Shield for Murder *** (1954, Edmond O’Brien, John Agar, Marla English) – Classic Movie Review 7269

Edmond O’Brien co-directs and stars in the tough, involving and engrossing 1954 film noir crime film Shield for Murder as a crooked police detective. It is based on the novel of the same name by William P McGivern.

Edmond O’Brien plays rogue cop Lieutenant Barney Nolan, a brutal 16-year police detective veteran, who shoots and kills a bookmaker’s runner in the back in a secluded alley one night and steals his $25,000, claiming the bookie was trying to escape arrest. He tries to frame everyone else to keep the money to buy a new home for his lounge singer girlfriend, Patty Winters (Marla English). But a deaf mute Ernst Sternmuller (David Hughes) has seen the police detective commit the murder, and now Nolan faces killing again to cover his tracks.

The cast are Edmond O’Brien as Lieutenant Barney Nolan, Marla English as Patty Winters, John Agar as Sergeant Mark Brewster, Emile Meyer as Captain Gunnarson, Carolyn Jones as Girl at Bar, Claude Akins as Fat Michaels, Lawrence Ryle as Laddie O’Neil (billed as Larry Ryle), Herbert Butterfield as reporter Cabot, Hugh Sanders as Packy Reed, David Hughes as Ernst Sternmuller, William Schallert as Assistant District Attorney Andy Tucker, Richard Deacon, Robert Bray, Richard H Cutting, Jack Perry, John Phillips, Stafford Repp, Norman Ollestad and Vito Scotti.

If the story is a bit hackneyed, the performances, gritty handling and the tough tone help to keep the film interesting. O’Brien is exactly right, and the other names – Agar, English, Akins, Meyer and Jones – add allure.

Producer Aubrey Schenck said it ‘grossed a lot of money, you wouldn’t believe how much; on television it’s made a fortune.’

It is one of only two films directed by Edmond O’Brien, followed by Man-Trap. He won an Oscar as Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and was nominated for Seven Days in May (1964).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7269

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