The Game That Kills
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
D. Ross Lederman
Charles Quigley
Rita Hayworth
John Gallaudet
J. Farrell Macdonald
Arthur Loft
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Indians hockey player Tom Ferguson is murdered during a game by his teammates, Dick Adams and Bill Drake. The killing, made to look like an accident, was engineered by gambler Rudy Maxwell, the owner of the team, who has been making money betting against his own team and sharing the winnings with Adams and Drake. Maxwell decided to kill Tom because he was an incorruptible star player of the team and proved to be a threat to his scheme. Soon after Tom's brother Alec is notified of Tom's death, he learns that another resident of his native Moosegaw, Canada, Steve Moreau, was offered Tom's position a day before he was killed. His suspicions aroused, Alec poses as Moreau and goes to New York to join the Indians. Meanwhile, at Maxwell's New York gambling house, Maxwell blackmails coach Joe Holland into accepting "Moreau" on the team by threatening to disgrace him before his daughter Betty. Alec proves an instant success on the ice, but Holland is bothered by the dirty playing of Adams and Drake. When sportswriter Sam Erskine suspects gambler interference in the Indians' games, he convinces Betty to take a job at his newspaper to do what she can to protect her father's name. Betty learns, through a telegram, that Alec is posing as Moreau, and her investigation leads her to Maxwell's, where she is caught in a police raid. Alec helps her escape, but she leaves her pocketbook behind, and Maxwell later finds the telegram in it. Maxwell kidnaps Betty and, despite Holland's protests, uses her as a hostage, threating to harm her if the coach fails to guide his team to lose. Adams and Drake are arrested after they fall into a trap set up by Alec, and they confess to killing his brother. On the night of a big game, Holland instructs the team to lose to protect Betty's life. Alec purposely has himself removed from the game when he espies Eddie, one of Maxwell's henchmen, in the audience. After telling Eddie that Adams and Drake have confessed and that Maxwell has ordered his men to evacuate the new headquarters, Alec follows him to the hideout, where Betty is rescued and Maxwell and his gang are arrested.
Director
D. Ross Lederman
Cast
Charles Quigley
Rita Hayworth
John Gallaudet
J. Farrell Macdonald
Arthur Loft
John Tyrell
Paul Fix
Max Hoffman Jr.
Dick Wessel
Crew
Edward Bernds
Irving Briskin
J. Benton Cheney
Harry L. Decker
Kalloch
Benjamin Kline
Sam Nelson
Grace Neville
Fred Niblo Jr.
Morris Stoloff
James Sweeney
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A working title for this film was Flashing Skates. Hollywood Reporter production charts list Ward Bond in the cast, but his appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. Modern sources list the following additional cast members: Maurice Black (Jeff), Clyde Dilson (Steven Moreau), Harry Strang (Walter), Dick Curtis (Whitey), Lee Prather (Bronson), Jack Dougherty and Edmund Cobb (Policemen), Ralph Dunn (Detective), Ethan Laidlaw and Eddie Fetherston (Cab drivers), George Chesebro (Waiter), Bud Weiser and Lloyd Ford (Motorcycle cops), Sammy McKim (Jack). Modern sources also list Ray Howell as the costume supervisor and Stephen Goosson as supervisor of the art direction.
