This Gun For Hire (1942)

A professional hired killer (Alan Ladd) carries out a job only to find himself framed and double crossed when the money he is paid off in turns out to have been stolen and the bills marked by the very man (Laird Cregar) who hired him. Can he exact his revenge before the cops catch him? Based on the 1936 novel A GUN FOR SALE by Graham Greene and directed by Frank Tuttle. This was the first film in which Veronica Lake was top billed which solidified her position in the industry as a major movie star. But the film's breakout star was Ladd who gets "and introducing" billing here. You can see why he became a star. He's pretty magnetic here as the feline loving, people hating hitman. Unfortunately, for most of his career he was cast in conventional leading man and hero roles and as an actor, he became far less interesting. Ladd and Lake made for some nice chemistry and they would go on to do 3 more films together. As for the film itself, it's a taut and tight film noir with the appropriate atmospheric B&W lensing by John F. Seitz (SUNSET BOULEVARD). With Robert Preston, Tully Marshall, Marc Lawrence and in a bit part, Yvonne De Carlo.