Hell's Island (1955)

A washed up alcoholic bouncer (John Payne) working in a Las Vegas casino is offered a job to retrieve a rare ruby which may be in the hands of the woman (Mary Murphy) who jilted him. Directed by Phil Karlson (5 AGAINST THE HOUSE). Although shot in Technicolor and VistaVision, this is a nifty, gritty film noir. It has all the elements: a down on his luck hero (Payne) over his head, a duplicitous femme fatale (Murphy channeling Mary Astor's Brigid O'Shaughnessy), vicious thugs who like to beat up people and Francis L. Sullivan as a wheelchair bound baddie channeling Sydney Greenstreet. Director Karlson gives the movie an exacting veneer that insures a tale full of color and brittle. An unappreciated noir that should be better known. Curiously, the movie uses stock music rather than an original score but I recognized Miklos Rozsa's music. Worth seeking out for noir fans. With Arnold Moss, Paul Picerni and Eduardo Noriega.