Never Trust a Gambler

From 1951, Never Trust a Gambler stars Dane Clark, Cathy O'Donnell, and Tom Drake, directed by Ralph Murphy.

Clark plays a real piece of work, Steve Garry, wanted by the police to testify at a murder trial. His best friend is accused. He's afraid if he tells what he knows, his friend will be convicted, so he's on the run. That's his story anyway.

He goes to the home of his ex-wife Virginia (Cathy O'Donnell) who wants nothing to do with him as he broke her trust by gambling away their savings. He convinces her that he quit gambling and is doing an altruistic thing for his friend, so she lets him stay.

At the grocery store, a drunk detective (Rhys Williams) hits on her and later shows up at her house. When he attempts to assault her, Steve emerges from hiding. A fight ensues, the detective's gun goes off and goes into the ceiling, Steve hits him with something, and he dies.

It was an accident, but Steve can't go to the police until the trial is over. He puts the body in the man's car and pushes it into a ravine.

Of interest, this film appears to have been filmed during a rainy season. It seems to be raining constantly and everyone is wet. At the end, the weather seems to have cleared up.

Mildly entertaining, and I liked the blossoming romance between Drake, an officer investigating, and O'Donnell. My other favorite part was covering the gun hole in the ceiling either soap. I guess they never heard of spackle.

O'Donnell in a way sold out for happiness when she incensed Sam Goldwyn by marrying the son of his enemy, William Wyler. Her career was never quite the same after Goldwyn dumped her. Sadly she died on her 22nd anniversary of cancer, at age 46. She was a lovely actress.

Dane Clark was a poor man's John Garfield and hands in a decent performance. He turned to tv work early and enjoyed a prolific career in both tv and film.

Percy Helton played the store clerk. One of the most recognizable faces and voices in film v and tv.

Gambler-fugitive seeks refuge with ex-wife, even as police close in.

Except for the cleverly staged finale—a giant crane on the LA loading docks—it's a pretty pedestrian crime story. Despite the poor ratings from the professionals, I tuned in because of the cast. Clark makes an excellent tough-guy-with-soul as in Deep Valley (1947) and Moonrise (1948), while O'Donnell is enough to make a grown man cry in the transcendent They Live by Night (1948). What this film crucially lacks, however, is mood. It's filmed in straightforward unimaginative style, much like a TV episode. As a result, there's no complementary atmosphere to frame the twosome's particular talents, thereby largely wasting them. Too bad, because the film would likely do just as well with any number of lesser talents in the leads.

It doesn't help that the screenplay is unexceptional with few surprises, except maybe for the randy cop (Williams). Still, you wonder how such a crude guy could possibly stay on the force, let alone as a sergeant. It's also a cheaply produced programmer with two or three basic sets. At least, Columbia knew something more was needed, hence the scenic finale. All in all, the movie's a routine programmer, at best.

Steve Gerry is a small-time gambler on the run from the law. He shows up at his sweet innocent school teacher Ex-wife's house giving her a story about needing to avoid the law because he friend is on trial for killing his wife, only he knows his friend didn't do it...but that he would have to testify that they fought "and that would look bad". He also gave evidence of him mending his gambling ways by saying he and his friend were in the boat business together and he showed her his bank book with $600 monthly deposits as evidence.

Our sweet and naïve school teacher, Virginia, takes him in and says he can stay for one night. She goes to get groceries and is hassled and then followed by cop and lecherous drunk friend of her former roommate. He forces his way in to her house and tries to take advantage of her...Steve steps in to intervene and in the tussle kills the cop.

This brings police Sargent Ed Donovan (played by handsome Tom Drake) and partner to Virginia's door.

In the end there is a great classic noir chase involving cranes at the shipyard. Great investigation with appropriate moments of waiting and interviews. I loved the women's response to the news that the lecherous cop is dead!

"Bachelors never sleep."-Cop #1

If you are fan of noir or police procedures, you should watch this film.

"Never Trust a Gambler" is a quick-moving, breezy little b-thriller with just the right amounts of action, suspense, and romance to waste, most agreeably, eighty minutes of your time. Psychopathic ex-hubby (Dane Clark) crashes ex-wife's (Cathy O'Donnell) quiet life to hole up in her home. He has a line, and she falls for it. Enter nasty skirt-chaser, add "a fight, a car crash, and a fire" (to misquote a line of dialogue) and pretty soon they're up to their eyeballs in trouble. Enter, too, a cute young cop (Tom Drake) who falls head-over-heels for the girl. Some of the story is handled with b-movie dispatch, but there is also enough characterization to keep the characters interesting, and the love story is both tender and realistic. Good cast, good photography, a fair bit of on-location shooting and an exciting climax high on a construction crane in a shipyard.

Steve--dane clark Virginia--Cathy O'donnell masher off dutycop shows police work odd--everyone seemed to know dead cop was a lecher she's a bad liar

Steve (Dane Clark) is a gambler on the run from the cops. He's apparently been accused of murder and he has decided to visit his estranged wife, Virginia (Cathy O'Donnell). She believes that he's an innocent and reformed man, so she agrees to let him stay with her for a few days.

Out of the blue, a perverted lech of a cop sees Virginia and decides to follow her home. There, he refuses to take no for an answer and he's about to rape her when Steve comes out of hiding and beats the cop up...killing him in the process. It's a clear case of justifiable homicide....but Steve isn't about to call the police and report this. Instead, he dumps the body and they hope it all blows over...or will it?

This is a very good film, though it is relatively low-budgeted and with second and third-tier actors. In spite of this, the writing is very believable and well done. I especially love where the story went towards the end...it really made the film.