April Stevens (of the "Nino & April" duo) has her musical moment singing in this film's telethon segment.
After seeing The Big Heat, this movie is charmingly tame, but once you become a fan of the noir genre (and its sub-genre, the BIG noir), this is a fine addition.
It also confronts the morality of a shield law. Does a journalist have a right to protect his source of information? This issue remains current -- what of the journalists who reported on, and thus endangered, Valerie Plame, and refused to reveal their source?
The character that Mr. Conte plays grapples with temptations in a moderately believable way, and not necessarily admirably... The script could have given him more to do and more of a life, too. In the end he's a gullible victim, a cog in the big script wheel.
There is an update here regarding Quentin Tarrantino's rehabilitation tour for Robert Blake. He brought along his print of The Purple Gang (1959), which, along with The Big Tip-Off, is another of the 100 movies directed (without distinction?) by Frank McDonald.
The Purple Gang is pretty good and a great role for Mr. Blake. The Black and White photography in the Big Tip Off is pretty beautiful.
After seeing The Big Heat, this movie is charmingly tame, but once you become a fan of the noir genre (and its sub-genre, the BIG noir), this is a fine addition.
It also confronts the morality of a shield law. Does a journalist have a right to protect his source of information? This issue remains current -- what of the journalists who reported on, and thus endangered, Valerie Plame, and refused to reveal their source?
The character that Mr. Conte plays grapples with temptations in a moderately believable way, and not necessarily admirably... The script could have given him more to do and more of a life, too. In the end he's a gullible victim, a cog in the big script wheel.
There is an update here regarding Quentin Tarrantino's rehabilitation tour for Robert Blake. He brought along his print of The Purple Gang (1959), which, along with The Big Tip-Off, is another of the 100 movies directed (without distinction?) by Frank McDonald.
The Purple Gang is pretty good and a great role for Mr. Blake. The Black and White photography in the Big Tip Off is pretty beautiful.