Richard Basehart was an extraordinary actor, who never received the accolades his talent deserved. There may be many reasons for it, but I guess one of them is the kind of roles he played in his early carrier. These roles are so hard to classify as the actual movies in which these roles appear. Take this movie for instance; it's easy to take it as a film noir, it isn't. I'm not sure if there is a gender in which it can fit.
In this, Mr. Basehart plays a young man who has been released from prison to 1950 Philadelphia, after purging a sentence for accidentally killing a guard at a reformatory school at age 14. He is alone, friendless and has no experience dealing with the outside world as an adult, and certainly he has no experience with the "dames". But having no experience doesn't mean he is naïve or innocent; he has received lessons from thieves, kidnappers and killers though our boy is an inherent straight soul.
Larry (the young man's name) soon gets tired of the crime filled, mean streets of Philadelphia, and he is also disenchanted of women (the first woman he finds in a bar tries to get away with his wallet), so he moves outside town to try to find a quieter place. He ends up in a sleepy town called Jewel Lake, where he lands a job as lab assistant in a TB clinic. Larry thinks he will finally have a problem free life when he meets sexy blond chief nurse Charlotte, who is more an ambitious working girl willing to use her sex charms to climb than pure femme fatale. Larry is attracted to sexy Charlotte and though she is not indifferent, she is expecting to hook someone with money, lots of money.
Larry also meets sweet nurse Ann, who is a much nicer working girl and also seems attracted to him (I can't blame any of the ladies making passes at Larry; Mr. Basehart looks absolutely hot in this movie) but he also encounters fellow ex-convict Stoker, who is a patient but has stole no less than one millon dollars, and this encounter and his desire to get Charlotte as his girl set troubles in motion! I won't spoil the end of the movie for you; it's hard to get, it has its flaws, but it's worth to watch. Enjoy it!
In this, Mr. Basehart plays a young man who has been released from prison to 1950 Philadelphia, after purging a sentence for accidentally killing a guard at a reformatory school at age 14. He is alone, friendless and has no experience dealing with the outside world as an adult, and certainly he has no experience with the "dames". But having no experience doesn't mean he is naïve or innocent; he has received lessons from thieves, kidnappers and killers though our boy is an inherent straight soul.
Larry (the young man's name) soon gets tired of the crime filled, mean streets of Philadelphia, and he is also disenchanted of women (the first woman he finds in a bar tries to get away with his wallet), so he moves outside town to try to find a quieter place. He ends up in a sleepy town called Jewel Lake, where he lands a job as lab assistant in a TB clinic. Larry thinks he will finally have a problem free life when he meets sexy blond chief nurse Charlotte, who is more an ambitious working girl willing to use her sex charms to climb than pure femme fatale. Larry is attracted to sexy Charlotte and though she is not indifferent, she is expecting to hook someone with money, lots of money.
Larry also meets sweet nurse Ann, who is a much nicer working girl and also seems attracted to him (I can't blame any of the ladies making passes at Larry; Mr. Basehart looks absolutely hot in this movie) but he also encounters fellow ex-convict Stoker, who is a patient but has stole no less than one millon dollars, and this encounter and his desire to get Charlotte as his girl set troubles in motion! I won't spoil the end of the movie for you; it's hard to get, it has its flaws, but it's worth to watch. Enjoy it!