Chicago Deadline
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Lewis Allen
Alan Ladd
Donna Reed
June Havoc
Irene Hervey
Arthur Kennedy
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Chicago newspaper reporter Ed Adams happens to be in a seedy boardinghouse when the cleaning woman finds the body of tenant Rosita Jean d'Ur. Ed is drawn to Rosita's dark beauty and pockets her personal diary, in which she had recorded fifty-four names. Although the police declare that Rosita died from a tubercular hemorrhage, Ed's curiosity is piqued after he calls several of the people listed in her diary and none admits to knowing her. After being put off by tough-talking hoodlum Solly Wellman, G. G. Temple, the vice-president of a major trust company, and Belle Dorset, who is so frightened by his call that she immediately moves, Ed follows a lead to a party. There he meets Leona Purdy, a seductive blonde who once knew Rosita, but who fails to reveal anything about the deceased woman. While Ed dates Leona he continues his investigation of Rosita. Although his co-workers think Rosita was a "loose" woman, Ed believes that she was mistreated because she was compassionate, and grows increasingly suspicious of the circumstances surrounding her lonely death, especially after both Wellman and Temple threaten him. Rosita's brother, Tommy Ditman, finally comes forward and tells Ed about his once innocent sister: After the seventeen-year-old Rosita runs away from their Amarillo, Texas home, and goes to San Francisco, Tommy tracks her down and discovers that she has fallen in love with artist Paul Jean d'Ur. The couple marries and moves to New York. Tommy, who saw his beloved sister infrequently, informs Ed that Paul died in a car accident after their marriage went sour, and Rosita became lonely and bitter and had difficulty keeping a job. Gangster Blacky Franchot next contacts Ed and arranges to meet with him, but Blacky is shot before Ed arrives, and utters the words "I loved her" before he dies. Ed reports his findings to city editor Gribbe, who writes a sensationalized column about Rosita. Ed later meets with Leona, who reveals that she and Rosita once shared an apartment in the same building as Blacky, and recounts how her roommate became involved with him: Blacky ardently pursues a romance with Rosita, and although she is frightened of his connections to gangster Wellman, she eventually falls in love with Blacky. Rosita resists the persistent advances of Temple, whom she meets at a party, but returns home one night to find Blacky severely beaten, and they move to the countryside. However, when Blacky left Rosita, Leona explains to Ed, she returned to Chicago and started dating Temple, who later denies Ed's accusation that he ordered Blacky's beatings and had him run off. Ed slowly pieces together the bits of Rosita's life, despite interference from police detective Anstruder, who insists on accompanying Ed as he meets with invalid Hotspur Shaner, for whom Rosita worked as a housekeeper under an assumed name. When John Spingler, the man who introduced them, is reported murdered, Ed uses the distraction to escape from the police, and later learns from Rosita's former maid, Hazel, that Rosita left Temple one year earlier after a bitter argument in which Temple hit Rosita. As Ed leaves Hazel's building, he is knocked unconscious by two of Wellman's thugs. Ed awakens later in a junkyard and takes Leona to a boxing match featuring fighter Bat Bennett. Bat and his manager, Jerry Cavanaugh, were the last names to be listed in Rosita's book, under Hotspur's address. Before the fight, Ed finds Jerry and Bat arguing over the newspaper report of Rosita's death. After Bat leaves, Jerry reveals to Ed that Bat fell in love with Rosita while she was working for Hotspur: When Bat becomes distracted by Rosita, Jerry threatens to reveal her identity and hiding place to Wellman if she does not end the relationship. Rosita reluctantly consents and disappears after she quits working for Hotspur. Having heard that Wellman just killed Temple, whom Ed believes financed Wellman's rackets, Ed finds Belle, who admits that Wellman originally hired Spingler to murder Rosita, and never knew of Spingler's duplicity until he read the recent newspaper account of Rosita's death. When Wellman opens fire on Ed, the police come to his defense, but Wellman escapes. Ed, who was wounded, later sneaks out of a hospital with his co-worker Pig's help and questions Belle, who has been arrested. Belle reveals the missing link in Rosita's history: On the night of their argument, Temple admitted to Rosita, whom he was supporting, that he hired Wellman to get rid of Blacky. Temple struck Rosita during their argument and panicked when she appeared to be dead, and called for Wellman to help him. After Ed and Pig leave the jail, Wellman corners them in a parking garage, and Ed kills him in self-defense. At Rosita's small funeral, Ed gives Tommy his story, and then burns Rosita's diary in the funeral parlor's "eternal" flame.
Director
Lewis Allen
Cast
Alan Ladd
Donna Reed
June Havoc
Irene Hervey
Arthur Kennedy
Berry Kroeger
Harold Vermilyea
Shepperd Strudwick
Dave Willock
Gavin Muir
John Beal
Tom Powers
Howard Freeman
Paul Lees
Margaret Field
Harry Antrim
Roy Roberts
Marietta Canty
Celia Lovsky
Ottola Nesmith
Jack Overman
Clarence Straight
Dick Keene
Leona Roberts
Carole Mathews
Gordon Carveth
Laura Elliott
Paul Bryar
Jack Gargan
Douglas Carter
Phyllis Kennedy
Donald Wilmot
Jerry James
Eric Alden
Bill Meader
Charley Cooley
Hal Rand
Ralph Montgomery
Lyle Moraine
Douglas Spencer
Michael Brandon
Frances Sandford
Marie Blake
Joane Rexter
Robert Rexter
Joe Whitehead
Helen Chapman
Julia Faye
Pat Lane
Harry Cheshire
Arthur Space
Jack Roberts
George Magrill
Jim Davies
Ralph Peters
Dulcie Day
Crew
Franz Bachelin
Gene Buck Jr.
Sam Comer
James Cottrell
Mary Kay Dodson
Ross Dowd
Hans Dreier
Warren Duff
Farciot Edouart
Robert Fellows
Alvin Ganzer
Gene Garvin
Jack Kaufman
Harold Lewis
Harold Lierly
Curtis Mick
Charles Morton
Jack Murphy
Gerd Oswald
Otto Pierce
Elaine Ramsey
John F. Seitz
Harlow Stengel
Leroy Stone
Walter Taylor
Fred True
Wally Westmore
Victor Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was One Woman. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Paramount submitted various scripts based on Tiffany Thayer's story "One Woman" to the PCA, all of which were rejected. The MPAA/PCA file at the AMPAS Library adds the following information about the production: According to a July 1948 letter, the PCA opposed "Rosita's" characterization as a prostitute, ("and possibly Leona"), and would not approve the script. The PCA noted that "if Rosita's connnection with the various male characters were something other than that of a loose woman or professional prostitute, the basic story would be acceptable." In a later letter, the PCA advised that the producers "eliminate her address book and substitute in its place either a diary or a collection of letters" to avoid "the danger that the philosophy of this story might create sympathy for Rosita's immoral actions." The PCA also suggested that the producers "insert a voice for morality." Hollywood Reporter news items indicate that some scenes were shot on location in Chicago, IL.
