A Dangerous Profession

A Dangerous Profession is a mildly diverting crime picture featuring a fine cast headed by veterans George Raft and Pat O'Brien, both of whom had seen better days by the time they appeared in this picture. Nor is the direction of the usually reliable Ted Tetzlaff up to his usual standard. This is the kind of small scale but not quite grade B movie that television was about to make obsolete, and as such an interesting historical footnote of a bygone era for those who care for such things.

Richard Winnington was a bit unfair on George Raft when he accused him of just going through the motions "without a flicker of expression or removing his hat", since he takes his hat off quite often in this involved but uninvolving tale of bail bond officers, the Dangerous Profession of the title.

It's actually far more laid back that the rather dramatic title indicates and too brightly lit to qualify as 'film noir'. Pat O'Brien and Jim Backus (who also supplies the opening narration) seem to be enjoying cynically sauntering about in big suits more than Raft himself.

George Raft was a cop. Now he's a bail bondsman, in partnership with Pat O'Brien. A series of disappearing clients has him worried, as does Ella Raines, an old girl friend who reappears in his life.

It's a noirish sort of movie without many of the trappings; the most dramatic bit of lighting occurs in a shot of the firm's secretary taking a call, with the light shining through, the company's logo etched in reverse on the wall above and behind her. Ted Tetzlaff's direction is workmanlike, and as often seems the case, Raft's delivery is fast and guarded, giving the impression, as so many of his later movies do, that he's there for a paycheck, and anxious to get through the shoot as fast as he can. Jim Backus steals the movie as a police detective who seems to have a relationship with Raft.

The twist of this film is that Bill Williams is in jail with his bail set at $25,000 and Ella Raines, his wife, seeks to have him bailed out by bail bondsman George Raft, with whom she had a platonic affair (the production code still held some sway in 1949) while married to Williams. But she only has $4,000 and Raft and his partner Pat O'Brien want her to come up with the whole $25,000. Duh, if she had the $25,000 she wouldn't need them; she would post the bail. The whole point of the bail bond business is that you pay them about 10% of the bail amount and they put up the rest. In return for their fee they assume liability for the whole amount if the defendant skips town. Later, when a mysterious and obviously fraudulent stranger offers Raft and O'Brien $12,000 towards the $25,000 bond, they somewhat unethically keep that plus the $4,000 and still worry that they're not being paid enough.

Williams's crime is also hard to understand. He is said to have cashed $150,000 in securities for two men without knowing they were stolen. Somehow he is unable to name or describe these men, although one of them owns a night club he frequents. Similarly, incorruptible cop Jim Backus wasn't able to find Williams for two years despite his being in plain sight. And despite Williams being unable to identify the two men, they want him killed so he can't identify them.

This film has the noir look and cast but it's more like a routine detective story where the detective (or ex-cop bail bondsman in this case) goes on a sort of treasure hunt where person A sends him to B who sends him to C and so on until the movie has gone on long enough for him to solve the case.

Backus acts like Raft's posting bond for this inept patsy was equivalent to springing a mass murderer. O'Brien keeps acting suspiciously for no reason. Raines doesn't strike me as the femme fatale she's supposed to be, but that's just personal taste.

Obligatory car-driving-over-cliff scene. L. A.'s canyons were littered with auto bodies in those days.

A career police detective turned bail bondsman (George Raft) meets his ex-flame (Ella Raines) (he knows it's her because of the scent of the perfume that's in her and her husband's hotel room which he and detective Jim Backus search) in a fairly intricate story about her husband (Bill Williams) whose arrested for suspicion of killing a cop and then bailed out by Raft, against the wishes of his partner (Pat O'Brien). Why he's bailed out and who actually comes up with sufficient money to get him out of jail make for interesting viewing. As well, Ella Raines hits some of her more sultry looking scenes in this movie, which may not be the best movie she's ever been in, but still percolates along more than acceptably, especially when the real killer emerges as the sharp little film heads out of LA and into a convenient canyon.