Big Town After Dark

Hillary Brooke has published a novel and has another under contract. So she's quitting as crime reporter on the newspaper. Editor Phillip Reed doesn't want her to go, so when the publisher's niece, Ann Gillis, comes in asking for a job, he assigns her to Our Miss Brooke's beat, with a couple of weeks to train her. On Miss Gillis' suggestion, the paper begins beating the drums to close down the poker clubs around the state. Then Miss Gillis gets kidnapped by club owner Richard Travis. Or is she?

It's a Pine-Thomas production, and the Dollar Bills always turned out a decent B movie. They have exceeded themselves with this one, with a plot so twisty you can't see what's going on, and a particularly fine performance by Travis, who exudes an air of menace far from his usual nice-guy demeanor. Even Vince Barnett is enjoyable for once. There's also fun in a reference to Hildy Johnson, the center of THE FRONT PAGE. Does this mean Big Town is Chicago? The exteriors look like LA.