User reviews

Las Vegas 1952 would have been the place to be so a film starring the beautiful Jane Russell being the affection of not one, not two, but three men made it a place that all men would want to visit. Jane Russell who plays a former Las Vegas lounge singer named Linda Rollins and is currently married to an addictive gambler named Lloyd Rollins (played by Vincent Price) who prefers the crap tables to bedding his gorgeous wife Linda.

Linda would prefer to avoid Las Vegas all together since her past memories have her in the arms of a recent army veteran named Dave Andrews (Victor Mature) who she abruptly left Las Vegas apparently never to see him again. Now Dave Matthews is a Lieutenant with the Las Vegas police department and when Linda's expensive but insured diamond necklace goes missing and the slimy Fabulous Las Vegas casino owner is found murdered, it is up to Lieutenant Dave Matthews to find the killer and he has a couple of suspects in mind which include his former lover Linda Rollins and her husband Lloyd.

I chuckled when I saw Victor Mature with his overly exaggerated broad shoulders (nothing that hidden shoulder pads under his suit jacket couldn't assist with) meeting his former lover the now unhappily married Linda Rollins. There is an insurance investigator named Tom Hubler (Brad Dexter) also trailing the Rollins couple to ensure her very expensive diamond necklace stays safe but needless to say it vanishes under mysterious circumstances and the Fabulous casino owner is murdered on the floor of his own casino.

The film was novel for its time having the early Las Vegas strip as the backdrop, the gorgeous lounge singer Jane Russell with her piano playing Hoagy Carmichael having one or two numbers to shine, an insurance investigator, a lieutenant of the Las Vegas police department and what film would not be complete without a despicable addicted gambler like Vincent Price?

It is a decent crime/drama/romance film which holds up pretty well for being 66 years old.

Substitute Victor Mature for the part that Robert Mitchum normally played in these RKO films of the Fifties and you've got The Las Vegas Story. Wonder what Mitch was doing at this time?

Nothing terribly groundbreaking in this film. Jane Russell and Vincent Price arrive back in Las Vegas where Jane used to be a singer when she was a single gal. Also working there is ex-boyfriend Victor Mature now with the Clark County Sheriff.

When casino owner Robert J. Wilke turns up dead, there's a host of suspects out there. Jane's diamond necklace also is missing which is seen quite reasonably as a motive as Price said it was in the hotel safe.

Things pretty much go as they normally do in these noir films, some good action sequences a nice car chase through an atomic bomb testing site in the end.

What sets The Las Vegas Story apart is the presence of that old music master Hoagy Carmichael. ANY film he either appears in and/or writes some songs for is a cut above average just for that. He and Russell end the film singing his Academy Award nominated song My Resistance Is Low.

So will your's be once exposed to the talents of Hoagy Carmichael.

Sadly, we learn today of the passing of Victor Mature.

And while not receiving critical acclaim, The Las Vegas Story stands in my memory as an all-time favorite.

Victor Mature, when coupled with Jane Russell make the screen absolutely 'sizzle'. And who could ever forget the lovable Hoagy Carmichael?

But few have seen it. And even film historians when discussing Victor Mature's work rarely even mention it. However, I became hopelessly enthralled with this picture in the 50's and in a curious way, it still 'does it' for me today. The Las Vegas Story was and and remains my personal "Casablanca".

This is a 1952 film, and you can tell we haven't quite left the '40s. Jane Russell plays a former Las Vegas club singer who travels to Vegas with her wealthy. somewhat slimy husband (Vincent Price) - but she has a past with a local police officer (Victor Mature). And you just know what's going to happen.

Russell sings as well, she looks sexy, and does a great job with the snappy dialogue. Hoagy Carmichael is terrific, and the two of them make the movie. There's a huge chase on foot scene at the end that is quite elaborate.

This is a Howard Hughes production; because he interfered so much with the filming, it lost money.

Jane Russell's performance in "The Las Vegas Story" couldn't really be classified as acting since most of what she does here is react in a series of carefully posed close-ups. Still, when she relaxes a bit at the piano or offers to help an injured pilot, she's much more than just a sultry glamorous-puss--she's actually human. Russell's a former Vegas chanteuse who returns to her old digs after a stint in Palm Springs and a marriage to gambling-addict Vincent Price; she crosses paths again with ex-flame Victor Mature, now a police lieutenant, yet doesn't bat an eyelash when her hubby is eventually jailed on suspicion of murder. Despite the juicy-fruit dialogue and would-be hard-boiled atmospherics, this is a pretty simple and silly story, indeed. Price is the only member of the cast who tries creating a character; Mature goes through the motions unhappily while piano-man Hoagy Carmichael and police captain Jay C. Flippen are ridiculously over-the-top (and speaking of ridiculous, Carmichael's solo number "The Monkey Song" has to seen and heard to be believed!). There's not many females prominently featured besides Jane Russell...but that's acceptable. She'd walk all over them anyway. **1/2 from ****

Shady business man and compulsive gambler Vincent Price and luscious wife Jane Russell get off the trans-continental train they're on on their way to LA to do some gambling in Las Vegas. They stay at the Fabulous Hotel where Price convinces the management to extend him $100,000 in credit so he can have money to gamble with. The movie has a somewhat interesting back story about Price and a ruined business partner in Boston. As well there is another back story about Russell and Las Vegas detective Victor Mature, who seem to have met a while ago when she was a singer at a casino where Hoagy Carmichael is the long time pianist and band leader. He (Carmichael) does a great number about a little over half-way through the film that must be seen. As well, Russell is wearing a super expensive diamond bracelet that is the object of an aggressive insurance investigator. For my money, Price, Carmichael, and the vintage Vegas scenes are the only really compelling reasons to watch, except for a decent chase between a helicopter and a Mercury woody across the desert which leads to an interesting fight in an abandoned military base.

I wasn't expecting much here but I must say I was most pleasantly surprised. For me, a film's success is measured by its capacity to keep me interested without going for a break and this one did just that from beginning to end. This isn't great cinema by any stretch of the imagination but it is great fun. I thought both headliners shone in their parts despite other reviewers' finding them wooden. You could feel their heat radiating every time they appeared together. You could see their eyes shooting daggers at each other. There was no denying their passion.

The story isn't the greatest but it's interesting enough and kept the surprises to the end. Quite a bit is thrown into it, drama, romance, murder and more, so it covers quite a few categories. There's some sleaze too, like when the insurance guy leers at Jane Russell's magnificent décolleté. I guess Howard Hughes just couldn't help himself. Yet Ms Russell is such a class act that her physical attributes are just icing on the cake.

There's also some nifty action scenes that I thought played out quite well, especially the desert sequence starting with the helicopter chase scene and ending with the air control tower. The whole thing had the feel of authenticity to it unlike the cgi stuff we're spoon fed today. These were real people working their craft, performing for the audience, and one hopes having fun at it. At least it seemed that way to me.

THE LAS VEGAS STORY is a typical film noir featuring the usual '50s staples of cops, robbers, fences, gamblers, and the inevitable femme fatale, this time around played by the flame-haired Jane Russell (who I never liked much, but there you go). For much of the running time this is a three-hander between dedicated cop Victor Mature, gambler Vincent Price, and the latter's wife, played by Russell.

The Las Vegas backdrop is a lively one but there's a lot of sub-romance stuff going on which drags the pace down somewhat, and the sub-plot about a pair of teenage lovers is hardly gripping material either. Mature seems to be sleepwalking through his role, although Russell works hard and Price is immediately likable (although I'm spoilt by his horror roles and wished he could have been a bit more, well, macabre).

Things eventually pick up when murder enters the frame, which leads to a breathtaking extended chase climax involving helicopters, high rise stunts, and more besides. If only the rest of the film could have been more like this and less stodgy! The last half hour has all the hallmarks of a superior thriller, so it's a pity that the first hour is a bit dull. It works out average overall.

This is a pretty good movie. Vincent Price and Jane Russell are great together, real screen magic. There is also a great character performance by Hoagy Carmicheal as the piano player Happy. This movie can be a little long and tedious at some parts, but the "chase" scene at the end is great! Therefore, I give this movie an 8/10.

A fizzled romance rekindles when the lady (Russell), now married (Price), returns to her old stomping grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada where the struggling husband hopes to beat the casino odds, she crossing paths with that former flame (Mature), now a Clark County Deputy Sheriff, before murder and aerial mayhem ensue.

A fabulous figure framed first in The Outlaw (43), it was Jane's pair of pretty, wide-set eyes that always had ME captivated. In her crime drama catalog (noirgesse), it's those gorgeous glims, long limbs and teamings with pal Bob Mitchum that typically starts the conversation (His Kind of Woman, Macao), but a couple can get along TOO well, for drama's sake, anyway, and Victor Mature is no downgrade, quite the contrary. I prefer their passionate, sometimes prickly pairing in this dicey drama and rate Vegas, Jane's best, while praising Price in a role better suited to his non-horror persona (vs Cardigan).

Directed by Robert Stevenson (Jane Eyre), a regular at Disney studio (Mary Poppins), noteworthy too is screenwriter Paul Jarrico (The Search) (Felton Essex / Dratler) whose blacklisted name was removed from premiere credits by producer Howard Hughes, even as the recluse retained his writing product. In support are ivory-tickler and narrator Hoagy "Happy" Carmichael, the jaunty Jay Flippen, blue eyed bad boy Brad Dexter, old timer Will Wright, familiar face Robert Wilke and real life Flamingo dancer Colleen Miller who'd quickly step up to leading roles at RKO and Universal (3/4).

Saw this film on a boring afternoon. A love triangle story of an investment broker (turned gamble-looser), his wife who is a singer, and her ex-man (a local cop), all of whom tied together in a murder of the casino owner in Las Vegas. An expensive diamond neckless, a gift from the broker to his wife, becomes the key to murder investigation. In fact, the plot does not allow the audience of playing the detective game, as the crime and the culprit is quite bluntly revealed. The love triangle aspect is not original. Performance, dialog, the script, any film would have these elements. So what are we left with? 1. Haugy Carmichael's (as "Happy") witful song and singing! You will certainly enjoy the "Monkey Song". `My Resistance Is Low' sung by Jane Russell likewise will be a treat. 2. There's a car chase scene with a helicopter involved (for some reason). The action and camera work make you realize that Hollywood films haven't changed much. Should we praise the achievement of the past, or mock the unchanging present? You decide. The verdict: this is another film which belongs to the basement of your local library. No, not on the video shelf, on the music corner.

Apart from being another entry in my planned month-long tribute to Vincent Price, this also served as a nod to the recently-departed Jane Russell (as should be the upcoming MACAO from the same year, to be included in my other ongoing retrospective dedicated to Josef von Sternberg). Anyway, this is a minor noir effort: indeed, it is one of the sunnier of its type, in that the narrative unfolds as much by day as it does during the night; besides, for all its intended gloom, there is a healthy vein of humor running through it! It is saved, however, by the RKO production values (the studio, above any other, gave the genre its quintessential look) and the star cast (which also includes Victor Mature, Hoagy Carmichael, Brad Dexter and Jay C. Flippen).

The plot involves Russell's return to the gambling capital of the world after she had spent the war years as a chanteuse there (at a club where Carmichael – who else? – is the typically laidback pianist/observer). In the meantime, she has married wealthy Price but does not know he is close to bankruptcy (before noticing a wire he received reporting the suicide of his Boston colleague)!; another old acquaintance is cop-on-the-beat Mature, bitter at her apparent desertion of him. Needless to say, Russell and Mature ultimately get to rekindle their affair, but the path runs far from smoothly: apart from their own mutual resentment, Price does not look favourably upon his wife's former conquests, while complicating things further is the expensive necklace Price uses as a guarantee in order to try his luck at one of the leading casinos (which is being closely watched by insurance investigator Dexter). Eventually, the new owner of Russell's old haunt is found murdered (after he had denied Price further credit) and the necklace stolen. Of course, Price becomes the key suspect – and Russell accuses Mature of having framed him so as to get back at her! However, it is obvious from the get-go that the real culprit is the wolfish Dexter, and the film climaxes decently with a desert helicopter chase and a shootout in an abandoned hangar. As for Price, he is ready to pay the price {sic} of his own criminal activity back home i.e. embezzlement.

The film is reasonably enjoyable, with most of the expected noir elements intact – including its fair share of hard-boiled dialogue, not to mention having Russell and Carmichael warble a number of songs – but the contrived scripting (by Earl Felton and Harry Essex, who ought to have known better!), cornball attempts at comedy (mainly having to do with Sheriff Flippen betting what Mature's next move will be with respect to both solving the case and sorting out his private life!) and an incongruous sentimental streak (clearly evoking CASABLANCA {1942} in the subplot involving a couple of underage elopers!) prevent the promising mixture from rising to greater heights.

Tepid love story except for the exciting chase climax. Seems Mature and Russell had a marriage-bound romance in Las Vegas before they were separated by the war. Now Russell's visiting Vegas with her wheeler-dealer husband Price. Meanwhile, Mature has become a lieutenant on the Vegas police force. So what's going to happen when the former lovers meet as they must, especially when a valuable necklace disappears and a casino murder complicate things.

The movie promotes Vegas's strip at a time when the town was emerging as a gambling-vacation center. The following year, 1953, Sinatra would reinvent his career by connecting the Nevada town with glamorous Hollywood entertainers. And the rest, as they say, is history. Anyway, I expect this flick was one of the first to bring the strip to small town America.

And who better to draw in movie audiences than two of Hollywood's most physical specimens, the broad-shouldered Mature and the buxom Russell, though her attributes are downplayed here. At the time, Mature was an established star, while Russell's career was beginning to take off, especially with the following year's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

I doubt, however, that this rather bland narrative advanced either career. Coming from Howard Hughes' RKO and his well-known fascination with Vegas, I imagine contract player Russell had little choice. Anyway, the wryly entertaining Hoagy Carmichael injects some atmosphere, along with a slicked up Robert Wilke in a departure from his usual thuggish roles. Too bad, however, that we don't see more of the great Vincent Price who injects both spirit and style into the proceedings. Nonetheless, catch that swooping copter chase that I'm sure thrilled audiences of the time and still does.

All in all, it looks like the movie was built around Hughes's sharp eye for Vegas's emerging glitz. At the same time, the two leads furnish audience come-ons. Too bad the story itself comes across more like a pedestrian after-thought.

Jane Russell, (Linda Rollins),"Outlaw", was very pretty in 1952 and gave an outstanding performance as well as a singing act performed with Hoagy Carmichael (Happy) at the piano. Linda is married to a gambling con-artist named Lloyd Rollins, (Vincent Price) who is hitting rock bottom with large gambling debts and tries for a big break at the Casion's in Las Vegas. However, Victor Mature,(Lt. Dave Andrews) knows Las Vegas and the people behind the scenes who informed him that Lloyd Rollins was in town to start some trouble in the Casion's. Dave Andrews spots Linda Rollins and realizes she was a gal he was in love with and their relationship drifted a part, however, the spark was instantly rekindled when they meet face to face. Russell, Mature and Carmichael make this a very entertaining film with murder and plenty of old time tunes. Enjoy.

Great movie to see Vincent Price act in a dramatic role.

(Minor Spoilers) On their way to L.A from Boston Mr Llyod Rollins, Vincent Price,insists to his wife Linda, Jane Russell,on stopping at Las Vages to relax and play at the dice table in the Fabulous Casino/Hotel. A stock broker/investor Rollins has been embezzling his clients for some time and now needs money desperately to re-pay them or end up behind bars.

Getting $100,000.00 in credit from the Fabulous Casino/Hotel management Rollins blows it all on the crap-table before the night is over. Meanwhile Linda runs into an old flame Dave Andrews, Victor Mature, who she left when he was sent to the Pacifice during WWII.

Dave, to Linda's surprise and regret, is not only living in Vages where she met him when she was a singer at "The Last Chance" casino but he's an officer in the Las Vegas police Dept and in charge of the Vegas Strip where the casinos are located.

Both Linda and Dave are at odds with each others when they first meet. Dave feeling that he was let down by Linda for not coming back to him after the war and Linda a bit taken up by Dave's obsession with her that doesn't seem to have ended now some ten years after they last saw each others. Meanwhile Linda's husband Llyod hocks her $50,000.00 diamond necklace for a measly $10,000.00 to continue gambling; this time in the "Last Chance" casino to it's owner Clyton, Robert J. Wilke. Unknow to both the Rollins' their being tailed by insurance instigator Tom Hubler, Brad Dexter. Who's job it is to make sure that Linda's necklace is safe and sound being that it's insured for $150,000.00 by the company that he works for.

All these stories come together when Clyton is later found murdered at the his place with the casino's daily cash profits missing. The murder of Clyton has Llyod Rollins name all over it with him needing money, which Clyton refused to advance him,to keep on gambling to make up what he already lost plus the money he stole from his investors.

Standard 1950's police/drama thats really uplifted a few notches with an incredible helicopter/car chase in the Navada desert as Dave and the pilot Tobey Riggs corner Clyton's killer in a restricted US Military base; could that have been what later became known as area 51? After the killer shot and wounded Tobey Dave chases him on to an army watchtower where after knocking him down Dave shoots the fugitive as he tries to go for his gun as he falls to his death.

There was a nice little sub-plot in "The Las Vages Story" involving two young would-be newlyweds Bill & Mary, Chester Marshall & Colleen Miller. Mary's dad, Ray Walkers, didn't want them to get married because his daughter was under age and refused to give her his consent. Bill about to be drafted in the Army and Mary having to wait for him to serve out his two years was a mirror image of what happened between Dave and Linda ten years earlier. In this case the ending was a lot more cheerier: Dave talked Mary's father into letting the two lovebirds tie the knot.

The title "The Las Vegas Story" might suggest a film recounting the city's history, possibly centred upon the early days of the gaming industry under Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. It is not, however, a movie of that sort, any more than "The Philadelphia Story" deals with the early days of colonial Pennsylvania. It is sometimes classed as a "film noir", although to my mind that term is sometimes overused to describe virtually any crime drama made between 1930 and 1960. Certainly, "The Las Vegas Story" lacks some of the characteristics of classic noir, such as low-key lighting and a sense of moral ambivalence.

A wealthy stockbroker named Lloyd Rollins arrives in Las Vegas to play the tables. Accompanying him is his beautiful, and much younger, wife Linda who used to work as a singer in one of the city's casinos. Linda meets her former boyfriend Dave Andrews, whom she knew before her marriage and who is now working as a local police officer. I won't recount the plot in any more detail as it gets very complicated- something to do with a valuable diamond necklace, an insurance fraud, a suspicious investigator and the murder of a casino owner.

In many ways this is a fairly standard early fifties crime drama with little in terms of its plot that would make it stand out from dozens of others. There are, however, a few features which make the film (just about) worth seeing even today. There is a very good suspense sequence when Dave pursues the villain into the Nevada desert, involving a chase between a helicopter and a car and a cliffhanger in an abandoned military base. Like another viewer, I was reminded by this sequence of the work of Alfred Hitchcock, and wondered if it could have served as an inspiration for the famous "crop-duster" scene in "North by North-West".

The leading man, Victor Mature as Dave, gives a rather static, wooden performance; he tended to be better in historical dramas in which his impressive physique and screen presence made him stand out. Vincent Price, however, is better as Lloyd, a smoothly plausible rogue with a few skeletons in his cupboard, and there is an entertaining cameo from Hoagy Carmichael, better known as a songwriter and musician, as Happy, the eccentric pianist in the casino bar. (The name Happy is presumably an ironic nickname, as he has a permanently mournful expression on his face).

The best thing about the film, however, is the presence of the lovely Jane Russell. Jane's time at the top was a relatively short one, which is not surprising given that she was that rare breed, a thirty-something sex symbol. She only made three films while in her twenties, but another sixteen between the ages of 30 and 36, following which she retired from the screen, although she did make occasional comebacks. In the fifties a forty-something sex symbol was evidently regarded as a contradiction in terms, although Joan Collins was to reinvent herself as precisely that in the seventies. (There is an interesting comparison between Jane and her contemporary Veronica Lake; Lake's career was effectively over by 1949, whereas Russell's did really not take off until 1951, even though she was actually the older of the two by eighteen months).

Jane was perhaps not the most technically brilliant actress in Hollywood, but she had a compelling screen presence, and although she may not have made any great films, she made some very watchable and entertaining ones. She also had a very good singing voice, which she puts to good use in this movie, singing among other things the well-known hit "My Resistance Is Low". (Following her temporary retirement from the cinema in 1957, she was to reinvent herself as a Las Vegas nightclub singer, like her character Linda). It is her glamour- by which I mean her charisma and presence as well as her physical attractiveness- which is responsible for raising "The Las Vegas Story" above the level of the mundane. 6/10

Dull crime film is greatly elevated by glamorous the Jane Russell as a former torch singer returning to Las Vegas with her rich husband, a charming Vincent Price, only to encounter her old flame, police detective Victor Mature, who both run afoul Vegas thug Brad Dexter. The film's plot mostly hinges on a murder mystery that's barely interesting. Some of the best scenes are between Russell and her old piano player, Hoagy Carmichael. "The Las Vegas Story" was produced by Howard Hughes at RKO (who famously produced Russell's scandalous western "The Outlaw") and was directed by journeyman director Robert Stevenson, who later directed a number of pictures at Disney including classics like "Mary Poppins" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" to lesser Disney fare like "The Gnome-Mobile" and "In Search of the Castaways," so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that this film lacked any real creative spark. I was hoping to see lots of period footage of 1950s Vegas, but it's all sets and stock footage, so this film doesn't even offer a vintage travelogue appeal. Besides Russell, Dexter is quite good as the steely eyed villain. I've never understood the appeal of Victor Mature as a lead actor, but he's serviceable in his part. Overall, "The Last Vegas Story" does offer an exciting climax involving a helicopter chasing a car and a shootout at an airport hanger, but other than that, it's all quite bland (outside of the never bland Ms. Russell).

The historical aspects of this flick are fascinating. Mature is head-on one of the screens all-time great performers, and his deadpan expressions prove that an actor need not try to act, just be oneself. This movie was shot three years after he got his haircut from Delilah, and it shows the versatility of this guy with one of Hollywood's most ethnic faces. Jane Russell is smashing as the co-star here, and her close-ups have never been more telling as to her true beauty without zooming in on her bra; and like Mature, she too, is superb just non acting and being herself. Their kissing scenes come off quite authentically, too. Vince Price is perfect as the no-good gambling hubby, and Brad Dexter provides a top-notch lecher role. Hoagy is Hoagy as Hoagy always is in these adventure tales, playing his piano and weaving through the plot. A perfect escape movie.

The Las Vegas Story (1952) Am I the only person who doesn't like horror movies but likes Vincent Price anyway? Probably not, since my mom feels the same way, but it's always so nice to see him in a regular ol' drama. In this one, he's married to knockout Jane Russell. He has a bit of a gambling problem, so she senses the red flag when he suggests a pit stop to Vegas.

Another red flag is that Jane's ex boyfriend, Victor Mature, lives and works there. He's a compassionate cop with a great entrance scene: he tracks down an underaged couple preparing to elope and talks them into coming with him to the station, even though his heart sympathizes with their young love. He remembers (and Hoagy Carmichael's corny narration helps the audience remember) his old romance with Jane, and he wishes they could give it another chance. But will Vincent Price get in the way? He's obviously one step away from getting in trouble, and since Victor works for the law, which side will Jane choose? Check out this exciting Vegas drama to find out.

"The Las Vegas Story" is a poor name. What is shown is (obviously) not credible. It is very dated and not authentic. Billed as a film noir, but more like a "film molestus" (boring); nothing more. For Jane Russell fans only.