''Riff-Raff'' is a 1947 American

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

starring Pat O'Brien,

Anne Jeffreys Anne Jeffreys (born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael; January 26, 1923 – September 27, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She was the female lead in the 1950s TV series '' Topper''. Career Jeffreys was born Annie Jeffreys Carmichael on Janu ...

and

Walter Slezak Walter Slezak (; 3 May 1902 – 21 April 1983) was an Austrian-born film and stage actor active between 1922 and 1976. He mainly appeared in German films before migrating to the United States in 1930 and performing in numerous Hollywood productio ...

. It was directed by

Ted Tetzlaff Ted Dale Tetzlaff (born Dale Herbert Tetzlaff; June 3, 1903 – January 7, 1995) was an American Academy Award-nominated cinematographer active in the 1930s and 1940s. Career Tetzlaff was particularly favored by the actress Carole Lombard, whom ...

, who later directed '' The Window'' (1949) and worked as a

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

for over 100 films, including

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

's '' Notorious'' (1946). The music was composed by

Roy Webb Royden Denslow Webb (October 3, 1888 – December 10, 1982) was an American film music composer. One of the charter members of ASCAP, Webb has hundreds of film music credits to his name, mainly with RKO Pictures. He is best known for film noir and ...

and Joan Whitney.

Plot

During a storm in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, a

cargo plane A cargo aircraft (also known as freight aircraft, freighter, airlifter or cargo jet) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft generally feature one or more large door ...

with two passengers leaves for

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Midflight, the co-pilot responds to an alarm that the plane's door is open. He finds just one passenger, Charles Hasso (Marc Krah), who insists he tried to stop the other passenger from jumping out the door. Hasso takes the dead man's briefcase through Panamanian customs, after briefly being questioned by Major Rues (

George Givot George David Givot (February 18, 1903 – June 7, 1984) was a Russian-born American comedian and actor on Broadway and in vaudeville, movies, television and radio. He was known for speaking in a comedic fake Greek dialect and was styled the "Gr ...

) of the police. Hasso hires private investigator Dan Hammer ( Pat O'Brien) as his bodyguard for two days. While Hammer is changing, Hasso surreptitiously clips a map from the stolen briefcase to Hammer's

room divider In a building or a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure. The entrance connects it to either a passageway, another room, or the outdoors. The space is ...

. Meanwhile, oil executive Walter Gredson (

Jerome Cowan Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early years Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Pal ...

) calls Hammer to ask for a meeting. Gredson was expecting a man from Peru to arrive with a map of wildcat oil wells in Peru. Since the man jumped from the plane, Gredson suspects the other passenger has the map. He contracts Hammer for $5,000 to find Hasso and the map. At a nightclub, Maxine Manning (

) plays for Hammer's attention. He invites her to come by his office after work. Artist Eric Molinar (

) tries to hire him as a guide, but Hammer declines. Hammer visits Hasso's hotel and finds him dead in the bathtub. He heads back to his office, only to find it ransacked and Maxine unconscious. Molinar stops by, and Hammer deduces he is the one who trashed the office looking for the map. In the morning, Maxine visits Gredson who promises the map will make them rich enough to do whatever they want. He asks Maxine to keep on surveilling Hammer. Molinar returns to Hammer's office with two heavies and idly sketches the neighborhood while they beat the detective. Hammer has no idea where the map is. Molinar and his thugs visit Gredson. Maxine calls to say the map is at Hammer's office. Gredson is murdered by Molinar's men. When they arrive back at Hammer's office, he fights for his life with Maxine's help. During the melee, Molinar spots the map and runs off with it. Hammer subdues the thugs and tells Maxine to call the police. While Molinar is circuitously driven through the streets in Pop's (

Percy Kilbride Percy William Kilbride (July 16, 1888 – December 11, 1964) was an American character actor. He made a career of playing country "hicks," most memorably as Pa Kettle in the '' Ma and Pa Kettle'' series of feature films. Early life Kilbride wa ...

) ancient taxi, Hammer pursues him on foot. Pop convinces Molinar the airport will be surveilled and that he should hide out in town for a few days before lamming. Pop takes Molinar to a building and tells him to go in through the back entrance. Hammer follows Molinar into the building and slugs him only to realize he is in Major Rues' office. Hammer takes the map out of Molinar's pocket and leaves him in police custody. Back at his office, Hammer sells the map to Gredson's colleague at the oil company and happily reunites with Maxine.

Cast

* Pat O'Brien as Dan Hammer *

as Maxine Manning *

as Eric Molinar *

as Pop *

as Walter Gredson *

as Major Rues * Jason Robards Sr. as Mr. Domingues * Marc Krah as Charles Hasso *

Fred Essler Fred Essler (born Fritz Essler; 13 February 1895 – 17 January 1973) was an American actor. He worked film, television and on stage. He was born Fritz Essler, on 13 February 1895 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, (now Austria); and, died on, 17 Janu ...

as Hernandez *

William Alland William Alland (March 4, 1916 – November 11, 1997) was an American actor, film producer and writer, mainly of Western and science-fiction/monster films, including '' This Island Earth'', ''It Came From Outer Space'', '' Tarantula!'', '' The D ...

as Trumpy * Hector V. Sarno as Pedro, Concierge *

Julian Rivero Julian Rivero (July 25, 1890 – February 24, 1976) was an American actor whose career spanned seven decades. He made his film debut in the 1923 silent melodrama, '' The Bright Shawl'', which starred Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish, Will ...

as Airport Manager

Production

The film was based on an original screenplay by

Martin Rackin Martin Rackin (31 July 1918 – 15 April 1976) was an American writer and producer who was briefly head of production at Paramount Pictures from 1960 to 1964. In the late 1950s he wrote and produced a series of films with actor Alan Ladd. Ri ...

. It was known first as ''The Big Angle'' and was bought by RKO in February 1946. Rackin had previously written two films for Pat O'Brien at RKO, '' Bombadier'' and ''

Marine Raiders The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry warfare. Despite the original intent for Raiders to serve ...

'', and he was attached to the project from the start. Rackin reportedly wrote the story while serving in the air force. By May the title had been changed to ''Riff-Raff'' and Walter Slezak was signed to support. At one stage the film was known as ''The Amazing Mr Hammer''. Cinematographer Ted Tezlaff had started directing motion pictures before serving in World War II. When he returned to Hollywood he shot a number of films for RKO as cinematographer but he wanted to return to directing. Producer Jack Gross assigned him to direct ''Riffraff'', although it meant Tetzlaff took a salary cut to get the job.

Reception

The ''Los Angeles Times'' said "someone took pains to make it hang together pretty well" and that O'Brien "plays his part with casual skill". The ''New York Times'' said it "only emerges a notch above the run-of-the-murder adventure despite a thoroughly engrossing beginning and some crisp dialogue." Arthur Lyons called the wordless opening sequence "one of filmdom's absolute classic beginnings". Lyons, Arthur. ''Death on the Cheap: The Lost B Movies of Film Noir''.

Da Capo Press Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional offi ...

, 2000. 132.

References

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
review of film
at ''Variety'' {{Ted Tetzlaff 1947 films 1940s adventure drama films American adventure drama films American black-and-white films Film noir Films scored by Roy Webb Films directed by Ted Tetzlaff Films set in Panama RKO Pictures films 1947 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language adventure drama films

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

References

External links