''A Life at Stake'' is a 1955 American film noir directed by

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American television and film actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He retu ...

and starring

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

, Keith Andes and

Claudia Barrett Claudia Barrett (born Imagene Williams; November 3, 1929 – April 30, 2021) was an American television and film actress. Early life Barrett was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I. J. Williams. She began takin ...

. It was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

production, made and distributed outside the Hollywood

studio system A studio system is a method of filmmaking wherein the production and distribution of films is dominated by a small number of large movie studios. It is most often used in reference to Hollywood motion picture studios during the Golden Age of Hol ...

Plot summary

Down-on-his-luck

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and builder Edward Shaw ( Keith Andes) is approached by Doris Hillman (

) with a business proposal of buying land together, on which he would build houses that she would then sell, using her experience as a former real estate broker. Her husband, Gus Hillman, a wealthy businessman, would be willing to contribute half a million dollars as capital for the venture. Doris quickly seems interested in more than a purely professional relationship. Shaw starts an affair with her and accepts the business offer. However, an accidental discovery leaves him convinced that the Hillmans' interest lies less in the long-term profits of the venture than in the $175,000 key man insurance policy he took on himself as a precondition for the deal, and that an attempt on his life is imminent. Madge, the younger sister of Doris, develops a romantic interest in Shaw as well. Without knowing what Doris has planned, she reveals to Shaw that her sister was married previously to a man who died in Wyoming when his car crashed over a bridge. Shaw ends up drugged by Gus Hillman and barely keeps his car from going off a cliff. The police are skeptical about his story and the insurance company refuses to cancel the policy, Hillman having portrayed Shaw as a man who is trying to steal his wife. Madge teams with Shaw to try to foil her sister's scheme, but Doris lures him to her mountain cabin and shoots him. A wounded Shaw sees both Hillmans struggle then fall to their deaths through a clifftop doorway, just minutes before Madge and the cops arrive.

Cast

as Doris Hillman * Keith Andes as Edward Shaw *

Douglass Dumbrille Douglass Rupert Dumbrille (October 13, 1889 – April 2, 1974) was a Canadian actor who appeared regularly in films from the early 1930s. Life and career Douglass Dumbrille ( ) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. As a young man, he was employed ...

as Gus Hillman *

as Madge Neilan *

Jane Darwell Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...

as Landlady * Gavin Gordon as Sam Pearson * Charles Maxwell as Lt. Hoff * William Henry as Myles Norman *Kathleen Mulqueen as Mary *Dan Sturkie as Officer Biff *Jeane Wood as Mabel, the maid *Robert Haver as Mechanic

Soundtrack

* "Summer Interlude" (by

Hank McCune ''The Hank McCune Show'' is an American television sitcom. Filmed without a studio audience, the series is notable for being the first television program to incorporate a laugh track. The series began as a local Los Angeles program in 1949. NBC ...

and

Les Baxter Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica a ...

)

External links

* * 1955 films 1955 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films Films set in Los Angeles 1950s English-language films Films directed by Paul Guilfoyle 1950s American films {{1950s-drama-film-stub