The French Key | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Walter Colmes |
Screenplay by | Frank Gruber |
Produced by | Walter Colmes |
Starring | Albert Dekker Mike Mazurki Evelyn Ankers John Eldredge Frank Fenton Selmer Jackson |
Cinematography | Jockey Arthur Feindel |
Edited by | Robert Jahns |
Music by | Alexander Laszlo |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 64 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The French Key is a 1946 American mystery film directed by Walter Colmes and written by Frank Gruber. The film stars Albert Dekker, Mike Mazurki, Evelyn Ankers, John Eldredge, Frank Fenton and Selmer Jackson. The film was released on May 18, 1946, by Republic Pictures. [1] [2] [3]
The French Key is an adaptation of Gruber's novel of the same title, one of more than a dozen in a series featuring detective Johnny Fletcher. [4] In this film Fletcher and his partner return to their hotel room and find a corpse clutching a gold coin. Attempting to solve the case, they deal with coin collectors and a pool room fight in addition to spending a night in jail. [5]
Richard Denning was an American actor who starred in science fiction films of the 1950s, including Unknown Island (1948), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Target Earth (1954), Day the World Ended (1955), Creature with the Atom Brain (1955), and The Black Scorpion (1957). Denning also appeared in the film An Affair to Remember (1957) with Cary Grant and on radio with Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband (1948–1951), the forerunner of television's I Love Lucy.
Mike Mazurki was a Ukrainian-American actor and professional wrestler who appeared in more than 142 films. His 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) presence and face had him typecast as often brainless athletes, tough guys, thugs, and gangsters. His roles included Splitface in Dick Tracy (1945), Yusuf in Sinbad the Sailor (1947), and Clon in It's About Time (1966-1967).
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Evelyn Felisa Ankers was a British-American actress who often played variations on the role of the cultured young leading lady in many American horror films during the 1940s, most notably The Wolf Man (1941) opposite Lon Chaney Jr., a frequent screen partner.
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Selmer Adolf Jackson was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson.
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Frank Gruber was an American writer. He was a writer of stories for pulp fiction magazines. He also wrote dozens of novels, mostly Westerns and detective stories. Gruber wrote many scripts for Hollywood movies and television shows and was the creator of three TV series. He sometimes wrote under the pen names Stephen Acre, Charles K. Boston and John K. Vedder.
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Johnny Fletcher is a fictional character created by Frank Gruber. Fletcher is a con-man and reluctant amateur detective. The character was the protagonist of several mystery novels published between 1940 and 1964. Additionally, he was featured in a feature film adaptation scripted by Gruber, and a short lived radio series.