The Renaissance of Gussie Hill

Eleanor Parker is a most unwilling client of Checkmate in this story. She's a manager at a health club, what we would now call a 'fat farm' and Checkmate is brought in because there's a suspicious prowler hanging around. When said prowler assaults one of the other staff members, Checkmate hangs around.

Particularly Anthony George who is usually quite professional, but kind of falls for this one. It seems as though Parker was at one time a noted stripper who was connected with a tragic scandal at one of the burlesque houses she was performing at the time.

The prowler turns out to be Herschel Bernardi who is a recently released convict and former boyfriend of Parker.

Eleanor Parker was one of those finding roles on the big screen scarcer but she could still work and do some of her best work in Checkmate. She's one hard dame and the reason for her hardness is spelled out when she tells her life story to George who's seen a lot in his line of work but can still be shocked.

Eleanor Parker is just outstanding.