ThrillerCrime

Red Light

- THERE'S TROUBLE AHEAD!

Nick Cherney, in prison for embezzling from Torno Freight Co., sees a chance to get back at Johnny Torno through his young priest brother Jess. He pays fellow prisoner Rocky, who gets out a week before Nick, to murder Jess... who, dying, tells revenge-minded Johnny that he'd written a clue "in the Bible." Frustrated, Johnny obsessively searches for the missing Gideon Bible from Jess's hotel room.

Release Date : 1949-09-30

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Roy Del Ruth Productions

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Johnny Torno

Original Name : George Raft

Gender : Male

Character Name : Carla North

Original Name : Virginia Mayo

Gender : Female

Character Name : Warni Hazard

Original Name : Gene Lockhart

Gender : Male

Character Name : Nick Cherney

Original Name : Raymond Burr

Gender : Male

Character Name : Rocky

Original Name : Harry Morgan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Detective Strecker

Original Name : Barton MacLane

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jess Torno

Original Name : Arthur Franz

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ken Murray

Original Name : Ken Murray

Gender : Male

Character Name : Carlson Hotel Bellhop

Original Name : Stanley Clements

Gender : Male

Character Name : Hotel Night Clerk

Original Name : William Frawley

Gender : Male

Character Name : Father Redmond

Original Name : Arthur Shields

Gender : Male

Character Name : Wallace 'Wally' Stoner

Original Name : Frank Orth

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pablo Cabrillo

Original Name : Phillip Pine

Gender : Male

Character Name : Jim Ryan

Original Name : William Phillips

Gender : Male

Character Name : Trina

Original Name : Movita

Gender : Female

Character Name : Vincent

Original Name : Victor Sen Yung

Gender : Male

Character Name : Waitress

Original Name : Claire Carleton

Gender : Female

Reviews

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

Army Chaplain Slain! Red Light is directed by Roy Del Ruth and adapted to screenplay by George Callahan from the story This Guy Gideon written by Don Barry. It stars George Raft, Virginia Mayo, Raymond Burr, Harry Morgan and Gene Lockhart. Music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and cinematography by Bert Glennon. Something of an oddity, Red Light finds George Raft up to his neck in religion, revenge and a smouldering Virginia Mayo. After his brother, a chaplain, is murdered, he sets off to find the killer, whom can be identified by a message scrawled in a Gideon Bible. Find the Bible, find the killer. It is brought into the film noir sphere of things via Glennon’s photography, which kicks in at the hour mark and runs concurrent with the murky thematics in the narrative, Frisco a rain sodden place of sleaze. Other than that it plays more as a crime drama, albeit one with some decidedly spicy killings and another top villain turn from Raymond Burr. Tiomkin’s musical cues are strange and not always in sync with what is happening on screen, while the biblical hermeneutics and various plot contrivances irk rather than perk. See it for Burr and Glennon’s work, or if you fancy a weird blend of noir and ethical religio redemptions! 6/10

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-07-09

This is quite an intriguing crime noir, with George Raft as the owner of a trucking company out to avenge the murder of his brother - a priest. We know from the start who is responsible for the crime, so the film provides us with a front row seat as he sets about tracking down the culprit. It's quite a thoughtful story, a bit more sophisticated that your run of the mill vengeance tale. Raft plays his part well enough (he is a bit wooden at times), as do Virginia Mayo and Raymond Burr helping to build up quite a decent degree of tension, and when Raft ("Torno") does eventually discover what happened that night, he must reconcile the last wishes of his brother with his own visceral desire for revenge... The staging is a little too theatrical, Raft often paces from spot to spot as if he were following cues on stage, but the lighting and storm effects at the end contribute to the overall atmosphere of the drama, and it has a suitably striking conclusion.