 1949 American film noir directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring George Raft. An ex-gangster (Raft), temporarily working as a federal agent, runs afoul of a counterfeiting crime lord (Macready) who enjoys hunting. It was one of several thrillers Raft made in the late 1940s.
Chicago Deadline is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Lewis Allen and starring Alan Ladd and Donna Reed.
Illegal Entry is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed by Frederick De Cordova and starring Howard Duff, Märta Torén and George Brent. The film and its treatment of illegal entry and unlawful residence in the United States is introduced by Watson B. Miller, the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service under President Harry S. Truman.
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