''Riff-Raff'' is a 1947

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

film starring

Pat O'Brien Pat O'Brien may refer to: Politicians * Pat O'Brien (Canadian politician) (born 1948), member of the Canadian House of Commons *Pat O'Brien (Irish politician) (c. 1847–1917), Irish Nationalist MP in the United Kingdom Parliament Others *Pat O'Br ...

Anne Jeffreys Anne Jeffreys (born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael; January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She was noted as the female lead in the 1950s TV series '' Topper''. Career Jeffreys was born Annie Jeffreys Carmichae ...

and

Walter Slezak Walter Slezak (; 3 May 1902 – 21 April 1983) was an Austrian-born film and stage actor active between 1922 and 1976. He mainly appeared in German films before migrating to the United States in 1930 and performing in numerous Hollywood producti ...

. It was directed by

Ted Tetzlaff Dale H. "Ted" Tetzlaff (3 June 1903, Los Angeles, California – 7 January 1995, Sausalito, California) was an Academy Award-nominated Hollywood cinematographer active in the 1930s and 1940s. Career Tetzlaff was particularly favored by the ...

, who later directed '' The Window'' (1949) and worked as a

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

for over 100 films, including

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's '' Notorious'' (1946). The music was composed by

Roy Webb Royden Denslow Webb (October 3, 1888 – December 10, 1982) was an American film music composer. Webb has hundreds of film music credits to his name, mainly with RKO Pictures. He is best known for film noir and horror film scores, in particular f ...

and Joan Whitney.

Plot

A cargo plane leaves Peru, bound for Panama with two passengers during a storm. When one of the two pilots goes to check on an opened door, Charles Hasso (Marc Krah) claims he tried but failed to prevent the other passenger from jumping to his death. Upon landing, Hasso is questioned by Major Rues (George Givot) of the Panamanian secret police, but is released as there were no witnesses. Hasso takes with him the deceased's briefcase, in which he finds a map. Hasso hires private investigator Dan Hammer (

) to be his bodyguard for a couple of days. While Hammer is changing, Hasso secretly pins the map to Hammer's bulletin board. Hammer receives an urgent summons from oil executive Walter Gredson (

Jerome Cowan Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early years Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Palm ...

), so he arranges to meet Hasso later at his hotel room. Gredson hires Hammer to find Hasso and the map, which shows the locations of unregistered oil wells in Peru that his company has bought. Later, in a nightclub, Hammer is attracted to singer Maxine Manning (

). He invites her to come by his office after work, unaware that she is spying on him for her boyfriend, Gredson. Tourist Eric Molinar (

) tries to hire him as a guide, but Hammer turns him down. When Hammer goes to see Hasso, he finds Hasso's body in the overflowing hotel room bathtub. As the search for the map continues, Maxine starts falling for Hammer and switches sides. Meanwhile, Molinar reveals that he is also after the map. He has his two thugs try to beat its location out of the detective, but Hammer has no idea where it is. Molinar and his men later go to question Gredson. Hammer has Maxine telephone the executive to say the map is in Hammer's office. Molinar, listening in, sees no further use for Gredson and has him killed. Then he and his goons go to the office. A fight breaks out, during which Molinar finally spots the map. He hastens away with it in a taxi driven by Pop (

Percy Kilbride Percy William Kilbride (July 16, 1888 – December 11, 1964) was an American character actor. He made a career of playing country hicks, most memorably as Pa Kettle in the ''Ma and Pa Kettle'' series of feature films. Early life Kilbride was ...

), Hammer's close friend. Molinar takes Pop's suggestion to hide out for a while, only to find that the driver has taken him straight to the back door of police headquarters. Hammer, who has taken a series short cuts on foot, arrives shortly and bursts into the room. He slugs Molinar, knocking him unconscious, and takes the map out of the murderer's coat pocket. Pop drives him back to his office, where he finds Molinar's thugs being taken into custody, an oil company executive ( Jason Robards, Sr.) is waiting, and Maxine is standing by. The executive eagerly takes the map and gives Hammer his payment. As Hammer and Maxine lean into a kiss, a close up of Hammer's dog's eye, observing them, fades to black.

Cast

as Dan Hammer *

as Maxine Manning *

as Eric Molinar *

as Pop *

as Walter Gredson *

George Givot George David Givot (February 18, 1903 – June 7, 1984) was a Russian Empire-born American comedian and actor on Broadway and in vaudeville, movies, television and radio. He was known for speaking in a comedic fake Greek dialect and was styled th ...

as Major Rues * Jason Robards Sr. as Mr. Domingues * Marc Krah as Charles Hasso

Production

The film was based on an original screenplay by

Martin Rackin Martin Rackin (31 July 1918 – 15 April 1976) was an American writer and producer who was briefly head of production at Paramount Pictures from 1960–64. In the late 1950s he wrote and produced a series of films with actor Alan Ladd. Ri ...

. It was known first as ''The Big Angle'' and was bought by RKO in February 1946. Rackin had previously written two films for Pat O'Brien at RKO, ''Bombadier'' and ''Marine Raiders'', and he was attached to the project from the start. Rackin reportedly wrote the story while serving in the air force. By May the title had been changed to ''Riff-Raff'' and Walter Slezak was signed to support. At one stage the film was known as ''The Amazing Mr Hammer''. Cinematographer Ted Tezlaff had started directing motion pictures before serving in World War II. When he returned to Hollywood he shot a number of films for RKO as cinematographer but he wanted to return to directing. Producer Jack Gross assigned him to direct ''Riffraff'', although it meant Tetzlaff took a salary cut to get the job.

Reception

The ''Los Angeles Times'' said "someone took pains to make it hang together pretty well" and that O'Brien "plays his part with casual skill". The ''New York Times'' said it "only emerges a notch above the run-of-the-murder adventure despite a thoroughly engrossing beginning and some crisp dialogue."At the Palace A.W. New York Times 30 June 1947: 25.

References

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 ...

''
review of film
at ''Variety'' {{Ted Tetzlaff 1947 films 1940s adventure drama films American adventure drama films American black-and-white films Film noir Films scored by Roy Webb Films directed by Ted Tetzlaff Films set in Panama RKO Pictures films 1947 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

References

External links