seymourblack-1 "Shoot To Kill" (aka Police Reporter) is a great example of a low budget movie that delivers terrific entertainment, intrigue and surprises by means of a story that's refreshingly different from the norm. It begins with a high speed car chase that ends when one of the cars crashes and the police, who were chasing it, discover that two of its occupants are dead and the third is badly injured. Whilst they knew that the driver was an escaped convict, the cops are shocked to discover that his passengers were the city's newly appointed District Attorney and his wife. While she's recovering in her hospital bed, Marian Langdon Dale (Luana Walters) agrees to tell her friend, newspaper reporter George "Mitch" Mitchell (Russell Wade), about the events that led up to the crash.Marian had sought employment at the Assistant D.A.'s office after seeing Larry Dale (Edmund MacDonald) successfully prosecute gangster Dixie Logan (Robert Kent) on a murder charge that led to Logan being sentenced to 20 years in prison and had been grateful to Mitch when he had used his influence with Larry to get her appointed as his secretary. Larry, who was rumoured to have used bribed witnesses to secure Logan's conviction, was regularly visited by local crime boss Gus Miller (Nestor Paiva) who, on one occasion, recognised the Courthouse janitor as being one of Logan's gang members. After Miller had left, the janitor planted a bug in Larry's office but later, on Miller's orders, two of his men had called by the building and threw the janitor down the elevator shaft.Larry was on good terms with all three of the crime bosses (including Miller) who were Dixie Logan's main rivals and Miller, having been concerned about how close Larry and Marian had become, urged Larry to fire her before she learned too much about their business. However, after having discovered that his office was bugged and having good reason to suspect Marian, Larry decided instead to marry her so that, as his wife, she wouldn't be able to testify against him. Marian arranged the marriage with a local judge that she knew well and afterwards told Larry that she knew how corrupt he was but would stand by him and support his campaign to be District Attorney subject to the condition that he rids the city of the three crime bosses who were responsible for a crime wave that seemed to be carrying on unchecked.Larry had then set up the crime bosses to wipe each other out before a whole sequence of surprising developments and revelations eventually lead to Marian being able to explain fully what motivated her actions and led to her and Larry travelling in the same car as Dixie Logan.Watching "Shoot To Kill" is an exhilarating experience because the action drives forward with tremendous purpose, the dialogue is punchy and the impressive visual compositions contribute so much to the moody atmosphere. Expectations are obviously low with movies of this calibre and the quality of the acting isn't great. What is great however, is the convoluted plot which unfolds in flashback, features numerous twists and double crosses and is far more original than most of those seen in similar crime thrillers. There's also a wonderful bonus in the form of Gene Rodgers' boogie woogie number which the pianist delivers with the same vitality and enthusiasm that's so characteristic of the rest of this surprisingly good production.

Panamint This is a cheap Lippert b-movie that overachieves its budget with such little extras as a great piano player, the solid Charles Trowbridge as a D.A., and some flashes of good cinematography. Taught with constant danger, it is sort of a hodgepodge of flashbacks, confusing plot twists and fast pace. The way it just keeps relentlessly forging ahead keeps you interested enough to see what happens next.Russell Wade, a nice guy type on-screen and off, is perfectly cast as the crusading newsman. Susan Walters, 35-ish veteran actress and no young piece of fluff, is convincingly hard as a strong-willed woman with big ideas. The villains are numerous (almost everybody is a villain) and are all well cast.Despite the flaws that are very well set forth by other reviewers in this section (probably better than I could recount them) this movie somehow kept me entertained, if a bit confused at times. So yes, it is possible to make a fairly satisfying film on a shoestring budget. That is the bottom line on "Shoot to Kill".

samhill5215 This has to be one of the corniest noirs to hit the screen. For the most part it was incomprehensible with the plot careening one way and then the other. The characters all spoke in a monotone advancing whatever was discernible about the plot by announcing their motives and plans. The dialog was made of one cliché after another suitably punctuated for effect such as when Walters (Luana Walters that is, here credited as Susan) announces to her husband Dixie Logan "Even if you were framed I know now that you're ROTten" (emphasis on ROT). Every character has his/her own agenda and proceeds to implement it with gusto without a care for their safety. Allegiances are formed and dissolved at lightening speed - nobody seems to be aware of the concept of loyalty. Without the score the viewer would be even more confused. At least it announced when something of interest was about to happen.If all this makes "Shoot to Kill" seem like a turkey you wouldn't be far off the mark. It's so corny it's actually kind of funny, in a desperate sort of way. After a while you begin to wander what else they're going to throw in the mix. But it has its good points. There's a neat fistfight on a staircase, supposedly down two flights of stairs although I suspect it was filmed on the same one flight with the protagonists starting over at the top. Along with the fists so did the railings and I began to wonder whether it wouldn't collapse. On their budget they'd have to keep the footage. Punches and slaps were thrown that seemed to connect, especially the one on Walters toward the end. She disappears off camera falling down only to bounce back up unperturbed to deliver her memorable line quoted in the previous paragraph.The real revelation is pianist Gene Rodgers who appears 9:30 into the movie. Previously unknown to me, he was magic, a god of boogie jazz. He plays two of his own compositions, "Ballad of the Bayou" and "Rajah's Blues", both unaccompanied pieces. A little research revealed that he was based in LA at the time the movie was shot and returned to NY where he lived and worked the rest of his life. He died in '87. If for no other reason see this film for Rodgers.

JohnHowardReid I expected little from William Berke's 1947 Shoot To Kill. In fact, my expectations were so low, I left the DVD until late at night. I was just about to retire, but thought I'd take a quick look at the opening sequence. The movie hooked me straight away. Not only was Berke's direction way more polished than his norm, the movie was most atmospherically photographed by Benjamin Kline. Deft writing by Edwin V. Westrate also helped, and the actors were great too, especially Edmund MacDonald (who reminded me of a young Citizen Kane), heroine Luana Walters, reporter Russell Wade, gangster Robert Kent, the boogie-woogie piano player Gene Rodgers, and is-he-honest-or-is-he district attorney Charles Trowbridge (in noirish close-ups, giving the best performance of his lengthy career).