This Gun for Hire
Encyclopedia
This Gun for Hire is a 1942 film noir
, directed by Frank Tuttle
and based on the novel A Gun for Sale
by Graham Greene
. The film stars Veronica Lake
, Robert Preston
, Laird Cregar
, and Alan Ladd
.
) and his unlucky girlfriend are killed by a remorseless hit man called Raven (Ladd). Raven is double-crossed by his anonymous employer, Willard Gates (Cregar), who pays him with marked bill
s. During the exchange, an acquaintance of Gates greets him, revealing his identity to Raven. Gates later reports to Los Angeles Police Detective Michael Crane (Preston) that the money was stolen from the company where he works, Nitro Chemical. Raven learns he has been set up and decides to get revenge.
Meanwhile, Gates, who also owns a Los Angeles nightclub, hires Ellen Graham (Lake), a singer who incorporates magic in her act, unaware that she is Crane's girlfriend. Afterwards, her agent takes her to a clandestine meeting with Senator
Burnett (Roger Imhof
). Burnett informs her that Gates and Alvin Brewster (Tully Marshall
), the president of Nitro Chemical, are under secret investigation as suspected traitors. Ellen agrees to spy on Gates.
Gates and Ellen board a train for Los Angeles, as does Raven. By chance, the only empty seat Raven can find is beside Ellen. The next morning, Gates is alarmed to find them sleeping side by side. He wires ahead. Raven spots the waiting police and forces Ellen at gunpoint to help him escape. He is about to kill her in an abandoned building when they are interrupted by some workmen, allowing Ellen to flee. She tries to contact her boyfriend, but he is traveling back to Los Angeles.
Gates invites the unsuspecting Ellen to his mansion for dinner. He accuses her of working with Raven, then has his chauffeur Tommy (Marc Lawrence
) knock her out and tie her up. Gates leaves, but before Tommy can stage a convenient "suicide", Raven and Crane arrive separately, Crane in search of his girlfriend. Hiding outside, Raven hears Crane question Tommy. After the policeman leaves, Raven interrogates Tommy as well. Unsatisfied with his evasive lies, he sends Tommy tumbling down some stairs to the basement and locks him in. While searching the house, Raven finds Ellen and carries her away.
Raven takes Ellen to Gates's nightclub. He is spotted by Gates, who is accompanied by Crane. Raven flees with Ellen, but she cleverly leaves a trail of playing cards and other markings. The police secretly surround the area, but wait for dawn to move in.
During the night, Raven and Ellen become acquainted. Raven reveals that, after he was orphaned at a young age, he went to live with his aunt, who beat him at every opportunity. Finally, when he was fourteen, he snapped and killed her. Further beatings at reform school
made him what he is.
The pair trade information. She tries to appeal to his patriotism, begging him not to kill Gates, but to extract a signed confession. When dawn arrives, Ellen decides to help Raven escape, hoping he has listened to her. He has to kill a policeman to get away.
Raven makes his way to Nitro Chemical. Luckily for him, the company is conducting a drill, so most of the employees are wearing gas masks, hiding their faces. A frightened Gates, informed of Raven's escape, orders Tommy to guard his door. When Tommy spots Raven, he gives chase, but is knocked out. Raven puts on his chauffeur's uniform and a gas mask and slips into Gates's office. He forces Gates to take him to see Brewster, the mastermind behind the sale of a formula for poison gas to the Japanese. Raven makes the pair sign a confession of their misdeeds. Brewster dies of a heart attack while trying to shoot Raven with a fountain pen gun. Raven cold-bloodedly kills Gates. Crane has himself lowered on a window washer's scaffold and fatally shoots him, but Raven lives long enough for Ellen to confirm he got what she was after.
Yvonne De Carlo
has a small role.
, the critic for The New York Times
, wrote that while the actors credited ahead of him gave good performances, "Mr. Ladd is the buster; he is really an actor to watch. After this stinging performance, he has something to live tip [sic] to—or live down."
Crowther characterized the film itself as a "fast and exciting melodrama."
Lake's star was rising rapidly due to her performances in the 1941 films I Wanted Wings
and Sullivan's Travels
. This Gun for Hire was a big box office success when released and Lake's other films of 1942, The Glass Key
and I Married a Witch
were also box office hits. Paramount
then considered Veronica Lake their top star ahead of others such as Dorothy Lamour
.
and the April 2, 1945 broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater
. Alan Ladd reprised his role in both adaptations while Veronica Lake reprised in the latter, but was replaced with Joan Blondell
in the former.
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, directed by Frank Tuttle
Frank Tuttle
Frank Tuttle was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 to 1959 ....
and based on the novel A Gun for Sale
A Gun for Sale
A Gun for Sale is a 1936 novel by Graham Greene.This novel was made into a film in 1941 and renamed This Gun for Hire, which was also the title of the book's U.S. edition. Alan Ladd was cast as Raven in the film....
by Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
. The film stars Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
, Robert Preston
Robert Preston (actor)
-Early life:Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community...
, Laird Cregar
Laird Cregar
-Early life and career:Samuel Laird Cregar was the youngest of six sons of Edward Matthews Cregar, a cricketer and member of a team called the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. They toured internationally in the late 1890s and early 1900s...
, and Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
.
Plot
In San Francisco, blackmailer Albert Baker (Frank FergusonFrank Ferguson
Frank Ferguson was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Perhaps his best known role was as the ranch handyman, Gus Broeberg, on the CBS television series, My Friend Flicka, based on a novel of the same name...
) and his unlucky girlfriend are killed by a remorseless hit man called Raven (Ladd). Raven is double-crossed by his anonymous employer, Willard Gates (Cregar), who pays him with marked bill
Marked bill
Marking bills is a technique used by police to trace and identify money used in illegal activities. The serial numbers of the bills are recorded, and sometimes markings are made on the bank notes themselves ....
s. During the exchange, an acquaintance of Gates greets him, revealing his identity to Raven. Gates later reports to Los Angeles Police Detective Michael Crane (Preston) that the money was stolen from the company where he works, Nitro Chemical. Raven learns he has been set up and decides to get revenge.
Meanwhile, Gates, who also owns a Los Angeles nightclub, hires Ellen Graham (Lake), a singer who incorporates magic in her act, unaware that she is Crane's girlfriend. Afterwards, her agent takes her to a clandestine meeting with Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Burnett (Roger Imhof
Roger Imhof
Roger Imhof was a film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter.-Career:...
). Burnett informs her that Gates and Alvin Brewster (Tully Marshall
Tully Marshall
William Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...
), the president of Nitro Chemical, are under secret investigation as suspected traitors. Ellen agrees to spy on Gates.
Gates and Ellen board a train for Los Angeles, as does Raven. By chance, the only empty seat Raven can find is beside Ellen. The next morning, Gates is alarmed to find them sleeping side by side. He wires ahead. Raven spots the waiting police and forces Ellen at gunpoint to help him escape. He is about to kill her in an abandoned building when they are interrupted by some workmen, allowing Ellen to flee. She tries to contact her boyfriend, but he is traveling back to Los Angeles.
Gates invites the unsuspecting Ellen to his mansion for dinner. He accuses her of working with Raven, then has his chauffeur Tommy (Marc Lawrence
Marc Lawrence
Marc Lawrence was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C...
) knock her out and tie her up. Gates leaves, but before Tommy can stage a convenient "suicide", Raven and Crane arrive separately, Crane in search of his girlfriend. Hiding outside, Raven hears Crane question Tommy. After the policeman leaves, Raven interrogates Tommy as well. Unsatisfied with his evasive lies, he sends Tommy tumbling down some stairs to the basement and locks him in. While searching the house, Raven finds Ellen and carries her away.
Raven takes Ellen to Gates's nightclub. He is spotted by Gates, who is accompanied by Crane. Raven flees with Ellen, but she cleverly leaves a trail of playing cards and other markings. The police secretly surround the area, but wait for dawn to move in.
During the night, Raven and Ellen become acquainted. Raven reveals that, after he was orphaned at a young age, he went to live with his aunt, who beat him at every opportunity. Finally, when he was fourteen, he snapped and killed her. Further beatings at reform school
Reform school
A reform school in the United States was a term used to define, often somewhat euphemistically, what was often essentially a penal institution for boys, generally teenagers.-History:...
made him what he is.
The pair trade information. She tries to appeal to his patriotism, begging him not to kill Gates, but to extract a signed confession. When dawn arrives, Ellen decides to help Raven escape, hoping he has listened to her. He has to kill a policeman to get away.
Raven makes his way to Nitro Chemical. Luckily for him, the company is conducting a drill, so most of the employees are wearing gas masks, hiding their faces. A frightened Gates, informed of Raven's escape, orders Tommy to guard his door. When Tommy spots Raven, he gives chase, but is knocked out. Raven puts on his chauffeur's uniform and a gas mask and slips into Gates's office. He forces Gates to take him to see Brewster, the mastermind behind the sale of a formula for poison gas to the Japanese. Raven makes the pair sign a confession of their misdeeds. Brewster dies of a heart attack while trying to shoot Raven with a fountain pen gun. Raven cold-bloodedly kills Gates. Crane has himself lowered on a window washer's scaffold and fatally shoots him, but Raven lives long enough for Ellen to confirm he got what she was after.
Cast
- Veronica LakeVeronica LakeVeronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She received both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, and was well-known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle...
as Ellen Graham - Robert PrestonRobert Preston (actor)-Early life:Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community...
as Det. Michael Crane - Laird CregarLaird Cregar-Early life and career:Samuel Laird Cregar was the youngest of six sons of Edward Matthews Cregar, a cricketer and member of a team called the Gentlemen of Philadelphia. They toured internationally in the late 1890s and early 1900s...
as Willard Gates - Alan LaddAlan Ladd-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
as Philip Raven - Tully MarshallTully MarshallWilliam Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...
as Alvin Brewster - Marc LawrenceMarc LawrenceMarc Lawrence was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C...
as Tommy - Olin HowlandOlin HowlandOlin Howland was an American film actor. From 1909 to 1927 he appeared on the Broadway stage while balancing a career in silent movies. In 1921, he appeared in the play Two Little Girls in Blue with Oscar Shaw and the Fairbanks Twins. He was in Janice Meredith with Marion Davies...
as Blair Fletcher - Roger ImhofRoger ImhofRoger Imhof was a film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter.-Career:...
as Senator Burnett - Pamela BlakePamela BlakePamela Blake was an American film actress. She starred opposite John Wayne in the 1939 film Wyoming Outlaw....
as Annie - Frank FergusonFrank FergusonFrank Ferguson was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Perhaps his best known role was as the ranch handyman, Gus Broeberg, on the CBS television series, My Friend Flicka, based on a novel of the same name...
as Albert Baker - Victor KilianVictor KilianVictor Arthur Kilian was an American actor who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s....
as Drew - Patricia Farr as Ruby
- Harry ShannonHarry Shannon (actor)Harry Shannon was an American character actor. He often appeared in Western films.-Biography:Shannon was born on a farm in Saginaw, Michigan. Developing into a first-rate musical comedy performer, Shannon went on to work in virtually all branches of live entertainment, including vaudeville and...
as Steve Finnerty
Yvonne De Carlo
Yvonne De Carlo
Yvonne De Carlo was a Canadian-born American actress of film and television. During her six-decade career, her most frequent appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s and included her best-known film roles, such as of Anna Marie in Salome Where She Danced ; Anna in Criss Cross ; Sephora the...
has a small role.
Reception
Ladd received fourth billing. Because of fan reaction and critical praise, the film made him a star. Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
, the critic for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, wrote that while the actors credited ahead of him gave good performances, "Mr. Ladd is the buster; he is really an actor to watch. After this stinging performance, he has something to live tip [sic] to—or live down."
Crowther characterized the film itself as a "fast and exciting melodrama."
Lake's star was rising rapidly due to her performances in the 1941 films I Wanted Wings
I Wanted Wings
I Wanted Wings is a 1941 American drama film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Ray Milland and William Holden. It also stars Wayne Morris, Brian Donlevy, Constance Moore and Veronica Lake. Production began in the summer of 1940 at Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas...
and Sullivan's Travels
Sullivan's Travels
Sullivan's Travels is a 1941 American comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. It is a satire about a movie director, played by Joel McCrea, who longs to make a socially relevant drama, but eventually learns that comedies are his more valuable contribution to society. The film features...
. This Gun for Hire was a big box office success when released and Lake's other films of 1942, The Glass Key
The Glass Key (1942 film)
The Glass Key is a 1942 film noir, directed by Stuart Heisler and based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The story had previously been adapted for film in 1935.-Plot:...
and I Married a Witch
I Married a Witch
I Married a Witch is a 1942 fantasy romantic comedy film, directed by René Clair, and starring Veronica Lake as a witch whose plan for revenge goes comically awry, with Fredric March as her foil. The film also features Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward and Cecil Kellaway...
were also box office hits. Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
then considered Veronica Lake their top star ahead of others such as Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
.
Adaptations to other media
This Gun For Hire was adapted as a radio play on the January 25, 1943 broadcast of Lux Radio TheaterLux Radio Theater
Lux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network ; CBS and NBC . Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences...
and the April 2, 1945 broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater
The Screen Guild Theater
The Screen Guild Theater was a popular radio anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast from 1939 until 1952, with leading Hollywood actors performing in adaptations of popular motion pictures such as Going My Way and The Postman Always Rings Twice.The show had a long run, lasting...
. Alan Ladd reprised his role in both adaptations while Veronica Lake reprised in the latter, but was replaced with Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell
Rose Joan Blondell was an American actress who performed in movies and on television for five decades as Joan Blondell.After winning a beauty pageant, Blondell embarked upon a film career...
in the former.
External links
- This Gun for Hire trailer at You Tube - A remake directed by James CagneyJames CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...