After borrowing $20 from his employer's cash register, an auto mechanic is plunged into a series of increasingly disastrous circumstances which rapidly spiral out of his control.

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Dan
...
...
...
Nick
...
Art Smith ...
Mackey
Wally Cassell ...
Chuck
...
Lt. Nelson
Patsy O'Connor ...
Millie
...
Moriarity
...
Sidney Marion ...
Shorty
...
Buzz (as Jimmy Dodd)
...
Baldy
Kitty O'Neil ...
Madame Zaronga
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Storyline

Motor mechanic Dan Brady lacks funds for a heavy date with new waitress Vera, the type whose life's ambition is a fur coat; so he embezzles twenty dollars from his employer. To make up the shortage, he goes in debt for a hundred. Thereafter, every means he tries to get out of trouble only gets him deeper into crime, while everyone he meets is out for what they can get. Written by Rod Crawford <[email protected]>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

This is the story of a nice guy who borrows $20 from a cash register to keep a date... with a cop... and a killer! See more »


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Details

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Release Date:

24 March 1950 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Sables mouvants  »

Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Ava Gardner and Jean Wallace were considered for this film. See more »

Quotes

Daniel 'Dan' Brady: I had the right girl all along and I didn't know it.
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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Mouth (2008) See more »

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User Reviews

 
Always liked narrated films best
22 September 2005 | by (san ramon ca) – See all my reviews

Good crime noir story with a highly energetic(what's new?) Mickey Rooney in the lead role. He also narrated the film and tied together well all loose ends. Great Santa Monica Pier chase scene at the end with a well conditioned Rooney doing all his own stunts. Top camera-work in B&W, with all the light and shadows of great noir. Peter Lorre was his terrific evil, slimy self in a small role, and Jimmy Cagney's sister Jeanne was stiffly effective as Rooney's self-centered girlfriend.

Not a wasted second in the action, and it moves along at breakneck speed as Rooney plays this 40s-50's typical noir morality tale of how criminals typically go from the first petty crime all the way to the worst crimes and finally end up in prison, but always have nice girls waiting for them when they get out.

Interesting to note that almost all his crimes were witnessed, and had the cops on him almost before he finished committing them. Not quite the case in the real world as "nobody sees anything" today and most crimes go unsolved. Don't you wish all crimes were so easily solved as in this film? It would be a very different world than the one we have.


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