Riffraff

One of the many felicities of Ted Tetzlaff's top-notch Riffraff, the cinematography of George Diskant can be best seen, unencumbered by dialogue, in the first few dazzling minutes. Torrential storms darken an airfield in Peru, where in the dead of night a cargo plane bearing two passengers departs for Panama; only one of them arrives. The opening previews Tetzlaff's pure-cinema approach; he lets the story unfold through images (and occasionally sounds) with a casual adroitness that remains striking more than half a century later.

At the center of the story is Pat O'Brien, a Canal Zone operative-for-hire. The surviving passenger engages him for protection, but doesn't survive for long. Then an oil company hires him to find a map, supposedly with the vanished man, of unclaimed oil fields in Peru. Walter Slezak wants it, too, but through strong-arm tactics. O'Brien, with the help of his driver Percy Kilbride and nightclub singer Anne Jeffreys, sets out in pursuit of the elusive document (which we know from almost the get-go hangs pinned to a screen in his room).

In retrospectives of film noir, Riffraff usually gets overlooked. While its genre is international intrigue and its touch on the light side, its conventions and, especially, its look, bring it to the fringes of the noir cycle. (And it's a better movie than two noirs released the same year which mine similar veins: Calcutta and Singapore.)

Bigger stars like Humphrey Bogart and Alan Ladd monopolized this tough-guy-in-ports-of-call genre, but O'Brien acquits himself honorably. Unfortunately, he was nearing 50 at the time, and his early-middle-age looks probably weren't what post-war audiences were looking for (Bogart, however, was exactly the same age). No matter: the real heroes of Riffraff are Tetzlaff and Diskant, who collaborated to make what Judith Crist used to call a `movie movie.'

Who does not love a good suspense/mystery? I for one really enjoy a good film noir especially when the opening sequence captures an audience's attention within the first five minutes without even uttering a single word. This is a film that you cannot leave the room for even a minute because if you do, you will certainly miss a key piece of this films centerpiece, which is a map containing the location of dozens of untapped oil fields worth millions of dollars.

There are plenty of evil doers trying to pull a fast one on each other in the hopes of netting themselves the one map that holds the locations of dozens of oil fields. But as tough guy detective Dan Hammer (Pat O-Brien) soon finds out while trying to protect a client of his named Hasso (Marc Krah) who happens to be a murderer himself from his other enemies one of which named Walter Gredson (Jerome Cowan) also pays Hammer to locate the map before anyone else can get their hands on it.

This is a cat and mouse game that also includes a gorgeous cabaret singer named Maxine (Anne Jeffreys) who is working incognito for her so called fiance Walter Gredson, but soon falls head over heels for the smooth talking, hard swinging detective Dan Hammer.

Besides the cat and mouse game I was impressed by Hammer's guard dog who always laid directly in front of Hammer's office doorway but yet the bad guys were neither intimidated by Hammer's dog, nor was Hammer ever forewarned by either a growl, bark or nary a whimper that there is trouble approaching Hammer's doorway. Some guard dog eh? He was adorable and this picture with its mystery and cinematography that reminded me of the next years more successful film (1948) Key Largo is well worth watching.

I give Riff Raff seven (7) woofs-woofs, its "howling" good action and mystery to keep you entertained

An almost completely forgotten Film-Noirish adventure, set in Panama and made by no-one famous, but at moments up there with just about the very best. The long wordless opening scene with the plane is as good a beginning as Touch of Evil or The Letter or any other film for that matter, and I think it likely to have been an inspiration for the first 20 minutes of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom as well.

The dialogue is a delight throughout: so many great, succinct, telling lines, all pregnant with further meaning, and the camera communicates so much to us too. It's the kind of quality script that just isn't being written anymore today, and yet it's in what appears to be a cheap, throwaway B-movie: although all the bit parts are charming and likeable, the only face in Riff-Raff I've seen before is the lead, Pat O'Brien (though I can't remember where), and he's excellent as a cool, crooked, out of shape and morally questionable private eye - a gone-to-seed Humphrey Bogart - and the film is very much cut from a similar (if markedly cheaper) cloth to Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon, So if you like those, I see no reason you won't find something to enjoy in this one too.

The central macguffin of the map everyone's looking for being in plain sight all the time is a little far fetched, and there's no real emotional depth or dramatic urgency on display, which would have knocked it up into the big league of the classics, but even as it stands it might be one of the most enjoyable and best-realized B-movies ever made, so it's a crime it somehow fell through the cracks of history and is so forgotten today: existing copies are of poor quality, and it would be lovely to see it restored and rediscovered.

It seems that everyone in Panama has their eyes out for a missing map worth a fortune and P.I./con-man/fixer Dan Hammer (Pat O'Brien) is at the center of everything. Caught between the police, hoodlums, and gorgeous dame, Hammer's got his work cut out for him. But like everyone else, he has no idea where to find the map - even though it's hidden in plain sight.

What a nice surprise! Going in, I had no idea what to expect from Riffraff (or Riff-Raff or Riff Raff or however you want to spell it), but it's truly a wonderful little film. It's got a lot going for it. Frist, the cinematography is fantastic. Riffraff looks way better than its modest budget would suggest. Second, the acting is very strong. Overall, I'm not much of a Pat O'Brien fan, but here, he does a nice job. Anne Jefferys is more than his equal as the blonde love interest. Walter Slezak makes for the perfect heavy. And Percy Kilbride (of Ma and Pa Kettle fame) shines as the comic relief. Third, the direction is spot on. Director Ted Tetzlaff does a remarkable job with the film's nifty pacing. There are very few dull moments to slow things down. And that opening - wow! It must have been a gamble to film the first 10 or so minutes in silence, but it paid off. Finally, the writing is first rate. Riffraff has all that cool, fast-talking dialogue I've come to love in a film noir.

7/10

Anne Jeffreys, Pat OBrien, and Walter Slezak star in the search for a missing passenger. The passenger had a map of valuable oil reserves, but didn't land with the plane in Panama. Of course they question the only other passenger, who claims he knows nothing about it. Then they bring in the private eye (OBrien) to figure out what's going on. Expert viewers will recognize Percy Kilbride as "Pop", the taxi driver, who knows more than he should. He was Pa Kettle for MANY years. It's a decent plot, but everyone keeps getting knocked off, and now Dan, the P.I. is running out of clues. The rest of the story is very typical noir... private eye against thugs, private eye against the authorities. Keeps getting into trouble, keeps getting out of it. Obrien pretty much carries the show.