The Undercover Woman
Cast & Crew
Thomas Carr
Stephanie Bachelor
Robert Livingston
Richard Fraser
Isabel Withers
Helene Heigh
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Marcia Conroy, a San Francisco-based private investigator, and her assistant, Penny Davis, are en route to the Ghost Town dude ranch in the Western wilderness when their automobile suffers a blowout. While looking for help, Marcia finds a deserted ranch house and enters it through an unlocked door. In the living room, she finds bookshelves filled with murder mysteries and true crime stories, and a picture of the ranch's owner. Penny and Marcia become more interested in the owner when they realize that the pictured man matches the description of outlaw "Blackie" Anderson, a wanted fugitive. After leaving their broken-down car at the ranch, the two detectives borrow a car parked in front of the ranch. However, a local cowboy sees the car from a distance and reports the apparent car theft to Sheriff Don Long. Soon after Marcia and Penny arrive at the dude ranch, Laura Vixon, their socialite hostess, tells them that she is seeking a divorce from her philandering, fortune-hunting husband Gregory, who has been having an affair with a woman named Juanita Gillette. Laura asks Marcia to obtain the evidence she needs for a divorce, and though Marcia prefers conducting more sophisticated investigations, she reluctantly accepts the assignment. Before beginning their sleuthing, however, Marcia and Penny tell Long that they have found Blackie's hideout. Long, who knows that the ranch house that the two women have described is his own, decides to play along with their adventure and takes them there himself. While the sheriff pretends to be fighting off the notorious fugitive in the living room, Marcia and Penny discover evidence in the kitchen indicating that the house belongs to Long. The detectives then turn the hoax into their own fun when they entice the sheriff into a closet and lock him inside. After escaping from the closet, Long locates Marcia at the dude ranch, and a romance quickly develops between the two. One night, Marcia overhears Juanita tell Gregory that she is expecting a quick divorce from her jealous husband Simon. Though Gregory promises Juanita that he will divorce Laura, she later overhears him asking his wife for a reconciliation and becomes infuriated. That night, Gregory and Simon quarrel, and just as Simon is about to shoot Gregory, a shot rings out from a distance and Gregory is killed. Marcia and Long, hearing the gunshot, race to the scene of murder and examine the corpse. An investigation into the murder is begun, and Marcia and Long suspect Juanita until she offers a believable alibi. The detectives next suspect Lem Stone, a ranch hand who was brutally whipped by Gregory, but when Lem is found murdered a short time later, suspicion is cast upon Simon. When Marcia sets a trap to snare the killer, she and others are shocked to discover that the killer is dude ranch owner Mrs. Grey. Grey confesses that she killed Gregory to avenge the death of her daughter, who killed herself when Gregory spurned her love, and that she later killed Lem because he had seen her murder Gregory. With the murderer identified, Marcia and Long close their investigation and seal their love with a kiss.
Director
Thomas Carr
Cast
Stephanie Bachelor
Robert Livingston
Richard Fraser
Isabel Withers
Helene Heigh
Edythe Elliott
John Dehner
Elaine Lange
Betty Blythe
Tom London
Larry Blake
John Carpenter
Crew
Rudolph E. Abel
Fred Allen
Hilyard Brown
Thomas A. Carman
Richard Cherwin
Bill Clark
Sherman L. Lowe
Howard Lydecker
Theodore Lydecker
Bob Mark
Enzo Martinelli
John Mccarthy Jr.
Robert Metzler
William J. O'sullivan
Adele Palmer
Lewis Physioc
Jerry Sackheim
Gordon Schaefer
Eddie Stein
Bud Thackery
Charles Thompson
Richard Tyler
Howard Wilson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Passkey to Danger. According to a November 13, 1945 Hollywood Reporter news item, some scenes in the picture were shot at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, CA.
