Review of The Weapon

This little second string effort from Republic Films was cunningly photographed in London after the Blitz, and there are echoes of The Third Man in much of the atmospherics, as a kid in the run from a crime he did not commit hides at night in crumbling ruins near the Thames, and hungry during the day, hires on for a ham sandwich in a warehouse gearing up for day traffic. The kid flushes out an actual murderer, and the two of them get wrapped up with the two Hollywood actors used for marquee bait, Lizabeth Scott and Steven Cochran, who do their best to make something of not much, with a romance budding in the ruins. Both actors manage well enough, though in their past each could be electrifying; poor Herbert Marshall walks through an uninspiring bit as an English inspector, and the screen does light up with the fascinating and lively appearance of Nicole Maurey as a "professional hostess." If you don't expect a lot of suspense built on logic and honest tension, but are happy with a tour of London at Night and some time with Hollywood Stars going through their paces. this is not a bad 78 minutes at the movies.