Veronica Lake! For a short time she was the most sultry and seductive actress in Hollywood. The glamour and allure was ephemeral. We're told she hit the bottle and developed a vicious demeanor making her impossible to work with. Even today, this action line still holds, though it is largely a deception. Yep, impossible to work with, but not for the reasons legend tells us. Drunk? Sure, as was most of Hollywood. A temper? Anything new here for anyone in that industry? No, Veronica Lake, a seemingly diminutive (four-feet-eleven) actress was anything but diminutive. The blonde babe refused to allow the powerbrokers to take advantage of her. She refused to let the Hollywood biggies make her do something she didn't want to do. Other young starlets freely allowed their own exploitation, and this is why Veronica Lake was passed over by an industry that owed her so much. Today we look at the first collaboration of Veronica Lake and Alan Ladd, 1942's "This Gun for Hire," directed by Frank Tuttle.
Raven (Ladd) is a psycho killer. He has no conscious nor ability to feel guilt. As the film opens he completes a contract killing of two seemingly innocent people. We next meet Ellen (Lake), a nightclub magician/singer clad in a shiny and slinky gown. We are seduced by her beauty, talent, and allure. Uh oh, Raven has been set-up by the creep who contracted the killing, Gates (Laird Cregar). Uh oh, again, we meet Ellen's BF, police lieutenant Crane (William Preston). They will be married. Now, running from the police, and Lt. Crane, Raven hops a train from San Francisco to LA to murder Gates. Ellen is on the tarin as Gates has hired her to perform in his nightclub. Now Gates is horrified. Raven is a monster and the cops were unable to arrest him. Gates knows Raven is coming after him. He also sees Ellen sitting next to Raven on the train and gets the wrong idea.
Once in LA, Raven sets to execute Ellen. Only a stroke of luck save Ellen. Oh, Ellen? Not just a pretty face. She is tasked with saving the world. World War 2 has just started and she is a secret agent, kind of, who needs to find out who is selling poison gas formula to the Japanese. Ellen can tell this to no one, but will need help nailing the traitor. Now Raven and Ellen are both in quests for justice. Ellen's justice could save so many American GIs and Raven's justice is twisted...but both seek justice, nonetheless. The relationship begun between Ellen and Raven is one of the most twisted, interesting, and complicated in all of film history. To do the divine, save America from Japan, Ellen must enlist the devil.
Will Ellen save the world from the Empire of the Sun, and herself from Raven? Will Raven have goodness infused into him by the angelic beauty with the voice of a nightingale and the deception of a magician? Even if Raven does not murder her, will Ellen be able to survive the evil traitors she is up against? This is one of the finest movies ever made and my very favorite Film Noir film. Veronica Lake, despite what the ignorant assert, never embarrassed herself in films, and someday the definitive biography of her will come out. To be seduced, mesmerized, and horrified, see "This Gun for Hire."
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