Blackmail ** (1947, William Marshall, Adele Mara, Ricardo Cortez) – Classic Movie Review 11,395

Director Lesley Selander’s 1947 Republic Pictures American black and white film noir crime thriller Blackmail stars William Marshall, Adele Mara and Ricardo Cortez. It proved the first and last of the Daniel J Turner Detective film series.

William Marshall stars as private detective Dan Turner, who is approached by California playboy movie executive Ziggy Cranston (Ricardo Cortez) to stop a blackmail plot against him by the nasty Carla (Stephanie Bachelor), who is then found dead.

An intriguing mystery and good performances by William Marshall, Ricardo Cortez and Adele Mara as the femme fatale Sylvia Duane help to make this poverty row B-movie film noir a decent old-style hard-boiled detective story watch. Selander keeps it brisk action packed and busily moving along in its brief 67 minutes. The screenplay by Albert DeMond and Royal K. Cole is entertaining hokum packed with stock characters, cheesy lines and crime clichés.

The lead character is based on the pulp magazine hero Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective. The screenplay is based on the short story Stock Shot by Robert Leslie Bellem that appeared in the June 1944 issue of Hollywood Detective magazine.

The main cast are William Marshall as Dan Turner, Adele Mara as Sylvia Duane, Ricardo Cortez as Ziggy Cranston, Grant Withers as Police Inspector Donaldson, Stephanie Bachelor as Carla, Richard Fraser as Antoine le Blanc, Roy Barcroft as Spice Kellaway, George J Lewis as Blue Chip Winslow, Gregory Gaye as Jervis, Tristram Coffin as Pinky, Eva Novak as the maid Mamie, and Bud Wolfe as Gomez.

It was released on July 24, 1947 in the US.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,395

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