84% (2) This Gun for Hire 81 min, Passed, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Thriller] [Frank Tuttle] [19 Sep 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, Rotten Tomatoes: 93%, External Reviews
Awards: 1 win.
Actors: Alan Ladd, Laird Cregar, Robert Preston, Veronica Lake
Writer: Albert Maltz (screen play), W.R. Burnett (screen play), Graham Greene (based on the novel by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Hit man Philip Raven, who's kind to children and cats, kills a blackmailer and is paid off by traitor Willard Gates in "hot" money. Meanwhile, pert entertainer Ellen Graham, girlfriend of police Lieut. Crane (who's after Raven) is enlisted by a Senate committee to help investigate Gates. Raven, seeking Gates for revenge, meets Ellen on the train; their relationship gradually evolves from that of killer and potential victim to an uneasy alliance against a common enemy.
Rotten Tomatoes: Though billed fourth in This Gun For Hire, Alan Ladd was catapulted to stardom in the role of Phillip Raven, a ruthless professional killer with a long-suppressed streak of decency. After successfully pulling off his latest murder, Raven reports to his boss, effeminate fifth columnist Willard Gates (Laird Cregar). He collects his $1000 fee, only to discover later that Gates has double-crossed him with marked bills. This was done at the behest of Gates' boss, crooked business executive Alvin Bewster (Tully Marshall), who wants no loose ends left around to connect him with a plot to sell poison gas to the Axis. As Raven ducks and dodges the police, detective Michael Crane (Robert Preston) is hot on the trail of Bewster and Gates. Crane talks his girlfriend, nightclub singer-musician Ellen Graham (Veronica Lake), into taking a job at Gates' nightclub. While on the train to the club, Ellen makes the acquaintance of the escaping Raven. Gates boards the train, spots Ellen innocently sitting next to Raven, and assumes that the two are in cahoots. Later, Gates kidnaps Ellen and spirits her away to his mansion, intending to do away with her the first chance he gets. Instead, Raven, still seeking revenge for being set up, bursts into the mansion in search of Gates. Having previously been impressed by Ellen's kindness, he rescues her, though he intends using her as hostage should the police catch up with him. As they hide out together in the rail yards, Ellen and Raven get to know each other. Learning of Raven's miserable, abusive childhood, Ellen tries to chip away his murderous veneer, hoping to reform him. But when the cops arrive, Raven reverts to his instincts, shooting his way out of his hiding place. As Crane escorts Ellen out of harm's way, Raven rushes towards a bloody showdown with Bewster and Gates. Based on Graham Greene's A Gun For Sale, This Gun For Hire was remade in 1958 as Short Cut to Hell, then again under the original title as a 1990 made-for-TV film.
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77% (2) I Wake Up Screaming 82 min, Passed, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery, Romance, Thriller] [H. Bruce Humberstone] [31 Oct 1941]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, Rotten Tomatoes: 83%, External Reviews
Actors: Betty Grable, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar, Victor Mature
Writer: Dwight Taylor (screen play by), Steve Fisher (from the novel "I Wake Up Screaming" by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Promoter Frankie Christopher, being grilled by police in the murder of model Vicky Lynn, recalls in flashback: First meeting her as a waitress, Frankie decides to parlay her beauty into social acceptance and a lucrative career. He succeeds only too well: she's on the eve of deserting him for Hollywood...when someone kills her. Now Frankie gets the feeling that Inspector Ed Cornell is determined to pin the killing on him and only him. He's right. And the only one he can turn to for help is Jill, the victim's sister, who's been cool toward him...
Rotten Tomatoes: Laird Cregar as a creepy detective lends an added air of menace to this intense film noir. Victor Mature stars as Frankie Christopher, a Hollywood agent who finds himself accused of murdering his client Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis). Frankie takes refuge with Vicky's sister Jill (Betty Grable, in her first non-musical performance). But on his heels is back-street detective Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar). Coming upon Frankie and Jill, he tries to tell Frankie that although he doesn't think Frankie is guilty, there is enough evidence for him to fry in the electric chair. Not particularly reassured by the news, Frankie bolts to try and clear his name. Then he comes upon Vicky's troubled neighbor Harry Williams (Elisha Cook Jr.) who not only has pictures of the murdered actress pasted all over his walls, but holds the key to the crime.
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74% (2) The Black Swan 87 min, Approved, [Action, Adventure, Drama, Family, History] [Henry King] [04 Dec 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, Rotten Tomatoes: 80%, External Reviews
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 nominations.
Actors: Laird Cregar, Maureen O'Hara, Thomas Mitchell, Tyrone Power
Writer: Ben Hecht (screenplay), Seton I. Miller (screenplay), Seton I. Miller (adaptation), Rafael Sabatini (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English, Spanish Country: USA
Plot: When notorious pirate Henry Morgan is made governor of Jamaica, he enlists the help of some of his former partners in ridding the Carribean of Buccaneers. When one of them apparently abducts the previous governor's pretty daughter and joins up with the rebels, things are set for a fight.
Rotten Tomatoes: Perhaps unintentionally, the 1942 Technicolor swashbuckler The Black Swan is a bondage fetishist's dream, with hero and heroine Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara taking turns being tied up and imprisoned throughout the film's brisk 85-minute running time. Very loosely adapted by Ben Hecht and Seton I. Miller from a novel by Rafael Sabatini, the film casts Power as rogueish, hot-tempered buccaneer Jamie Waring, who considers the day wasted when he hasn't sacked a Spanish galleon or plundered a rich coastal town. Jamie's partner in crime is pirate king Henry Morgan Laird Cregar, an alliance that comes to an end when Morgan is appointed governor of Jamaica. Disgusted by this defection, Jamie considers joining the scurrilous Redbeard George Sanders, but eventually decides to reform his ways when he falls in love with Margaret Denby Maureen O'Hara, the gorgeous daughter of the former Jamaican governor Lord Denby George Zucco. Before the final obligatory sail into the sunset, however, Margaret is kidnapped and manhandled on a seemingly hourly basis, while Jamie is subjected to even more abuse at the hands of pirates and officials alike. Henry King handles the derring-do in Black Swan with commendable sobriety, leaving the story's tongue-in-cheek elements in the capable hands of the cast and the screenwriters.
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75% (1) Hangover Square 77 min, APPROVED, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir] [John Brahm] [21 Sep 1945]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 75%, External Reviews
Actors: George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell
Writer: Barré Lyndon (screenplay), Patrick Hamilton (novel)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: George Harvey Bone is a composer in early 20th century London, who is under stress because he is writing a piano concerto. Due to this stress, he gets black outs when ever he hears dissonances. When he finds himself after the black out in a different quarter of the town, he returns home, to read in the paper that somebody in that quarter was murdered. Asking help from a doctor at Scotland Yard he is assured that he has nothing to do with it, but he is advised to cut back in his work and get some relaxation like other, ordinary people. At a cheap musical he meets Netta, a singer, who inspires him for a new motive for his concerto. But Netta discovers that this motive could also be used as a song for her. The song gets sold, and she hangs around George to get more songs out of him. George believes that Netta is in love with him, and gets in an argument with his girlfriend Barbara, the daughter of Lord Henry, who wants the concerto for one of his soirées. George has another black out, and after recovering he hears that Barbara was almost strangled to death. He starts working again on the concerto. On London's special holiday he learns that Netta, who offered him quite a lot for a new song, is going to marry theatrical producer Carstair, and he causes some violins to fall in his room, and this sound drives him to another black out...
Rotten Tomatoes: This nail-biting, grim crime thriller is the final film of talented young actor Laird Cregar, who had the potential of becoming a major Hollywood star had he not died shortly after filming. Set in a dark, foggy turn-of-the-century London, Laird plays an extraordinarily sensitive composer who becomes an enraged psychotic killer after hearing too many strident, harsh sounds. While in his maniacal, paranoid state, he horribly kills three people whom he believes double-crossed him. Meanwhile a Scotland Yard psychologist hastily tries to understand his ailment and see that justice is done. Cregar, who had spent most of his life weighing over 300 pounds decided that he wanted to cut a less cumbersome figure for this film and so began a stringent, severe diet. Sure enough, he lost 100 pounds in short order. His body could not handle the shock and shortly after undergoing surgery, he died.
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72% (1) Holy Matrimony 87 min, Not Rated, [Comedy, Drama] [John M. Stahl] [27 Aug 1943]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations.
Actors: Gracie Fields, Laird Cregar, Monty Woolley, Una O'Connor
Writer: Arnold Bennett (novel), Nunnally Johnson
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Famed English painter Priam Farll has spent the last 25 years living in various remote locations with only his trusted manservant, Henry Leek, for company. While Farll is summoned to London to receive a knighthood, Leek falls ill and dies. Wishing to avoid the ostentation knighthood ceremony, the reclusive painter assumes his valet's identity. Farll, posing as Leek, soon receives a letter from Alice Chalice, a widow who has been corresponding with Leek through a marriage bureau and is expecting to finally meet her beloved in person...
Rotten Tomatoes: In this British comedy, a shy artist has spent the last 20 years living on a tiny Pacific island with only his butler for company. However, the artist is summoned back to England. When the artist's butler dies en route, the artist takes over his identity to preserve his privacy.
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72% (1) The Lodger 84 min, Approved, [Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller] [John Brahm] [19 Jan 1944]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Actors: Cedric Hardwicke, George Sanders, Laird Cregar, Merle Oberon
Writer: Barré Lyndon (screen play), Marie Belloc Lowndes (from the novel by)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: In late Victorian London, Jack the Ripper has been killing and maiming actresses in the night. The Burtons are forced to take in a lodger due to financial hardship. He seems like a nice young man, but Mrs. Burton suspects him of being the ripper because of some mysterious and suspicious habits, and fears for her beautiful actress niece who lives with them.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this film, Laird Cregar stars as the title character, a mysterious, secretive young man who rents a flat in the heart of London's Whitechapel district. The Lodger's arrival coincides with a series of brutal murders, in which the victims are all female stage performers.
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67% (1) Rings on Her Fingers 86 min, APPROVED, [Comedy, Romance] [Rouben Mamoulian] [20 Mar 1942]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 67%, External Reviews
Actors: Gene Tierney, Henry Fonda, Laird Cregar, Shepperd Strudwick
Writer: Ken Englund (screen play), Robert Pirosh (original story), Joseph Schrank (original story)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Susan Miller works behind the girdle counter in a department store and dreams about the beautiful clothes and glamour she can never hope to have. Enter May Worthington and Warren, a pair of con artists who pose as the mother and uncle of a pretty girl in order to separate millionaires from their money. They convince Susan she has an opportunity to fulfill all her dreams, and the trio heads for Palm Beach. Susan meets John Wheeler who says he is shopping for a sailboat. Believing that he is a millionaire, Warren and May sell him a boat that doesn't belong to them, and make off with his $15,000 life savings. Looking for greener pastures, they work themselves into the family of wealthy Tod Fenwick, who falls for Sue, posing as "Linda Worthington". But John shows up as a guest of Fenwick and he tells "Linda", not knowing she was part of the scam, that he has a detective after the fake captain that sold him the boat. John admits that he is not a millionaire but only a $65-a-week clerk. He asks her to marry him and, over the protests of May, she accepts. Tod, who has been away, wires Linda a marriage proposal which is intercepted by Warren, who accepts on her behalf via a return wire. He intends to blackmail her into marrying Tod and then blackmail the Fenwicks into dissolving the marriage. To get John's money back to him, which she has but can't tell him, Linda enlists the aid of Colonel Prentiss who runs a gambling house, and the machines are fixed so that John wins his money back. Linda and John go to the terminal to leave, but Tod shows up and she tries to keep him away from John, who knows her as Sue.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this romantic comedy, two con artists mistake a poor accountant for a millionaire and decide to make him their next victim. They assign their beautiful female accomplice to coerce the man into falling in love with her, but she ends up falling for the victim.
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