Thursday, January 3, 2019

THE LAS VEGAS STORY 1952 (WARNER ARCHIVE)

A film noir that actually has a happy ending.

This Howard Hughes production from RKO stars gorgeous Jane Russell as Linda Rollins, the wife of a shady businessman named Lloyd (Vincent Price). They arrive in Las Vegas and that is where the trouble begins.

Lloyd begins to bet heavily and loses a bundle while his wife memories of singing at a casino called The Last Chance and decides to visit the place. There she finds things have changed a lot. Her old friend, the piano played called Happy (Hoagy Carmichael) reunites his old friendship with her while a detective named Dave Andrews wants to start the relationship they both had over again.

Lloyd sells a necklace worth $150,000 he bought for Linda to a casino for a mere $10,000 for more gambling funds, which he immediately loses. One night the new owner of Last Chance is murdered and Lloyd is named as the prime suspect. An insurance investigator, Tom Hubler (Brad Dexter) enters the picture and tries to locate the necklace.

There are plenty of twists and turns as Dave investigates the murder and slowly put the bizarre case together until he finally discovers who the real killer is and how much danger that it puts Linda into.

The climax involves a great chase involving a helicopter and a getaway car thru the desert near Vegas. The rest of the top notch cast includes Jay C. Flippen, Gordon Oliver, Paul Frees and Will Wright.

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