''Big Town'' is a 1947 American
crime film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
directed by
William C. Thomas and written by
Daniel Mainwaring
Daniel Mainwaring (February 27, 1902 – January 31, 1977) was an American novelist and screenwriter.
Biography
A native of Oakland, California, Mainwaring began his professional career as a journalist for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and enjoy ...
and
Maxwell Shane
Maxwell Shane (August 26, 1905 – October 25, 1983) was an American movie and television director, screenwriter, and producer.
Biography
Before embarking in a career in show business, Shane studied law at USC and UCLA law schools. He later b ...
. The film stars
Phillip Reed
Phillip Reed (born Milton LeRoy; March 25, 1908 – December 7, 1996) was an American actor. He played Steve Wilson in a series of four films (1947–1948) based on the ''Big Town'' radio series.
Early years
Reed was a star athlete at Eras ...
,
Hillary Brooke
Hillary Brooke (born Beatrice Sofia Mathilda Peterson; September 8, 1914 – May 25, 1999) was an American film actress.
Career
A 5′6″ blonde from the Astoria neighborhood of New York City's borough of Queens, Brooke, who was of Swedish an ...
,
Robert Lowery,
Veda Ann Borg
Veda Ann Borg (January 11, 1915 – August 16, 1973) was an American film and television actress.
Early years
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Gottfried Borg, a Swedish immigrant, and Minna Noble, Borg became a model in 1936 before winni ...
,
Byron Barr
Byron Barr (August 18, 1917 – November 3, 1966), sometimes billed as Byron S. Barr, was an American actor. He appeared in 19 films from 1944 to 1951.
Barr perhaps is best known for his role as Nino Zachetti in '' Double Indemnity'', his firs ...
and
Charles Arnt
Charles E. Arnt (August 20, 1906 – August 6, 1990) was an American film actor from 1933 to 1962. Arnt appeared as a character actor in more than 200 films.
Arnt was born in Michigan City, Indiana, the son of a banker. He graduated fr ...
. The first in a series of four films based on the long-running radio program
Big Town
''Big Town'' is a popular long-running radio drama featuring a corruption-fighting newspaper editor initially played from 1937 to 1942 by Edward G. Robinson in his first radio role, with echoes of the conscience-stricken tabloid editor he had ...
, it was released on May 23, 1947 by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
.
Plot
Cast
*
Phillip Reed
Phillip Reed (born Milton LeRoy; March 25, 1908 – December 7, 1996) was an American actor. He played Steve Wilson in a series of four films (1947–1948) based on the ''Big Town'' radio series.
Early years
Reed was a star athlete at Eras ...
as Steve Wilson
*
Hillary Brooke
Hillary Brooke (born Beatrice Sofia Mathilda Peterson; September 8, 1914 – May 25, 1999) was an American film actress.
Career
A 5′6″ blonde from the Astoria neighborhood of New York City's borough of Queens, Brooke, who was of Swedish an ...
as Lorelei Kilbourne
*
Robert Lowery as Pete Ryan
*
Veda Ann Borg
Veda Ann Borg (January 11, 1915 – August 16, 1973) was an American film and television actress.
Early years
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Gottfried Borg, a Swedish immigrant, and Minna Noble, Borg became a model in 1936 before winni ...
as Vivian LeRoy
*
Byron Barr
Byron Barr (August 18, 1917 – November 3, 1966), sometimes billed as Byron S. Barr, was an American actor. He appeared in 19 films from 1944 to 1951.
Barr perhaps is best known for his role as Nino Zachetti in '' Double Indemnity'', his firs ...
as Vance Crane
*
Charles Arnt
Charles E. Arnt (August 20, 1906 – August 6, 1990) was an American film actor from 1933 to 1962. Arnt appeared as a character actor in more than 200 films.
Arnt was born in Michigan City, Indiana, the son of a banker. He graduated fr ...
as Amos Peabody
*
Nana Bryant
Nana Irene Bryant (November 23, 1888 – December 24, 1955) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She appeared in more than 100 films between 1935 and 1955.
Biography
Bryant was born 1888 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She appeared in ...
as Mrs. Crane
*Roy Gordon as Editor Post
*Eddie Parks as Gerald Meeker
*
Nella Walker
Nella Walker (March 6, 1886 – March 22, 1971) was an American actress and vaudeville performer of the 1920s through the 1950s.
Biography
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Walker, she was born and raised in Chicago. In 1910, she marrie ...
as Mrs. Johannsen
*
Thomas E. Jackson
Thomas E. Jackson (July 4, 1886 – September 7, 1967) was an American stage and screen actor. His 67-year career spanned eight decades and two centuries, during which time he appeared in over a dozen Broadway plays, produced two others, acted i ...
as Police Chief Berkley
Production
Pine Thomas bought film rights in 1945 intended to make two films a year in the series.
The script was written by
Daniel Mainwaring
Daniel Mainwaring (February 27, 1902 – January 31, 1977) was an American novelist and screenwriter.
Biography
A native of Oakland, California, Mainwaring began his professional career as a journalist for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and enjoy ...
who later recalled, "Bill Thomas of Pine and Thomas, who made very small and very bad pictures at Paramount, gave me my first real screenwriting job. I wrote six pictures in one year, all of which I'd just as soon forget except Big Town
947
Year 947 ( CMXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Summer – A Hungarian army led by Grand Prince Taksony campaigns in Italy, heading ...
At the end of the year, I fled to the hills and wrote ''
Build My Gallows High
''Out of the Past'' (billed in the United Kingdom as ''Build My Gallows High'') is a 1947 film noir directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, and Kirk Douglas. The film was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring (using the pseu ...
''."
Comic book adaptation
*
Fiction House
Fiction House was an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.Saunders, David"JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"Field Guide to Wild American ...
Movie Comics #1 (December 1946)
See also
*''
Big Town
''Big Town'' is a popular long-running radio drama featuring a corruption-fighting newspaper editor initially played from 1937 to 1942 by Edward G. Robinson in his first radio role, with echoes of the conscience-stricken tabloid editor he had ...
'' radio series
References
External links
*
Reviewat ''Variety''
1947 films
1947 crime drama films
American black-and-white films
American crime drama films
Films about journalists
Films adapted into comics
Films based on radio series
Films directed by William C. Thomas
Paramount Pictures films
1940s English-language films
1940s American films
Big Town
{{1940s-crime-film-stub