SunnyHello Nice effects though.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Scott LeBrun Alan Ladd is one cool customer in the role that officially introduced him. He plays Raven, an underworld hit-man who's double crossed by a treasonous client, who pays him with stolen money. Taking it on the lam, he hooks up with a sultry chanteuse, Ellen Graham (the absolutely stunning Veronica Lake). She does warm up to him after a while, and tries to help him, although he's stubbornly determined to find his clients and exact some good old- fashioned revenge.Based on the novel by Graham Greene, this is a very effective and well told story. Directed with style by Frank Tuttle, it has an excellent forward momentum and gives all of the major players a real chance to shine. Hard boiled and bitter, Raven does reveal what makes him tick late in the game, and it humanizes a character who's very much the antihero at first. Ellen seizes upon this, hoping she can stir some sort of patriotism within a man with a well developed sense of selfishness. The filmmaking is first rate - the lighting, the editing, the scoring, everything.The acting is just right from this well chosen cast. Ladd is compelling in his star making performance, and it's hard to take your eyes off of Lake. Robert Preston has a less interesting role as a conventional sort of cop hero, but he makes the most of it. The sadly short lived Laird Cregar is a hoot as a sniveling weasel. Tully Marshall, Marc Lawrence, Olin Howland, Roger Imhof, Pamela Blake, and Frank Ferguson all make solid contributions.Essential viewing for any fan of the film noir genre.Eight out of 10.

Alex da Silva Alan Ladd (Raven) is a hired killer who carries out a job but is double crossed by his peppermint-munching businessman boss Laird Cregar (Gates). Once Ladd discovers the betrayal, he is determined to get even not only with Cregar but also with the man at the top Tully Marshall (Brewster). Meanwhile, magician singer Veronica Lake (Ellen) is on a secret assignment to spy on Cregar as he has come under suspicion from the US government of selling secrets to the enemy. She is charged with getting the dirt on him. Ladd and Lake stumble across each other and an unlikely alliance is formed. Lake has a boyfriend Robert Preston (Michael) who is a police officer and who is also involved in the chase but in a separate capacity.First of all, Alan Ladd should be credited with the lead role. Robert Preston - I don't think so!! The cast are uniformly good, in fact, Lake and Ladd are above average and Cregar is excellent as always. I'm not an Alan Ladd fan but this is definitely the best role I have seen him in so far. We see that Ladd has kind traits and the film touches on the psychology behind his character and so he is a likable bad guy. And the chemistry that he has with Veronica Lake definitely works. You'll be hoping they get together romantically by the end of the film. The film is stylishly shot and Lake gets to sing a couple of entertaining songs. The film is better than I thought it would turn out to be, especially after already seeing Ladd and Lake in "The Glass Key" and "The Blue Dahlia". This film is much better than those offerings.

GManfred "This Gun For Hire" is a really good noir picture, as well as a triumph for the vertically challenged. Its stars are pint-sized Alan Ladd and tiny Veronica Lake, who try to match wits with Laird Cregar, a huge guy who looks even bigger in scenes with either one of them.You can immediately tell it's a noir film, as Ladd is seen in his hotel room with no lights on (noir hotels always seem to have power problems), and wears a trench coat in most scenes. Ladd himself runs the gamut of emotions from A to B, and is alternately rude or scowling, sometimes both in the same scene. He is a pathological hit man who vows revenge on his employer (Cregar) when he discovers he has been paid off in marked bills. He forms an alliance with Lake, who works as a singer in Cregar's night club. See storyline for more details.It is a limited role for Ladd, who does not smile or evince a shred of humanity throughout the film, except that he likes cats. Veronica Lake is something of an acquired taste but comes off well in this peculiar, offbeat picture. The set design for Nitro, the company run by Tully Marshall (Cregar's boss), looks like a set left over from the Buck Rogers serial. But "This Gun For Hire" is eminently watchable and is a compelling and absorbing entry in the noir genre.

edwagreen By coincidence, the cop's girl gets involved with the mad-dog killer that he is pursuing. Alan Ladd is the killer, and by film's end you're given the liberal line about his poor upbringing and brutality that led to his life like this. Let's not forget that he gunned down a man and the woman who witnessed the murder in cold, ruthless blood. Stop the sympathy angle already.The fact that espionage is part of the story could have been made more interesting, but the writers chose that merely as a by-line. Too bad. Ladd is appealing, but the script basically isn't. How come Lake didn't have her hair covering her one-eye? She was known for that?