SHED NO TEARS

Hardboiled: June Vincent

SHED NO TEARS (1948). Director: Jean Yarbrough.

With the help of his wife, Edna (June Vincent of The Creeper), Sam Grover (Wallace Ford) cooks up a scheme to fake his own death. He plans to meet up with Edna after she gets the insurance money, but doesn't realize that she really plans to run away with her lover, Ray (Mark Roberts of The Brothers Brannagan). But Edna doesn't reckon with Tom (Dick Hogan), Sam's son from his first marriage, who is convinced that his father was murdered. Another complication is the annoying presence of Huntington Stewart (Johnstone White of Anything for a Thrill), a private eye hired by Tom who really has only his own interests at heart. Shed No Tears is a twisty, suspenseful, and mostly unpredictable crime drama and borderline film noir (this has a femme fatale but no real hero) that boasts a sharp, outstanding performance by June Vincent, an excellent and unheralded actress who gets across her character's venality without ever once resorting to chewing the scenery. Johnstone White, who was introduced in this film (after actually appearing in several earlier productions), is also quite good and has a terrific scene with Vincent when he first confronts her with his suspicions. It may have been hoped that White would develop the kind of career enjoyed by Clifton Webb -- he's similarly florid -- but he had only a few credits. Dick Hogan has an appealing face and manner but his performance is only adequate; two years later he played the murder victim in Hitchcock's Rope, his last feature film appearance. Wallace Ford is acceptable but perfunctory in the key role of Sam Grover; he was much better in The Breaking Point. Frank Albertson is fine as a police detective who investigates Grover's death. June Vincent amassed 110 credits, many of which were on TV in her later years.

Verdict: Fast-paced, intriguing, and snappy crime meller. ***. 

ANYTHING FOR A THRILL

Brothers: Kane Richmond and Frankie Darro

ANYTHING FOR A THRILL (1937). Director: Leslie Goodwins.

"Sometimes I think you're next to an idiot."

Newsreel photographer Cliff Mallory (Kane Richmond) is told by his boss, Collins (Edward Hearn), to get some footage of pretty heiress Betty Kelley (Ann Evers) or else. Apparently Miss Kelley has an aversion to having her picture taken by anyone, including Cliff and his younger brother, Dan (Frankie Darro). Dan has a sort of girlfriend named Jean (June Johnson), and Betty is engaged to a suave lowlife named Albert (Johnstone White), who is only hoping to get money out of her. The crap hits the fan when the Mallory brothers do manage to  get Betty on film, and she retaliates ... Anything for a Thrill is one of a number of cheap movies [such as Tough To Handle] starring Richmond and Darro as brothers, or student and mentor, and this one is about average. The screenplay is not terrible, just minor-league, with characters that are not much developed beyond stereotypes. Darro is as good as usual, while Richmond, a handsome serial star [Haunted Harbor] with a pleasing presence, is more than competent but not exactly a gifted comedian. Ann Evers makes an impression as the heiress, but squeaky-voiced June Johnson is as grating as she is "cute;" neither actress had that many credits. Edward Hearn and Darro also appeared together in The Vanishing Legion serial.

Verdict: Darro is generally superior to his material. **.