Robert J. Maxwell It's a film about bootlegging rubber tires in the middle of the war and opens with an elderly Irish cop coming across some suspicious characters standing in front of a warehouse. "What's going on here?" Oh, nothing. "I'll just take a look in that warehouse if ye don't mind," says the cop, who is shot to death while trying to open the door. Delaney, the cop, is in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, which requires a search warrant from a judge after establishing probable cause. But never mind. This isn't a technically demanding film. The old cop's murder sets the son, a private detective, on the trail of the gang, to their ultimate disadvantage.It should be pointed out that during World War II, tires and the rubber they were made from, were as valuable as gold. You couldn't GET new tires. The rubber that they were made from came from Southeast Asia, now in the hands of the Japanese. What little rubber the Allies had were used to build tires for military vehicles like Jeeps. Stealing tires was not just a criminal act but an unpatriotic one.Well, the cop's son, Damian O'Flynn, is about to be inducted into the U.S. Army. As a first lieutenant. (How do you do that?) He's angry and fast. He cooperates with the police at first because they're both in pursuit of the chief heavy -- Jack La Rue, not to be confused with "Lash" La Rue. Some reviewers keep pointing out that I'm criminally careless for having mixed up the two. Well, I AM criminally careless but at least I don't suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder! Anyway, the heavy here is Jack La Rue, née Gaspere Biondolillo in New York. And kindly don't confuse him with Jack La Rue, Jr., son of Jack La Rue, not son of Lash La Rue. Now, I'm glad we got that out of the way.No particular acting skills are on display. None are necessary. It's a fast paced mystery with no fooling around and no time for theatrics. The performers are professionals. They hit their marks, say their lines, express whatever feelings are appropriate to the situation, and dart out for the next scene. They're all likable enough, and Helen Parrish is conventionally attractive.

Paularoc I have a fondness for B detective movies from the 1940s. While this isn't a great one, it is an entertaining one worth a watch. A private detective, Eddie Delaney, has just been commissioned a Lieutenant in the Army and has to report for duty in three days. Delaney's father is an Irish cop who is murdered by gangsters who have just stolen a truck loan of tires. Rubber was a big black market item during World War II. The gangster, Marty Clark, is played by Jack LaRue ( who made a career of playing gangsters) who was a big time booze runner during prohibition who avoided prison because he always paid his income tax. Clark owns a night club called 'The Spot.' Delaney finds out that Clark was responsible for his father's murder and when Clark is murdered, Delaney becomes the number one suspect. Delaney then must find the real murderer and the ringleader of the rubber heisting gang. One of the most interesting things about the movie was its depiction of a central music exchange operation where, for a nickel, people could call the exchange and order a particular song to be played through the exchange's juke box. The discovery of the ringleader of the gang wasn't really much of a surprise since the two most likely candidates had already been murdered. It was nice seeing Anne Jeffrey's in one of her very early credited roles. This movie is a pleasant way to spend an hour.

dbborroughs The cop father of a private detective is killed when he stumbles on a criminal enterprise. The private detective decides to investigate the case in the three days left to him before he goes into the army. Much better then it sounds crime drama is a breezy little film, it runs under an hour. With nary a pause once the film gets up and running this is a darkly comedic film about a criminal organization that seems to be harking back to prohibition days. The veteran cast including Dick Purcell and Niel Hamilton really sell the story to the point that I misdirected as to what was going on. This is a superior little film thats worth popping in to the DVD player should you happen to rent or buy it. (Leave a comment)

David (Handlinghandel) There is the thrill of low-budget film noir. And there is the frustration of meandering, uninteresting movies made on the cheap. This one falls into the second category.The Spot is the name of a nightclub. The film is about a policeman whose father has been killed by gangsters. He heads out to track them down.Maybe it was the bad print. Maybe it's me. But I felt I'd seen this a hundred times, most of those times better than it is here.It has promise, too: The cop is fascinated with a woman who plays records she introduces over juke boxes. They then meet. Now, though this was made well before I was born, I have seen that kind of juke box. And it is incredibly fascinating: When I was a teenager, I wandered into a bar that still had such a device. I always liked juke boxes, in bars or diners. But this one was different. You talked to it and a sultry sounding female voice talked back to you! That is addressed here but dropped into the general, uninteresting stew.The movie has one thing going for it: In a small role, it features the very young Anne Jeffreys. What a beauty she was, and doubtless still is!