This Gun For Hire Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Alan Ladd -Small but Great

I’m fanatical about old black and white movies especially Film Noir types from the 40’s and this movie offering ticked all the right boxes for me.

Sure it was a little cheesy in parts, especially when Veronica Lake is doing a musical number dressed as a fisherman (‘fisherlady’?) and the ladies of the chorus are ladies dressed as mermaids but I was totally blown away by Alan Ladd’s performance as Raven – not Mr Raven I have to add, just Raven!

His character, a hired killer as you can probably guess was more complex than you usually see in films in this era. And from the opening scene where he tenderly looks after a kitten one moment, them slaps the cleaner in the kisser the next, you know t this is going to be different.

If you like Film Noir, you’ll love this! – add it to your list.

Early work of the great Alan Ladd

James Mason said the following about Alan Ladd, presumably referring to their work together in the apparently disappointing film of 1953, Botany Bay: “Having been fascinated by the Alan Ladd phenomenon, I now had an opportunity to study it at close quarters. It turned out that he had the exquisite coordination and rhythm of an athlete, which made it a pleasure to watch him when he was being at all physical.”

These characteristics of Ladd are shown very clearly in This Gun for Hire, more so, I think, than in The Blue Dahlia for example.