Destination Big House
Cast & Crew
George Blair
Dorothy Patrick
Robert Rockwell
James Lydon
Robert Armstrong
Larry J. Blake
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
During a car chase on a rural road, mobsters Ed Somers and Stubby Moore shoot their double-crossing cohort, Joe Bruno, and force his car over an enbankment. Though wounded, Joe escapes the scene and makes his way to a cabin, where unsuspecting schoolteacher Janet Brooks takes him in. The moment that Janet leaves Joe alone, he hides a roll of money among some fireplace logs in the living room. Believing Joe's story that he was injured in a hunting accident, Janet nurses his wound, impressing him with her generosity and kindness. Shortly after Janet leaves the cabin, which belongs to her fiancé, to go on an errand, Joe spies Ed and Stubby and races into the woods. Joe is shot by his colleagues, but is immediately picked up by a passing motorist. That night, when Janet returns to her family's small-town home, she is surprised by a group of reporters, who question her about the $80,000 that Joe bequeathed to her before dying at the hospital. Although Janet denies knowing anything about the money or Joe's underworld connections, the reporters print a story suggesting that she was romantically involved with Joe. Because of the story, Janet's integrity becomes suspect and she is summoned to the school superintendent's office. As she is getting into her car, however, Stubby and Ed steal her briefcase, which they believe contains Joe's money. When the hoods discover only papers in the briefcase, they angrily assume that Janet has hidden the cash. Janet reports the robbery to the police, then is suspended indefinitely from her teaching job. Janet's younger brother Fred, meanwhile, informs racketeer Pete Weiss, to whom he owes money, about Janet's windfall and assures him that his $3,000 gambling debt will soon be repaid. Later, when Janet learns that her mother Celia has been snubbed by her friends because of Joe's gift, she announces to the paper that she is giving her inheritance to her fiancé Dr. Walter Phillips' new hospital polio wing, if and when she receives it. Worried about Janet's donation, Pete demands that Fred help him steal all of the money, then sends one of his men, Al Drury, to break into the Brooks house. Fred's timely return saves Janet from Al, who takes off empty-handed. Later, Ed, still determined to reclaim the money, dons Stubby's eyeglasses and, posing as an Internal Revenue agent, questions Janet about her inheritance. Janet innocently takes Ed to Walter's cabin, where they search for the cash, unaware that they have been followed by Pete's other henchman, Tony Savoni. After Tony reports his location to Pete, Pete and Al show up at the cabin just as Janet finds the money roll among the logs. At gunpoint, Pete steals the roll from Janet, but soon discovers that inside the outer layer of money, it contains cut-up newspaper. Furious, Pete beats Fred badly at his office and forces him to telephone Janet, who is now at home with Walter and Ed. Defying Pete's orders, Fred blurts out to Janet that the money is hidden in their old hide-and-seek spot, in a nearby farmhouse. Determined to get to the money before Janet, Pete and his men abandon Fred and race to the farm. At the same time, Walter goes to Pete's place to help Fred, and Janet, still thinking that Ed is an agent, takes him to the deserted farmhouse. When Janet leads him to the hiding spot, however, Ed shows his true colors and grabs the money. Pete and his gang then pull up and a gun battle ensues. After Ed, Pete, Stubby and Al are downed, Tony attempts to take the money from Janet, but is shot by Walter. Later, as Fred, who admits that he suspected the money was at the cabin and searched for it on the sly, recuperates at the hospital, Janet happily turns over the cash to Walter's polio fund.
Director
George Blair
Cast
Dorothy Patrick
Robert Rockwell
James Lydon
Robert Armstrong
Larry J. Blake
John Harmon
Claire Dubrey
Richard Benedict
Mickey Knox
Dann Morton
Mack Williams
Olan Soule
Peter Prouse
Norman Field
Mira Mckinney
Virginia Farmer
Hal Fieberling
Robert Griffin
Jess Kirkpatrick
William E. Green
Sammy Mckim
Crew
Mortimer Braus
T. A. Carman
Steve Drumm
Joan Eremin
Ira Hoke
Frank Hotaling
William Lackey
Louise Landmeir
C. B. Lawrence
Lee Lukather
Howard Lydecker
Theodore Lydecker
John Macburnie
Bob Mark
Enzo Martinelli
Tony Martinelli
John Mccarthy Jr.
George Milo
Adele Palmer
Sid Swaney
Eric Taylor
Stanley Wilson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Miss Androcles and the Lion and Dark Violence. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, the title was changed from Miss Androcles and the Lion to Dark Violence because of concerns that George Bernard Shaw, author of the well-known play Androcles and the Lion, would be "offended."
