George Raft stars in the 1949 "Red Light" with Virginia Mayo, Raymond Burr, Gene Lockhart, Arthur Franz, and a host of other familiar faces.
Raft plays Johnny Torno, the head of the Torno Freight Company. When he caught Nick Cherney (Burr) embezzling from him, he had him put in prison.
When Johnny's brother Jess, an army chaplain, is discharged, Nick sees a chance to get back at Johnny, who adores his brother. Jess is found dying in a hotel room, and all he can say to Johnny is, "Bible...in the Bible." Johnny believes that Jess means his own Bible. Eventually he realizes he meant the Gideon Bible in his hotel room. But the Gideon Bible is missing by the time Johnny gets back there.
Johnny sets out to find the Bible by tracking down anyone who had stayed in the room since Jess, determined to find out who killed his brother and killing the murderer himself.
The Bible plays an important part in the film, not just the physical Bible, but what's inside. And it isn't what Johnny thinks.
I really liked this movie because of its interesting slant, and also, I don't know what it is, but I like George Raft. He normally stays in one range - he's dapper, he gets angry, he's tough -- and in this film, he's really tough. I mean, nobody gets to him, not even a blind man! One thing Raft had on screen was warmth, and here, you see Johnny's love for Jess, and his pain when his brother dies.
The other thing about this movie that is wonderful is all the familiar faces - besides actors known primarily for films: Raft, Mayo, and Lockhart, we have TV star Burr, Harry Morgan (September Bride, Pete & Gladys, MASH), William Frawley (I Love Lucy), Victor Sen Young (Charlie Chan, Bonanza), Barton MacLane (I Dream of Jeannie), Arthur Franz, who was in everything, Philip Pine, who must have done every TV show ever, Ken Murray, known for his home movies of celebrities, Paul Frees, the "Man of a Thousand Voices" who was the voice of Boris on Rocky the Squirrel), Bob Jellison (Bobby the Bellboy when "I Love Lucy" was in Hollywood), and Marlon Brando's first wife Movita.
Dmitri Tiomkin's music ranges from riffs on Ave Maria, Dies Irae, and some Tosca thrown in. Good movie.
