Scene of the Crime (1949)

Directed by

Roy Rowland

Genre

drama film, film noir, crime film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 34m

Rating

6.1 of 10 from 23 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A police detective investigates a murder and uncovers a network of organized crime. He works through a series of leads and suspects to bring the criminals to justice.

grittytenseproceduralrealisticnoirishearneststraightforward

What happens

Scene of the Crime is a 1949 American police procedural directed by Roy Rowland, starring Van Johnson, and featuring Gloria DeHaven, Arlene Dahl, and Tom Drake. The film's screenplay, by Charles Schnee, is based on a non-fiction article by John Bartlow Martin, "Smashing the Bookie Gang Marauders". It was the only property sold by Martin to be made into a film. Scene of the Crime was producer Harry Rapf's last film of his thirty-plus year career; he died of a heart attack a week after principal photography for the film began. According to film critic Dennis Schwartz: "[The film is one of the] few film noirs attempted by MGM. It came when Dore Schary was the studio head and insisted on producing more realistic films. This is a transitional film from the 1930s gangster film and a forerunner of the modern day TV cop show. It preaches the credo that 'Crime Does Not Pay'." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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