''Second Chance'' is a 1947 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of 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

James Tinling James Tinling (May 8, 1889 in Seattle – May 14, 1967 in Los Angeles) was an American film director. He worked during the silent period as a prop boy and stuntman, and directed primarily for 20th Century Fox in the 1930s and 1940s. He has bee ...

and written by Arnold Belgard. The film stars

Kent Taylor Kent Taylor (born Louis William Weiss; May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an American actor of film and television. Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more p ...

Louise Currie Louise Currie (born Louise Gunter; April 7, 1913 – September 8, 2013) was an American film actress, active from 1940 into the early 1950s. Biography Currie was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Charles W. Gunter, a banker, ...

Dennis Hoey Dennis Hoey (born Samuel David Hyams, 30 March 1893 – 25 July 1960) was a British film and stage actor, best known for playing Inspector Lestrade in six films of Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Early life Hoey was born Samuel David ...

Larry J. Blake Larry J. Blake (April 24, 1914 – May 25, 1982) was an American actor. Career A native of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York, he started his career in vaudeville as an impersonator, working his way to a headliner. After appearing at the Roxy Theatr ...

Ann Doran Ann Lee Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was an American character actress, possibly best known as the mother of Jim Stark ( James Dean) in ''Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955). She was an early member of the Screen Actors Guild and ser ...

and

John Eldredge John Eldredge (born June 6, 1960 in Los Angeles) is an American author, counselor, and lecturer on Christianity. He is known for his best-selling book '' Wild at Heart''. Life and work Eldregde received his undergraduate degree in theater from ...

. The film was released on July 18, 1947, by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

Plot

Joan Summers (Louise Currie) enters the office of jewel merchant Montclaire (Francis Pierlot) closely followed by Kendal Wolf (Kent Taylor). Each recognizes the other to be a jewel thief, and wordlessly they team together to steal a $30,000 diamond. Searched and questioned when the gem is missed, they are released....with the gem. Detective Sharpe (Larry Blake) is still suspicious and so is the head of Jeweler's Indemnity, who puts two underworld men on to retrieve the diamond. Kendal agrees to meet the two but the police are tipped and Sharpe confiscates the gem and the fence's money. Again Kendal and Joan are released, but each suspects the other of being an informer despite a growing romantic attachment. Kendal and Joan attend an exhibition of the Malabar diamonds, leave to follow a diamond-lade guest, overtake her car, shoot the chauffeur and slug the woman. At Kendal's apartment, Joan makes it clear that robbery, not murder, is her game. Two men and the robbed couple arrive and reveal the whole thing to be a hoax to test whether Joan will work with the gang and to assure them she wasn't the informer in the first theft.

Cast

as Kendal Wolf *

as Joan Summers *

as Roger Elwood *

as Det. Sgt. Sharpe *

as Doris Greene *

as Conrad Martyn *

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He retu ...

as Nick * William Newell as Pinky *Guy Kingsford as Jerry *Charles Flynn as Sam *Eddie Fetherston as Bart *

Francis Pierlot Francis Pierlot (July 15, 1875 – May 11, 1955) was a stage and film actor with over 90 film credits between 1914 and 1953. The Massachusetts-born actor's first film credit was in 1914, but he did not begin appearing in films full-time until ...

as J.L. Montclaire *

Betty Compson Betty Compson (born Eleanor Luicime Compson; March 19, 1897 – April 18, 1974) was an American actress and film producer who got her start during Hollywood's silent era. She is best known for her performances in ''The Docks of New York'' and ...

as Mrs. Davenport * Edwin Maxwell as Mr. Davenport *Archie Twitchell as Barker

References

External links

* 1947 films 20th Century Fox films American crime films 1947 crime films Films directed by James Tinling Films produced by Sol M. Wurtzel American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{1940s-crime-film-stub