Decent little B from RKO, an early work by director Richard Fleischer and screen credit from Robert Altman ("co story" - during his first Hollywood stint I believe). It casts Lawrence Tierney in a more traditionally sympathetic tough guy part - a cop who quits his job, is hired as a bodyguard and winds up framed for murder.
I'm not sure Tierney had the stuff for a proper A league star - he's fine, has some presence, that odd Cagney like dialogue delivery. Mind you, there were plenty worse. And he does seem tough.
His love interest here is played by Priscilla Lane, who is always nice to see -she tends to give the same performance (a sweet devoted thing) but to be fair she was always asked to give that performance. She does soften up Tierney.
The best scene is one in an eye doctor. Actually there's a fresh one in a meat packing plant too (apparently a contribution of Robert Altman who provided the story with George W George... they also worked on the film Christmas Eve).
It's only 60 minutes, well directed from Fleischer, solid support cast. Philip Terry is an ideal antagonist. I liked the old lady.
It's a shame they didn't get Tierney's character to actually do some bodyguarding - there's very little of the title job in the film. But I enjoyed it.
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