I Love Trouble was written by Roy Huggins based on his novel The Double Take. Huggins went on to become the writer/creator of such major TV series as Maverick, The Fugitive and The Rockford Files. One can tell there's some high quality dialogue in I Love Trouble, reminiscent of films based on Raymond Chandler novels. Most notable is the witty repartee between Huggins' protagonist private eye Stuart Bailey (Franchot Tone) and the various women he interacts with throughout the film.
Unfortunately (despite the great dialogue), I Love Trouble has all the trappings of a "B" potboiler due to a number of factors which have led me to slightly downgrade the film's overall rating.. First is the casting of Franchot Tone in the lead role. Tone is passable as the private eye tasked with investigating the sordid past of ambitious politician Ralph Johnston's (Tom Powers) wife but the film would have been much better had a cynical Dick Powell or a hard-edged Bogart been cast in the role.
Another major factor leading to the downgrade is the insufferable score which intrusively rears its ugly head throughout most of the picture. This is the type of music you would expect to hear watching Superman on television and not a high class private eye yarn. And finally there's the convoluted plot which I will attempt to decipher in the following paragraphs.
While on the trail of Mrs. Johnston (Lynn Merrick-whom we only see at the beginning of the film and later toward the end when she's found murdered), Bailey uncovers her sordid past in Portland where she apparently was married to Keller (Steven Geray), a nightclub owner, and ended up adopting the identity of another dancer at the nightclub, Jane Breeger, stole $40,000 from the club, then changed her name to Janie Joy and disappeared.
If that isn't complicated enough, Norma Shannon (Janet Blair) shows up looking for her long-lost sister, Janie Joy and doesn't recognize a picture Bailey has in his possession whom he believes is Joy. Soon enough we're introduced to Mrs. Caprillo (Janis Carter), married to the socially prominent John Vega Caprillo (Eduardo Ciannelli) who turns out to be the real Jane Breeger who used to work with Mrs. Johnston.
The Caprillos offer Bailey a bribe to drop his investigation, and at certain points Bailey is also being chased and eventually kidnapped and roughed up by some of Keller's henchmen (including John Ireland and Raymond Burr as two of Keller's goons). Apparently all of Bailey's opponents are trying to protect their reputations after being associated with the toxic Mrs. Johnston.
Along the way, a couple of people are murdered including Buster Buffin (Sid Tomack), an entertainer who used to work with Johnston's wife who was murdered as well. In the end, it turns out it was Johnston who murdered Buffin and his wife in order to protect his reputation.
Tone and Blair manage to have the best dialogue as the love interest sparks fly throughout. Like some of his Chandler's film adaptations and other examples of these kinds of potboilers, the lack of screen time for a major player (the murder victim, Mrs. Johnston)-without flashbacks-adds to the confusion in an already convoluted plot.
Nonetheless the aforementioned witty repartee throughout keeps our interest despite all the detriments including the less than stellar casting of Tone, the atrocious score and simply trying to figure out what's going on from beginning to end.
Unfortunately (despite the great dialogue), I Love Trouble has all the trappings of a "B" potboiler due to a number of factors which have led me to slightly downgrade the film's overall rating.. First is the casting of Franchot Tone in the lead role. Tone is passable as the private eye tasked with investigating the sordid past of ambitious politician Ralph Johnston's (Tom Powers) wife but the film would have been much better had a cynical Dick Powell or a hard-edged Bogart been cast in the role.
Another major factor leading to the downgrade is the insufferable score which intrusively rears its ugly head throughout most of the picture. This is the type of music you would expect to hear watching Superman on television and not a high class private eye yarn. And finally there's the convoluted plot which I will attempt to decipher in the following paragraphs.
While on the trail of Mrs. Johnston (Lynn Merrick-whom we only see at the beginning of the film and later toward the end when she's found murdered), Bailey uncovers her sordid past in Portland where she apparently was married to Keller (Steven Geray), a nightclub owner, and ended up adopting the identity of another dancer at the nightclub, Jane Breeger, stole $40,000 from the club, then changed her name to Janie Joy and disappeared.
If that isn't complicated enough, Norma Shannon (Janet Blair) shows up looking for her long-lost sister, Janie Joy and doesn't recognize a picture Bailey has in his possession whom he believes is Joy. Soon enough we're introduced to Mrs. Caprillo (Janis Carter), married to the socially prominent John Vega Caprillo (Eduardo Ciannelli) who turns out to be the real Jane Breeger who used to work with Mrs. Johnston.
The Caprillos offer Bailey a bribe to drop his investigation, and at certain points Bailey is also being chased and eventually kidnapped and roughed up by some of Keller's henchmen (including John Ireland and Raymond Burr as two of Keller's goons). Apparently all of Bailey's opponents are trying to protect their reputations after being associated with the toxic Mrs. Johnston.
Along the way, a couple of people are murdered including Buster Buffin (Sid Tomack), an entertainer who used to work with Johnston's wife who was murdered as well. In the end, it turns out it was Johnston who murdered Buffin and his wife in order to protect his reputation.
Tone and Blair manage to have the best dialogue as the love interest sparks fly throughout. Like some of his Chandler's film adaptations and other examples of these kinds of potboilers, the lack of screen time for a major player (the murder victim, Mrs. Johnston)-without flashbacks-adds to the confusion in an already convoluted plot.
Nonetheless the aforementioned witty repartee throughout keeps our interest despite all the detriments including the less than stellar casting of Tone, the atrocious score and simply trying to figure out what's going on from beginning to end.