Shoot to Kill | |
Director: | William Berke |
Producer: | William Berke |
Screenplay: | Edwin V. Westrate |
Starring: | Robert Kent Luana Walters Edmund MacDonald |
Music: | Darrell Calker Gene Rodgers |
Cinematography: | Benjamin H. Kline |
Editing: | Arthur A. Brooks |
Studio: | Robert L. Lippert Productions |
Distributor: | Screen Guild Productions |
Runtime: | 64 minutes |
Country: | United States |
Language: | English |
Shoot to Kill, also known as Police Reporter, is a 1947 American film noir directed by William Berke and starring Robert Kent, Luana Walters, Edmund MacDonald and Russell Wade.[1]
Pursued by police cars, a fleeing motor vehicle crashes off the side of the road. The survivor relates the events that preceded the chase in flashback format. A former gangster is framed by a corrupt district attorney. With his wife and an investigative reporter, he gathers proof of his innocence in hopes of clearing his name.
The New York Times panned the film, writing: "Screeching tires and the barking of guns are the chief sound effects in Shoot to Kill, an all-around amateurish job of movie-making which found its way into the Rialto yesterday. An outfit called Screen Guild Productions is responsible for this dilly about an assistant district attorney who double-crosses all his racketeer pals and winds up his career on a slab in the morgue. William Berke as the director-producer did not get anything resembling a performance, much less characterization, out of his players, chief of whom are Russell Wade, Susan Walters, Edmund MacDonald and Douglas Blackley."[2]
Gene Rodgers appears on screen performing two of his own compositions: "Ballad of the Bayou" and "Rajah's Blues." The film's score was provided by Darrell Calker.