Big Town After Dark
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
William C. Thomas
Philip Reed
Hillary Brooke
Richard Travis
Anne Gillis
Vince Barnett
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After selling her novel, police reporter Lorelei Kilbourne, who has become disillusioned with her managing editor, Steve Wilson, quits her job at Big Town's Illustrated Press newspaper and bids farewell to her co-workers. A new reporter must be found to replace Lorelei, but Amos Peabody, the inneffectual owner of the paper, does not want to hire his niece, Susan Peabody, who is trying desperately to get the job. Although Peabody asks Wilson to interview Susan and discourage her from quitting college, Steve defies Amos's request and hires her to make Lorelei jealous. Steve soon becomes enamored of Susan and takes her out to dinner, after which she takes him to the Winners Club gambling hall to persuade him to join her in her crusade to close down all the gambling clubs in the city. Inside the club, owner Chuck LaRue sends one of his men to provoke a fight with Steve. The fight lands Steve in the club's back room, where he is again roughed up by LaRue's men. When he regains consciousness the following day, Steve finds himself in a hospital. Susan, meanwhile, has not shown up for work and is thought to be missing until her car is found in a vacant lot outside Big Town. Kidnapping is suspected, and Peabody, immediately assuming that LaRue is responsible, arranges a meeting with him to discuss a ransom payment. LaRue is arrested shortly after urging Peabody to buy stock in the Winners Club, which Peabody interprets as a ransom demand, but the district attorney is unable to make a case against him as LaRue's company proves to be a legitimate one and he never admitted to the kidnapping. LaRue is eventually released when Susan shows up at the office and confirms that she was not kidnapped. Lorelei, however, is suspicious of Susan and her alibi, especially when she finds out that Susan lied about her college newspaper experience. Lorelei soon succeeds in proving that Susan lied about her whereabouts on the night of her disappearance, a fact supported by private investigator Louis Sneed, who reports to Lorelei that he saw LaRue leaving Susan's house. Susan, who is actually LaRue's wife, lies to Steve about her visitor and tells him that the man was Jake Sebastian, her college boyfriend, who tried to convince her to get out of the gambling racket. Later, unaware that Steve already knows the address, LaRue invites him to meet him at Susan's apartment to discuss Steve's planned newspaper story about the club. Susan's relationship to LaRue becomes evident to Steve when LaRue accuses Jake, his best friend, of having an affair with Susan. LaRue shoots Jake in the presence of Steve, who is about to become his next victim when Louis and the police burst into the apartment and rescue him. When Lorelei learns that the paper's story about the gambling racket will result in the closure of all gambling halls in the city, her faith in Steve is restored and she rescinds her resignation.
Director
William C. Thomas
Cast
Philip Reed
Hillary Brooke
Richard Travis
Anne Gillis
Vince Barnett
Joe Sawyer
Douglas Blackley
Charles Arnt
Joe Allen Jr.
William Haade
Arthur Space
Dick Keene
Sumner Getchell
Crew
Darrell Calker
Ellis W. Carter
Whitman Chambers
Max Hutchinson
Alfred Kegerris
Nat Merman
William H. Pine
Howard Smith
F. Paul Sylos
William C. Thomas
Glenn [p.] Thompson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was the third of four pictures in Paramount's "Big Town" series. For additional information on the series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry above for Big Town.
