The Las Vegas Story *** (1952, Jane Russell, Victor Mature, Vincent Price, Hoagy Carmichael, Brad Dexter, Jay C Flippen) – Classic Movie Review 7,295

The 1952 film noir crime thriller The Las Vegas Story stars Jane Russell as a married café singer who meets an old flame police lieutenant (Victor Mature) in Las Vegas and he saves her investment broker new husband (Vincent Price) from a murder charge. 

Director Robert Stevenson’s 1952 black and white film noir crime thriller The Las Vegas Story stars Jane Russell as married café singer Linda Rollins, who meets old flame police Lieutenant Dave Andrews (Victor Mature) in Las Vegas and he saves her investment broker new husband Lloyd Rollins (Vincent Price) from a murder charge.

Russell’s sparkle is a major factor in helping to keep director Stevenson’s somewhat routine thriller bubbling along. Given Earl Felton, Harry Essex and Paul Jarrico’s rather flat screenplay, from a story by Jay Dratler, the extravagant acting from the two male stars is also an asset.

And, when things get a little bit dull, the great singer-songwriter Hoagy Carmichael is on hand as Happy, the piano player at the Last Chance Casino in Las Vegas, with his great evergreen songs ‘My Resistance Is Low’ (performed by Hoagy Carmichael and Jane Russell), ‘I Get Along Without You Very Well’ (performed by Jane Russell) and ‘The Monkey Song’ (performed by Hoagy Carmichael). The story is also narrated by Hoagy Carmichael, as he wonders what split up Linda and Dave.

The good support cast is another asset: Brad Dexter, Jay C Flippen, Gordon Oliver, Will Wright, Bill Welsh, Ray Montgomery, Robert J Wilke, Colleen Miller and Syd Saylor.

The Las Vegas Story is directed by Robert Stevenson, runs 88 minutes, is made and released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by Earl Felton, Harry Essex and Paul Jarrico (originally uncredited), based on a story by Jay Dratler, is shot in black and white by Harry J Wild, is produced by Samuel Bischoff (executive producer}, Robert Sparks and Howard Hughes (uncredited), and is scored by Leigh Harline, with Art Direction by Albert S D’Agostino and Feild M Gray, and gowns by Howard Greer.

Release date: January 30, 1952 (US).

Russell and her husband allegedly got into a fight the night before the film’s Las Vegas premiere and she appeared with a swollen and bruised face. A story was given out that a windstorm slammed a car door into her face.

The name of the third screenwriter Paul Jarrico was taken off the credits by producer Howard Hughes when Jarrico was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Jarrico took this to court but lost. He was labelled ‘subversive’ and blacklisted, and his name was left off the credits or replaced by a pseudonym for most of the American films he wrote during the Fifties and Sixties. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Tom, Dick and Harry (1941). 

Miss Russell’s diamond necklace is by Cartier, Inc.

Filming started in March 1951 and finished by June 1951. It was shot in the RKO studios and on location in Las Vegas and the Mojave Airport.

Surprisingly, the film lost an estimated $600,000, after taking $1.2 million in US rentals.

It was released by Warner Home Video on DVD in the US in 2012. It was shown on TV on BBC Two in the UK in 2016.

The cast are Jane Russell as Linda Rollins, Victor Mature as Dave Andrews, Vincent Price as Lloyd Rollins, Hoagy Carmichael as Happy, Brad Dexter as Tom Hubler, Gordon Oliver as Mr Drucker, Jay C Flippen as Dave’s boss Captain H A Harris, Will Wright as Mike Fogarty, Bill Welsh as Mr Martin, Ray Montgomery as Desk Clerk, Colleen Miller as Mary, Robert J Wilke as Clayton, Paul Frees as the District Attorney and Syd Saylor.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,295

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The radiant Jane Russell in a Fifties candid camera shot.