Red Light (1949)

The reunion between trucking tycoon John (George Raft) and his army chaplain brother is cut short when father-brother is plugged as revenge against brother John. The secret to the killer’s identity is apparently inside a missing hotel bible. John puts his business on hold to locate the bible and exact revenge. Virginia Mayo is brought in to assist with the search.

The movie plays out with Raft’s John obsessively getting closer to the bible while the presumed antagonists slowly reveal their hand. Many of the conventions of film-noir are dispensed with. There is no love interest nor femme fatal. And the religious subtext feels out of place. More on that later.

All-around nice guy Gene Lockhart plays John’s faithful company guy. Gene's daughter June recently turned one hundred. Our prime suspects include Raymond Burr, playing to type, and Harry Morgan playing opposite. Lucy’s wacky neighbor Fred Mertz (William Frawley) has a small role.

Based on a short story titled “This Guy Gideon”, it was renamed Red Light because the producer liked it better. I’m not really sure how the new title fits into the narrative. Revenge is bad, so stop? The religious overtones are a bit much, so much so that TCM host Eddie Muller joked that it could be called Biblical-noir. And the Virginia Mayo character was inserted as if they wanted a love interest element, without actually having one. Also, the brotherly love angle bordered on becoming a creepy folger’s commercial.

Red Light is a bit of a disappointment. The tone was almost there but it falls short. If you watch noir and wish there were more bibles in it, maybe this is for you. For me, however, AMRU 2.5.