Johnny Allegro **** (1949, George Raft, George Macready, Nina Foch, Will Geer) – Classic Movie Review 5256

Director Ted Tetzlaff’s excellent 1949 film noir crime thriller stars George Raft as shady former crook Johnny Allegro, who escaped from Sing Sing prison but has now gone straight as a Los Angeles hotel lobby florist and is helping the good guys.

In the brisk, efficient, enjoyable low-life crime action story by James Edward Grant, Johnny Allegro is roped in to help the Federal Treasury Agents capture an international mobster gang of counterfeiters. The British title of Hounded shows the way the plot develops, as the hero is chased like an animal by the bad guy armed with primitive hunting weapons on an island.

George Macready gives another brilliantly creepy performance, reprising his Gilda-style bad guy role as Morgan Vallin (almost an anagram of villain!), a sinister heavy. Nina Foch makes an ideal femme fatale as Glenda Chapman, a high-class blonde who arrives at the hotel lobby and tells Johnny that she is being followed and needs his help to escape. And Will Geer has a significant role as Treasury Agent Schultzy, who recruits Johnny.

Columbia Pictures’ striking-looking film boasts expert acting all round, and eye-catching black and white cinematography by Joseph F Biroc. And it is neatly, tidily, and pacily directed by Tetzlaff, bringing out the atmosphere and tension in the tale.

Okay, with its hints of The Most Dangerous Game (1932), we did not claim it is original, just very good of its kind.

Also in the cast are Ivan Triesault, Gloria Henry, Harry Antrim, William ‘Bill’ Phillips, Paul E Burns, Sol Gross, Charles Hamilton, Harlan Warde, Larry Thompson, Brick Sullivan, Fred F Sears, Cosmo Sardo, Walter Rode, Steve Pendleton, Joe Palma, George Offerman, Thomas Browne Henry, Frank Dae, Matilda Caldwell and Mary Baer.

Just for the record, the screenplay is by Karen DeWolf and Guy Endore.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5256

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