''Intrigue'' is a 1947 American film noir crime film directed by

Edwin L. Marin Edwin L. Marin (February 21, 1899 – May 2, 1951) was an American film director who directed 58 films between 1932 and 1951, working with Randolph Scott, Anna May Wong, John Wayne, Peter Lorre, George Raft, Bela Lugosi, Judy Garland, E ...

and starring George Raft,

June Havoc June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick; November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist. Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, ...

and Helena Carter. ''Intrigue'' was intended to be the first of a number of films Raft made, with producer Sam Bischoff, for his own production company, Star Films. It was one of several movies Raft made with Marin.

Plot

In post-war China, court-martialed pilot Brad Dunham ( George Raft) now flies smuggled goods into the country. He attempts to force his immediate superior, Ramon Perez (

Marvin Miller Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...

), to pay him more, but Perez resists, so Brad steals the cargo back. The boss of the black-market operation is Tamara Baranoff (

), who agrees to Brad's demand of a 50% cut of the operation and fires Ramon as a show of good faith. Meanwhile, an American newspaper reporter, Marc Andrews (

Tom Tully Thomas Kane Tulley (August 21, 1908 – April 27, 1982) was an American actor. He began his career in radio and on the stage before making his film debut in ''Northern Pursuit'' (1943). Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award for hi ...

), a friend of Brad's, shows up in Shanghai to investigate black-market crime. Brad meets a social worker, Linda Arnold ( Helena Carter), and their friendship makes Tamara jealous. She insists that Brad do something about the prying reporter and steer clear of that other woman. Tamara's criminal rival tips off Marc that his pal Brad is involved with the crime ring. Marc is knifed by Tamara's rival just as he is delivering a copy of his story exposing the black market. His dying wish is that Brad deliver the story for him, telling Brad that it was Tamara whose testimony led to Brad's unjust court-martial. Brad distributes her black-market goods to needy citizens. Ramon turns up to ambush Brad, but his gun goes off, killing Tamara instead, and Ramon is placed under arrest. Brad and Linda contemplate a new life together.

Cast

* George Raft as Brad Dunham *

as Mme. Tamara Baranoff * Helena Carter as Linda Parker, alias Linda Arnold *

as Marc Andrews *

as Ramon Perez *

Dan Seymour Dan Seymour (February 22, 1915 – May 25, 1993) was an American character actor who frequently played villains in Warner Bros. films. He appeared in several Humphrey Bogart films, including ''Casablanca'' (1942), ''To Have and Have Not'' ...

as Karidian * Jay C. Flippen as Mike, the bartender (as J.C. Flippen) *

Philip Ahn Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asi ...

as Louie Chin (as Phillip Ahn) * Charles Lane as Hotel Desk Clerk * Marc Krah as Nicco *

Nancy Hsueh Nancy Hsueh (February 25, 1941 – November 24, 1980) was an American actress. She was one of the first Asian American actresses to have a leading role in a U.S. television series, '' Love is a Many Splendored Thing'' (1967), regarded as the first ...

as Mia, orphan girl *

Nan Wynn Nan Wynn, born Masha VatzNew York Times & Arno Press ''The New York Times biographical service, Volume 2'', p. 1013; 1971 (May 8, 1918 – March 21, 1971) was an American big-band singer, and Broadway and film actress. She sang and recorded thro ...

as Dinner Club Singer Intrigue'* Peter Chong as Editor *

Michael Ansara Michael George Ansara (April 15, 1922 – July 31, 2013) was an American actor. He portrayed Cochise in the television series '' Broken Arrow'', Kane in the 1979–1981 series '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', Commander Kang in '' Star Tr ...

as Ramon's Radio Man

Production

In September 1946 George Raft announced he was forming his own production company, Star Films Inc, in association with Sam Bischoff. This company expected to make three films over two years at a budget of $3,500,000. The same month, Bischoff signed a four picture deal with United Artists – three of the movies would star Raft and the fourth would be '' Pitfall'' (1948) (which wound up starring Dick Powell). Biscoff obtained $5 million credit from the Bank of America to make these films. In February 1947 Bischoff announced the first film he would make with Raft under the four picture deal would be ''Intrigue'' based on an original story by George Slavin. Slavin's story was inspired by his observations in the Pacific War, where he served with the RAF and American Air Force. Edwin Marin signed to direct in February 1947 by which stage Slavin and Barry Triven were working on a script. Bischoff wanted

Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...

to play the femme fetale role. The role eventually went to

. Helena Carter was borrowed from Universal-International. Bischoff had a credit line of $5 million to make the films. The plot of ''Intrigue'' was originally meant to involve smuggling blood plasma, but this was changed to whisky and cigarettes at the request of Chinese-American organizations. Raft regretted this change. "If we had been able to retain the original idea it would have been a lot more exciting", he said.Aaker 2013, p. 129. Principal photography took place from April 28 to mid-June 1947.

Shooting

Filming on ''Intrigue'' started 28 April 1947 and continued until mid-June, 1947. It was

's first film since 1944. Raft was hospitalised with illness during the ''Intrigue'' shoot.

Reception

Critical

In his review of ''Intrigue'' for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Thomas M. Pryor considered the film a "conventional exercise in screen melodramatics " and George Raft's role as "... all so much wasted effort on his part for no one could possibly inject any semblance of verisimilitude into the hopeless botch of incident '' ic' which Barry Trivers and George Slavin set to paper under the impression that they were writing a screen play." The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "an intense melodrama which offers George Raft one of his best roles." ''Filmink'' wrote an appreciation of Helena Carter which referred to this movie saying her performance "helped establish what would be her stock in trade character – a good girl sexually attracted to the bad boy hero; moral, but not a stick in the mud; intelligent and spirited. She's fully present and focused in her scenes with Raft – her eyes are alive, interested, alert; she's aware, not naive, nobody's fool. The film would have been far better off with more of her and less of the self-righteous reporter... who is going to expose Raft."

Radio adaptation

On May 10, 1948, George Raft and June Havoc reprised their film roles in ''Intrigue'' with a 60-minute radio adaptation of the film for a "Lux Radio Theater" broadcast."Notes: 'Intrigue' (1947)."
''TCM'', 2019. Retrieved: June 26, 2019.

Star Films

Star Films would later made ''

Outpost in Morocco ''Outpost in Morocco'' is a 1949 American action adventure film directed by Robert Florey, starring George Raft and Marie Windsor. Paul Gerard (Raft), a Moroccan Spahi officer and his French Foreign Legion garrison, holds off attacks from the na ...

'' (1949). They announced plans for ''Mississippi Gambler'' and a film about Panama written by Robert Graves. The latter two films were not made and neither was another announced project, ''The French Secret Service''. However Raft later appeared in '' A Bullet for Joey'' for Bischoff.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Aaker, Everett. ''George Raft: The Films''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2013. .

External links

* * * {{TCMDb title, id=79329 1947 crime films 1947 films American aviation films American crime films Films directed by Edwin L. Marin Films produced by Samuel Bischoff Films set in Shanghai United Artists films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films