This Gun For Hire (Universal Noir Collection)

Customer Reviews:

An Era When Style Compimented Sustance.......2007-08-10

Lately I've been discovering the films of the forties. Some of american cinema's best efforts came from that decade, immediately following the color splash of Gone With The Wind which clearly foreshadowed the coming death of Black and White for mainstream films. Hollywood had spent it's whole history til then bringing B&W cinematography and lighting to wonderful heights of light and shadows capped by Casablanca in it's utterly inadvertent perfection (just watch Bogie's shadow play on the wall while he opens the safe to get more cash for the casino while Claude Raines chews up the scenery).

This Gun For Hire made two stars overnight. Alan Ladd, in an oddly unsympathetic role and Veronica Lake as his onscreen match. They came as close as anyone at capturing the magic displayed onscreen by Bogart and Bacall. In some ways they took it to levels their predecessors couldn't. As a result of all this frenzy to do black and white justice, film noir was born in America. This is one of the finest. Just sit back and watch. You'll love it. There are about a dozen or so from this era done this well. Go do your homework and find them and watch them. It's a great treasure hunt to be on!!!!

.........A Hat....a...Trench Coat....a...Gun... and...a...Itchy Trigger-Finger............ .......2007-07-02

I saw this picture when it was released...now, reviewing it after many decades, it smacks of classic [noir] which Hollywood manufactured like piece-work during WW2 days...Alan Ladd is electric in his breakthrough to big time stardom after mundane debuts co-features [a real mean SOB...in this flick]....watch for the Corporate America wheel/bound mogul who gets his just due from 20 stories high, Robert Preston is clock/work as a street smart Detective, throw in sexy/blonde Veronica Lake is a nice piece of sweet cake...don't overlook wanton Pamela Blake, as the local tramp who takes everything Ladd dishes out to her...she hates him but is captivated by his recklessness; however, Mr. Laird Cregar is immense as is his girth...and steals the show with his defining role of a cunning coward who loves money and peppermint candies...worth buying and worth viewing...enjoy, bye gone Hollywood at it's very best....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

This Gun for Hire.......2007-06-25

Featuring Ladd's breakthrough role as a baby-faced killer, "This Gun"--adapted from a Graham Greene novel--paired him for the first time with the mysterious, wildly seductive Veronica Lake. The film has all the elements of a classic noir: murder, deception, lust, violence, and dark, moody cinematography to match the conspiratorial tone. Juicy and atmospheric, you'll understand just why this movie made Ladd an overnight star.

"This Gun for Hire (1942) ... Alan Ladd ... Paramount Pictures Film Noir".......2007-03-21

Paramount Pictures present "THIS GUN FOR HIRE" (1942) (80 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, Tully Marshall & Marc Lawrence.--- Directed by Frank Tuttle released in May 13, 1942, our story line and film, Outstanding film noir, based on Graham Greene's novel "A Gun For Sale", which presents one of the most disturbed (and disturbing) killers ever to cross the screen ... Ladd is scary because he doesn't care; he is simply a killing machine hired out by whoever will pay ... Only when Lake takes the time to break through the emotional fortress that he has built around himself does Ladd show any signs of humanity --- This is the film that made Alan Ladd a star --- `This Gun for Hire' is much darker and pure film noir --- Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake made 7 films together, "The Blue Dahlia" (1946), "Duffy's Tavern" (1945), "The Glass Key" (1942), "Saigon" (1948), "Star Spangled Rhythm" (1942), "This Gun for Hire" (1942) and "Variety Girl" (1947). "In Variety Girl" (1947), "Star Spangled Rhythm" (1942) and "Duffy's Tavern" (1945) they appear as themselves --- Visually, this film is pure noir, directed by Frank Tuttle, who made the first version of "The Glass Key" in 1935, combining a hard-boiled gangster story and expressionist-influenced lighting. "This Gun For Hire" fits firmly into that mode, and shows that many of the stylistic trademarks of the supposedly "post-war" Noir style were firmly in place before the US had even been in WW2 for a full year.

Under Frank Tuttle (Director), Richard Blumenthal (Producer), W.R. Burnett (Screenwriter), Graham Greene (Book Author), Albert Maltz (Screenwriter), John F. Seitz (Cinematographer), David Buttolph (Composer (Music Score), Frank Loesser (Songwriter), Jacques Press (Songwriter), Archie Marshek (Editor), Hans Dreier (Art Director) - - - - the cast includes Alan Ladd (Philip Raven), Veronica Lake (Ellen Graham), Robert Preston (Michael Crane), Laird Cregar (Willard Gates), Tully Marshall (Alvin Brewster), Mikhail Rasumny (Sluky), Marc Lawrence (Tommy), Pamela Blake (Annie), Harry Shannon (Steve Finnerty), Frank Ferguson (Albert Baker), Bernadene Hayes (Baker's Secretary), James Farley (Night Watchman), Edwin Stanley (Police Captain) - - - - - Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe Hollywood crime dramas that set their protagonists in a world perceived as inherently corrupt and unsympathetic...Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hard-boiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression...the term film noir (French for "black film"), first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unknown to most of the American filmmakers and actors while they were creating the classic film noirs..the canon of film noir was defined in retrospect by film historians and critics; many of those involved in the making of film noir later professed to be unaware at the time of having created a distinctive type of film ... featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together ... another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten film noir gems

SPECIAL FEATURES BIOS:
1. Alan Walbridge Ladd
Date of Birth: 3 September 1913 - Hot Springs, Arkansas
Date of Death: 29 January 1964 - Palm Springs, California

2. Veronica Lake (aka: Constance Frances Marie Ockelman)
Date of Birth: 14 November 1919 - Brooklyn, New York
Date of Death: 7 July 1973 - Burlington, Vermont

3 Robert Preston (aka: Robert Preston Meservey)
Date of Birth: 8 June 1918 - Newton Highlands, Massachusetts
Date of Death: 21 March 1987 - Montecito, California

4. Frank Tuttle (Director)
Date of Birth: 6 August 1892 - New York, New York
Date of Death: 6 January 1963 - Hollywood, California

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 80 min on DVD ~ Universal Home Video ~ (7/06/2004)

Likeable Ladd and Lake.......2006-10-30

Although Frank Tuttle's "This Gun for Hire" was released the year I was born, I hadn't seen it until my newly-purchased copy arrived last week (October 2006). As a movie-mad, Alan Ladd-adoring child I knew about it as the pivotal point of my idol's career, but never found it screening anywhere, not even on television.

So how did it shape up? Regrettably, not as well as I'd hoped. First, the notion of traitorous war-time activity is too big an angle for a small film - why not a simple, grubby little motive (anything to do with sex)for blackmail? Second, there are too many weak performances in supporting roles - not to mention 3rd-billed Laird Cregar's amateurish turn as the double-crossing Gates.

That aside, Ladd is sensational as the bitter-and-twisted Raven - no wonder the role made him a star. What a shame his career was so badly-handled - not just by Paramount, who never gave him the vehicles (apart from "Shane") a star of his popularity deserved, but also by his none-too farsighted agent Sue (Mrs. Ladd) Carroll. And Veronica Lake - what can one say? Fabulous in all the few films she made (the cabaret numbers she performs in this film are total delight), it's outrageous to think her name means nothing to so many of today's movie-goers.

Shortcomings aside, I'm pleased finally to have seen and enjoyed "This Gun for Hire".

Port of New York "Yul Brynner" / Gangs Inc. "Alan Ladd" / I Cover the Waterfront "Claudette Colbert" / Algiers "Charles Boyer" [4 DVDs]

Average customer rating:

Port of New York "Yul Brynner" / Gangs Inc. "Alan Ladd" / I Cover the Waterfront "Claudette Colbert" / Algiers "Charles Boyer" [4 DVDs]

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