This Gun For Hire (1942)

This Gun For Hire (1942) — one of the finest of the early film noirs out there — and the first to show off the mutual talents of Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd — is a classic of its kind, which much to interest the casual movie buff, the armchair semiotician, or anybody with an interest in the golden age of the silver screen.  

This classic film noir features a troubled protagonist, a strange mix of genres, and a mean streak that has you questioning its cruelty from the off.  

This Gun for Hire might be the title, in fact, but I would on occasion simply like to refer to it as Psychopaths of 1942 — because that is what it is like at times.  

The psychopath was fairly new to the cinema at this stage, and Alan Ladd here plays 'Raven', a pscyho that quickly turns to hero.

There are a handful of foreign agent films to refer to when trying to place This Gun for Hire in a firm historical context.  These are pictures that either concentrate on or combine the idea of war-effort with their criminal thrust — such as Foreign Correspondent (1940) — Foreign Agent (1942) — Saboteur (1942) — Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) — Invisible Agent (1942) — The Fallen Sparrow (1943) — and Ministry of Fear (1944). 

A handy list of the spy films of the 1940s is available at flickchart.com, and it is little wonder that given the world had gone back to war, and that technology had moved from tanks, trenches and gas, to aeroplanes and atoms, that espionage was much on the military and public mind.  

The Evils of Big Business - the 'NITRO' Corporation in This Gun For Hire (1942)

 

Here then, in This Gun For Hire, we have a blend of stuff we do understand — domestic crime coupled with musical numbers and some pretty familiar hoods, with some more slightly unusual elements — psychopathy, the evils of big business and the international threat arising from top secrets going astray.

Veronica Lake, tied up and tiny in This Gun For Hire (1942)

Sometimes I fear that of all the violence we see on our screens today began in the early 1940s, because things got nasty in certain places.  It was not the norm in its day to see such callous cruelty on screen, and if the psychopathic Raven (Alan Ladd) had a precursor, it was in the horror films of the previous decade, and more likely still, those from Europe. 

The psychopath, who is common on our screens today, was not such a well-known personage in the 1940s, and if there is any outstanding oddity to his appearance in This Gun For Hire, it is the example of his being drawn to the felines.  It’s strange but true — Alan Ladd as Raven is the killer, yes, but he is the killer with the cat.  At the top of the film we see him in action, loving the cat and treating the landlady with sudden and obscene cruelty.

Film Noir Elements: Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, the hat, the gun . . . . and the cat

There is little to say about Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd that hasn’t been said elsewhere, but this duo are simply incredible in This Gun For Hire — they make one of these cinematic pairings that are immortal, and will be worth watching for all time.  

Whereas the story and the setting, the themes and the dialogue will all go out of date, Veronica Lake’s beauty and style will be unlikely to fade, and then there is the chemistry — the fatal chemistry — which you can only enjoy when you see a couple like Lake and Alan Ladd perform.  In one sense you are watching something outdated and old — and yet their acting is fresh, and stands the test of time, as the cliché has it.

Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in This Gun for Hire (1942)

Graham Greene must not be overlooked as another star of the piece, as this was very much his era.  Of all the writers of the day, few were more successful as both novelists and as film writers  as was Graham Greene, who found a natural second home on the screen.   Greene always seemed to have an insider’s knowledge of the issues, and he traversed the globe with ease, writing about many different environments, tackling comedy, crime, revenge stories, and of course spy stories like this one.

In the 1940s, however, the panacea for escape from the horror and weariness of the war years was provided by film musicals and their elaborate production numbers, simplistic plots, and music.  Of course musicals were one of the great staples of the period, and there are two musical numbers in This Gun For Hire — the excellent magical act musical number — and later, an extremely fishy black rubber musical spot for Veronica Lake, which is quite strange and doesn’t quite hit the mark, although doubtless her costume would have raised a few peckers.

"One moment, instead of her heart, the Ace of Spades is there."

The lethal combination of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake was first discovered in This Gun For Hire.  Alan Ladd, in his first lead role, is ruthless, vengeful and unsmiling and works for a pair of double-crossers who are both selling secrets to the Japanese.  

Veronica Lake also came into her own here, although she was already well-known, at least as a wartime pinup, and she plays an extremely rounded character who is a showgirl, singer, magician, hostage and also a federal agent.  

It is a weird set of talents and roles she adopts, as she assumes the mantle of both heroine and victim at various times, while cramming in chanteuse, sex symbol, assertive female and magician as she sweeps away the viewer with one of the most consummate performances of the decade.

Heavy Duty Paranoia in This Gun For Hire (1942)

As a story of political corruption and murder, this Graham Greene story was similar in part Stuart Heisler's The Glass Key (1942), which Lake and Ladd also starred in for Paramount Studios, which was a Dashiell Hammett adaptation.  

The popular noir couple also starred in George Marshall's post-war crime thriller The Blue Dahlia (1946), with an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Raymond Chandler — and this was the only work Chandler ever wrote directly for the screen.   But their chemistry was and always appears to be dynamite, and it is probably at its best here.

Superlative Film Noir with Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
This Gun For Hire (1942)

Despite the intense promise, Veronica Lake did not survive Hollywood, and the worst thing she ever did was cut her hair.  Hollywood is and has always been cruel, and the price some have had to pay for their fame has been paid in alcoholism, heartbreak and the sort of long slow decline that is peculiar only to the movies.

Veronica Lake in a strange rubber outfit for a fishing number in This Gun For Hire (1942)

Here was one of the most talented women of the film noir era, who had a distinctive look and a quality that few actresses have ever been able to match, and sadly life fell apart for her, in part due to the sexist nature of the business, and the fact that all the studios could see for her was that one golden moment when she had charmed everybody.  After 1950 then came a  string of poorly conceived and received films, then television and obscurity, and she died in the early 1970s at the age of 53 from hepatitis.

Veronica Lake finished up in a strange film called Flesh Feast in 1970, in which she plays a deranged scientist who clones Hitler and a breed of flesh eating maggots, solely that she might throw the maggots in the face of the clone.  

It's not how I best remember Veronica Lake, although the clip here linked from Flesh Feast (1970) may be worth watching just to see how bad things really got.  Because they got bad . . .  real bad.

In looking for a fine example of what one may call The Cinema of the Disenchanted, another name perhaps for the film noir of the 1940s, one will be immensely entertained to discover This Gun For Hire (1942).

You'll not only find Veronica Lake singing, spying, loving and doing magic tricks, but a fascinating plot (by Graham Greene) which deals spies, lies and big business, all combined with a quiet and painless dose of wartime propaganda which thrills more than it lectures.

Although Alan Ladd plays a guy who's set out at the top of the film to be a thoroughly disturbing psychopath, things don't quite pan out that way.  

And of course what folks love the best about this emotionless killer, is his fondness for cats.

To top this off, here is a great Tumblr thread which holds a good many stills, bits and pieces and other fine images related to this winner of a film noir.

    Veronica Lake at WIKIPEDIA

    Alan Ladd at WIKIPEDIA

    This Gun for Hire at WIKIPEDIA

This Gun For Hire (1942) on Tumblr

Full article on This Gun For Hire (1942) on Classic Film Noir

 

This Gun For Hire (1942) — one of the finest of the early film noirs — and the first to profile the mutual talents of Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd — is a film noir to the core.

This classic film noir features a troubled protagonist, a strange mix of genres, and a mean streak that has you questioning the picture's cruelty from the off.

This Gun for Hire might be the title, in fact, but I would on occasion simply like to refer to it as Psychopaths of 1942 — because that is what it is like at times.

There are a handful of foreign agent films to refer to when trying to place This Gun for Hire in a firm historical context.

These are pictures that either concentrate on or combine the idea of war-effort with their criminal thrust — such as Foreign Correspondent (1940) — Foreign Agent (1942) — Saboteur (1942) — Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) — Invisible Agent (1942) — The Fallen Sparrow (1943) — and Ministry of Fear (1944).

A handy list of the spy films of the 1940s is available at flickchart.com, and it is little wonder that given the world had gone back to war, and that technology had moved from tanks, trenches and gas, to aeroplanes and atoms, that espionage was much on the military and public mind.

Here then, in This Gun For Hire, we have a blend of stuff which we do understand — domestic crime coupled with musical numbers and some pretty familiar hoods — combined with some more slightly unusual elements — psychopathy, the evils of big business and the international threat arising from top secrets going astray.
 

Perhaps  the violence we see on our screens today began in this era, the early 1940s, because things got nasty in certain places.

It was not the norm in its day to see such callous cruelty on screen, and if the psychopathic Raven (Alan Ladd) had a precursor, it was in the horror films of the previous decade, and more likely still, those from Europe.  

The psychopath, who is common on our screens today, was not such a well-known personage in the 1940s, and if there is any outstanding oddity to his appearance in This Gun For Hire, it is the example of his being drawn to the felines.  It’s strange but true — Alan Ladd as Raven is the killer, yes, but he is the killer with the cat.

Veronica Lake in Rubber Suit for a Fishing Song in This Gun For Hire

“One moment, instead of her heart, the Ace of Spades is there.”

The lethal combination of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake was first discovered in This Gun For Hire.

Alan Ladd, in his first lead role, is ruthless, vengeful and unsmiling and works for a pair of double-crossers who are both selling secrets to the Japanese.

Tiny Veronica, tied up

Veronica Lake also came into her own here, although she was already well-known, at least as a wartime pinup, and she plays an extremely rounded character who is a showgirl, singer, magician, hostage and also a federal agent.

It is a weird set of talents and roles she adopts, as she assumes the mantle of both heroine and victim at various times, while cramming in chanteuse, sex symbol, assertive female and magician as she sweeps away the viewer with one of the most consummate performances of the decade.

As a story of political corruption and murder, this Graham Greene story was similar in part Stuart Heisler's The Glass Key (1942), which Lake and Ladd also starred in for Paramount Studios , which was a Dashiell Hammett adaptation.  The popular noir couple also starred in George Marshall's post-war crime thriller The Blue Dahlia (1946), with an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Raymond Chandler — and this was the only work Chandler ever wrote directly for the screen.

But their chemistry was and always appears to be dynamite, and it is probably at its best here.

Superlative Film Noir

Despite the intense promise, Veronica Lake did not survive Hollywood, and the worst thing she ever did was cut her hair.  Hollywood is and has always been cruel, and the price some have had to pay for their fame has been dollared-out in alcoholism, heartbreak and the sort of long slow decline that is peculiar only to the movies.

Here was one of the most talented women of the film noir era, who had a distinctive look and a quality that few actresses have ever been able to match, and sadly life fell apart for her, in part due to the nature of the business, and the fact that all the studios could see for her was that one golden moment when she had charmed everybody.

After 1950 then came a  string of poorly conceived and received films, then television and obscurity, and she died in the early 1970s at the age of 53 from hepatitis.

Hang on in there, Veronica Lake!

Film Noir Elements: Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, the hat, the gun . . . . and the cat

There is little to say about Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd that hasn’t been said elsewhere, but they are simply incredible in This Gun For Hire — they make one of these cinematic pairings that are truly immortal, and will be worth watching for all time.

Whereas the story and the setting, the themes and the dialogue will all go out of date, Veronica Lake’s beauty and style will be unlikely to fade, and then there is the chemistry — the fatal chemistry — which you can only enjoy when you see a couple like Lake and Alan Ladd perform.  In one sense you are watching something outdated and old — and yet their acting is fresh, and stands the test of time, as the cliché has it.

 Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in This Gun for Hire (1942)

Graham Greene must not be overlooked as another star of the piece, as this was very much his era.  Of all the writers of the day, few were more successful as both novelists and as film writers  as was Graham Greene, who found a natural second home on the screen.   Greene always seemed to have an insider’s knowledge of the issues, and he traversed the globe with ease, writing about many different environments, tackling comedy, crime, revenge stories, and of course spy stories like this one.

In the 1940s, however, the panacea for escape from the horror and weariness of the war years was provided by film musicals and their elaborate production numbers, simplistic plots, and music.  Of course musicals were one of the great staples of the period, and there are two musical numbers in This Gun For Hire — the excellent magical act musical number — and later, an extremely fishy black rubber musical spot for Veronica Lake, which is quite strange and doesn’t quite hit the mark, although doubtless her costume would have raised a few peckers.

Veronica Lake finished up in a strange film called Flesh Feast in 1970, in which she plays a deranged scientist who clones Hitler and a breed of flesh eating maggots, solely that she might throw the maggots in the face of the clone.

It's not how to best remember Veronica Lake, although the clip may be worth watching just to see how bad things really got.

Because they got bad . . .  real bad.