Double Jeopardy

It's a noir all right, but you can feel the increasing hollowness of the decline and impending fall of the noirs, at least of the great noirs. This is a small aftermath, and although well directed and well acted with terrific music as well, the classic enthusiasm and atmosphere of the noirs is gone, as the television was taking over the attention of the audiences, and the companies were getting broke from lack of audiences, having little left to afford for great noirs. The greatest actor here is Gale Robbins as the woman spider at the centre of the web, causing all the intrigues. She is perfectly lovely, you can't resist her charm, and you can well understand the obsession with her of both her men, her miserable drinking husband and her young dashing lover. The film is worth watching for her sake, and the intrigue could have been made into something by someone like Hitchcock, but here time and money truncate the possibilities.

Robert Armstrong is a drunk ex-con. He's getting $500 every month from real estate developer John Litel. Armstrong is married to floozy Gale Robbins, who's carrying on with Jack Kelly. Kelly and Miss Robbins want to run to Mexico, so she persuades Armstrong to get ten grand from his mysterious benefactor; the lovers will take the money and run. However, when Litel meets with Armstrong, he says there will be no more money and leaves. Kelly, who's been watching, comes up to Armstrong and tries to take the money he thinks he has, then kills him. Soon enough, the police trace Litel's connection to the dead man and arrest him. Now it's up to Litel's attorney, Rod Cameron, to try to prove him innocent.

It's certainly sleazy enough and complicated enough for a film noir, even though R.G. Springsteen directs it more for speed than atmosphere. The fine cast - which also includes Allison Hayes as Litel's daughter/Cameron's girlfriend and Minerva Urecal as a Marjorie-Main-style landlady, give solid performances. Armstrong is quite convincing as a drunk, Litel as a plutocrat. While CMeron looks a bit too much like a muscular half-back, and the resolution seems a little abrupt, this it a solid little movie.

Some Above Average B-Movie Acting keeps Rather Routine Story Alive while Nothing Much in the Way of Action or Suspense Happens.

Republic Studios Completely Shut-Down Four Years Later in 1959. But at this Point was Still Maintaining a Good Looking Low-Budget Production.

The Voluptuous Allison Hayes is Slightly Miscast as a Bland Daughter/Fiance, with Rod Cameron also Askew from His Rugged Screen Persona Playing a Corporate Lawyer.

Robert Armstrong of "King Kong" (1933) Fame is Hardly Stretching it as an Alcoholic and Blackmailer. Jack Kelly is the Antagonist along with Gale Robbins as a Femme Fatale.

It's All Rather Unremarkable but Passable. But Not Much to Recommend.

Allison Hayes is a Couple of Years from Her Iconic Role as a 50 Foot Woman.

When real estate developer Emmett Devery (John Little) is charged with the murder of his alcoholic, unhappily married, former business associate (Robert Armstrong) who had been shaking him down to keep quiet about past dealings, his lawyer and future son-in-law Marc Hill (Rod Cameron) steps in to prove his innocence. Hill and his fiancé (Allison Hayes) try to unravel an extortion scheme launched by Armstrong and his gold-digging wife (Gale Robbins)

Double Jeopardy was helmed by veteran Republic Pictures director R. G. Springsteen. Springsteen who was better known for directing a string of Republic B-Western programmers, most notably the Rocky Lane series, does a good job in this gritty crime drama. Complete with blackmail, murder and duplicity, Double Jeopardy has the all the elements of later cycle noir. While the director, cast and crew do a nice job, the point A to point B script and short run time doesn't provide for much mystery or suspense.

By the mid 1950's Republic Pictures had been beset with a financial downturn due to the growing popularity television. Republic had dropped the number of productions down to almost half of what it was only a few years before. Bogged down by it's low budget, even by Republic standards, Double Jeopardy, while technically competent, just doesn't ever seem to be able to get much traction, making for a passable but nondescript movie.

5 of 10*

Actress PAULA KYLE, who was originally from Toronto, Canada, moved to Hollywood and became a star...or at least she thought she was. After leaving Canada in her XKE Jag, she landed many small roles and fizzled away in obscurity like so many other "B" grade actresses. Fabulous legs and blonde hair made her a natural for a career in modelling and some movies. Larry Anderson.