drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
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 ' ...
Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas (19 February 1901 – 1 December 1968) was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962.
Life and career
Haas was born in B ...
, and
Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards (born Vincent Edward Zoine; July 9, 1928 – March 11, 1996) was an American actor and director. He was best known for his TV role as doctor Ben Casey and as Major Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film '' The Devil's Brigade''.
Ear ...
.
The movie was Moore's final film appearance. She gained popularity earlier in the 1950s in
B-movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
film noirs released by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
, for which Moore was a contract player.
Plot
Gus Hilmer, a moneyed garage, property and junkyard owner, falls in love with and marries a showgirl named Julie who is many years younger than himself. This causes tension between Hilmer and Frankie, Gus's young auto mechanic employee whom he has befriended, and treated like a son.
In due course, Frank and Julie develop an emotional attachment. Frank is drawn to Julie and subsequently plots to get rid of her husband. On a dark, remote road, Frankie runs down Gus with a car, killing him. He and Julie are free to be together and run the garage, or at least they think they are until Gus's twin brother turns up.
Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas (19 February 1901 – 1 December 1968) was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962.
Life and career
Haas was born in B ...
as Gus Hilmer/Twin Brother
*
Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards (born Vincent Edward Zoine; July 9, 1928 – March 11, 1996) was an American actor and director. He was best known for his TV role as doctor Ben Casey and as Major Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film '' The Devil's Brigade''.
Ear ...
as Frank
* Dolores Reed as Miranda
* Mara Lea as Anita (Credited as Mari Lea)
* Pat Goldin as Undertaker
*
John Zaremba
John Zaremba (October 22, 1908 – December 15, 1986) was an American actor most noted for supporting roles on science fiction films and television series.
The Chicago-born Zaremba was a journalist for the ''Grand Rapids Press'' and ''Chicago T ...
as Doctor
* Robert Cassidy as Sheriff
* Carl Milletaire as Lawyer
* Dick Paxton as Waiter
*
Julie Mitchum
Julie Mitchum (born Annette Mitchum, July 23, 1914 – February 21, 2003) was an American actress.
Biography
Mitchum was born in Charleston, South Carolina, to James Thomas Mitchum and Ann Harriet Gunderson. Unlike her younger brothers ...
as Circus Girl
* Steve Mitchell as Bartender
*
Jan Englund
Jan Lowell ( Englund; August 23, 1927 – January 16, 2018) was an American screenwriter and actress known for her work on exploitation films from the 1950s through the 1970s. She often worked alongside her husband, writer-actor Mark Lowell.
Aft ...
as Clara
*
Ella Mae Morse
Ella Mae Morse (September 12, 1924 – October 16, 1999) was an American singer of popular music whose 1940s and 1950s recordings mixing jazz, blues, and country styles influenced the development of rock and roll. Her 1942 recording of "Cow-Cow ...
as Singer
Production notes
John Zaremba, who played the doctor, would play hospital administrator Dr. Jensen on ''
Ben Casey
''Ben Casey'' is an American medical drama series that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols " ♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaff ...
'' four years later, starring Vince Edwards. Dolores Reed was cast as Miranda while dating Hugo Haas.Clemens, Samuel. "Tall and Tawny", ''Classic Images''. September 2022
Shown on the
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
show Noir Alley with
Eddie Muller
Eddie Muller (born October 15, 1958) is an American writer based in San Francisco. He is known for writing books about movies, particularly film noir, and is the host of Noir Alley on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
Early life and education
Muller ...