The Last Crooked Mile
Cast & Crew
Philip Ford
Donald Barry
Ann Savage
Adele Mara
Tom Powers
Sheldon Leonard
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Just after the notorious Duke Jarvis gang robs his bank of $300,000, bank manager Floyd Sorelson calls the police and insurance offical George Detrich. A frightened teller is able to describe Jarvis as a blonde man with highly polished nails, and the police begin setting up roadblocks to nab him. Meanwhile, Jarvis and his men go to a garage run by Spike Edwards, who hides the loot in the running board of their getaway car. Jarvis and his men drive away, but when the police stop them at a roadblock, Jarvis panics and races off. He loses control of the car, which careens off a cliff. All of the men are killed, but the stolen money is not found. Two weeks later, Detrich is consulting with Sorelson, who is demanding the money's return, when they are interrupted by Tom Dwyer, a cocky private detective who offers to recover the money for a ten-percent finder's fee. Although Detrich does not like Tom, Sorelson hires him. Tom then goes to Ocean City, where carnival sideshow operator Ferrara has installed the "Jarvis death car" in his show of horrors, having purchased the vehicle in a public auction. At the carnival, Tom runs into Bonnie, an old girl friend, and is going through a roller coaster tunnel with her when Edwards' corpse is dropped in their car. Although the authorities are suspicious when Tom declares that Edwards was strangled with something thin, like picture wire, Tom states that he has seen similar murders in the past. Tom then goes to a nightclub to question singer Sheila Kennedy, whose picture he found in Edwards' pocket. After getting nothing but a warning from the flirtatious Sheila, Tom takes Bonnie to Ferrara's exhibit and examines the car. Tom asks about buying the vehicle, but Ferrara explains that he has already made a deal with someone else. After he leaves, Tom is followed but escapes his pursuer. Later that night, he returns to Ferrara's, where he finds that Ferrara has been knocked unconscious by an unseen assailant. The only clue Tom finds at the scene is one of Sheila's handkerchiefs, and when he returns it to her the next day, he tells her that someone is trying to frame her. Sheila admits that she was Jarvis' girl friend, but insists that she has come to Ocean City to escape her past. They then go to the nightclub, and there Tom sees Ed MacGuire, a killer who known as "Wires" because he strangles his victims with picture wire. Tom follows Wires and his henchman, Haynes, to Ferrara's and learns that they are the ones who purchased Jarvis' car. Although Tom has deduced that Wires murdered Edwards, he cannot reveal his conclusions to police lieutenant Blake because Haynes has a hidden gun aimed at him. The men depart, and later, Sorelson phones Tom to say that he has come to Ocean City for a convention. Tom then rescues Sheila, who is almost run over by a car, and explains that Wires is trying to kill her and frame her for Edwards' murder. Suddenly getting an idea, Tom races off to Ferrara's and uses a blow torch to retrieve the loot from Jarvis' car. When he returns to his apartment, however, he is knocked out and the money is taken. The next day, Blake accuses Tom of killing Wires and Haynes, who were found dead at Ferrara's. Sheila arrives and tells Blake that Tom spent the night with her, and after Blake departs, Tom agrees to go away with Sheila. Before they leave, they run into Sorelson, and Tom gets him to admit that he was Jarvis' accomplice and that he kept half of the money. Blake arrests Sorelson, and Tom then leaves with Sheila. As they are driving off, however, Tom induces Sheila to admit that she was in league with Jarvis and killed Wires and Haynes, then stole the money from him. The police are listening to Sheila's confession over a radio transmitter that has been rigged in the car by Tom, and arrive as Sheila is about to kill Tom. Sheila is arrested, and Tom tells the ever-patient Bonnie, who was hiding in the trunk, to drive the car back to town, where he will meet her for a date.
Director
Philip Ford
Cast
Donald Barry
Ann Savage
Adele Mara
Tom Powers
Sheldon Leonard
Nestor Paiva
Harry Shannon
Ben Welden
John Miljan
Charles D. Brown
John Dehner
Anthony Caruso
George Chandler
George Reynolds
Pat Flaherty
Tom Dugan
Marie Harmon
Charles Sullivan
Jimmy Aubrey
Ruth Brennan
John Alban
James Carlisle
James Linn
Earle Hodgins
Walter Lawrence
Jack O'shea
Al Murphy
Donald Kerr
Charles Hamilton
Frederick Howard
Eddie Parker
Wheaton Chambers
Frank Meredith
Crew
Rudolph E. Abel
Victor Appel
Thomas A. Carman
Joe Dill
Joseph Dubin
Jerry Gruskin
Frank Hotaling
Isham Jones
Gus Kahn
Alfred Keller
Howard Lydecker
Theodore Lydecker
Bob Mark
John Mccarthy Jr.
George Milo
William J. O'sullivan
Adele Palmer
Lewis Physioc
Jerry Sackheim
Gordon Schaefer
Morton Scott
John Stransky Jr.
Wm. P. Thompson
Carl Wester
Howard Wilson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was The Crooked Mile. According to Hollywood Reporter news items, Eddy White was originally scheduled to produce the picture, which was to star Hillary Brooke.
