Whistle Stop (1946)

A woman (Ava Gardner) returns to her small hometown after two years away in Chicago. She renews her romance with an old boyfriend (George Raft) but his lack of ambition, which is the reason she left, causes her to take up with the boyfriend's rival (Tom Conway). Based on the novel by Maritta M. Wolff and directed by Leonide Moguy (PARIS AFTER DARK). Ava Gardner had been at MGM for five years playing bit parts and small roles. They didn't seem to know what to do with her. In 1946, two loan outs changed all that. WHISTLE STOP is a low budget B movie but it allowed Gardner to show a sultry side she never showed at MGM and a presence that suggested star quality. That she was no ordinary starlet was confirmed with her next loan out to Universal, THE KILLERS (1946) where she sizzled on screen. MGM took note and gave her better parts. As for WHISTLE STOP, it's a routine crime noir film with a miscast George Raft who was about 15 years too old for the role (he's 45 and Gardner was 24, they're supposed to be contemporaries). With Victor McLaglen, Florence Bates, Jorja Curtright and Charles Drake.