The only thing missing here is Charlie Chan showing up at the end to tell the viewer what just happened. Actually it's not all that complicated, but you do have to pay attention because there's a bit of sleight of hand with character Roy Collins (Robert Gist), who's using the alias of Max Gibney doing a money hand-off to an attorney named Dawson (David Wolfe), who winds up having nothing to do with the murder mystery. Not exactly a maguffin, but a distraction nonetheless.The early going can be a little confusing so don't get up for a cup of coffee. Eventually it's revealed that former cop turned bail bondsman Vince Kane (George Raft) once had a thing for sultry Lucy Brackett (Ella Raines), and now finds himself in a vise between his partner Joe Farley (Pat O'Brien), police lieutenant Nick Ferrone (Jim Backus), and night club owner Jerry McKay (Roland Winters). Might as well mention Lucy's husband just got nailed for securities fraud and a two year old murder rap of another cop. Claude Brackett (Bill Williams) took the easy way out getting himself knocked off by one of the guys who framed him; it's Kane's job to try and figure it all out.Ella Raines has the perfect femme fatale persona going for her in this little noir mystery but somebody goofed with her hair, looking like she just came in out of the rain. Jim Backus offers up a much harder edge to his character than one might be used to seeing, and gets tough with Kane for putting up the extra bond money for Brackett, suspecting a collusion angle with Lucy. After everything gets sorted out in the frantic finale I was left with a single but giant question mark - why would Vince hand his gun over to McKay on the way to pick up Collins/Gibney?

"A Dangerous Profession" is a decent enough film...the sort mildly entertaining stuff that George Raft made in the post-war years. It begins with Vince (Raft) working as a bail bondsman along with his partner (Pat O'Brien). Apparently Vince used to be a cop but decided to change careers. Why he wanted a change soon becomes apparently when his old girlfriend, Lucy (Ella Raines) shows up to try to bail her stupid husband out of jail. This IS a surprise...as Vince hasn't heard from her since she disappeared some time ago...nor did he know she was married...and had been when he knew her! Of course it's a surprise but Vince is a dope...so he helps her and her dopier husband. But when the husband soon is murdered, things get really, really confusing. So what's next?This is a mildly interesting film but it suffers a bit from Raft's relatively dull screen persona as well as his being a bit too trusting to be realistic. The story also becomes a bit confusing and is, if you think about it, a bit like a reworking of "Casablanca"! Odd but worth seeing if you like old film noir movies.

Bail bondsman George Raft gets in over his head when he bails out robbery suspect Bill Williams, the husband of an old girlfriend (Ella Raines). This puts him up against various factors on both sides of the law including a fellow former partner (Jim Backus, ultra-serious here) and officer Pat O'Brien. As he gets further involved in his ex-girlfriend's life and finds out information on Williams, the pieces of the puzzle get more puzzling, resulting in a murder.This is certainly watchable, if a sometimes dull film noir/mystery, the audience getting equally as confused as Raft as he tries to wrap everything up. The intro lesson on how the bondsman works is interesting, but perhaps a different case with more developed characters and less people involved in the first place. Still, lighting and shadows provide the right atmosphere, and Raft's detective work is appropriately seedy. One of the people whom Raft interviews slightly looks and very much sounds like Werner Klemperer of "Hogan's Heroes" even though he is not listed in the credits for this film.

I wouldn't exactly call this a noir, although it is a hardboiled detective yarn. It reminded me of The Big Sleep mainly because of its rambling story line. Raft is no Bogart and Ella Raines is no Bacall. His stiff delivery gets tiring after you realize he really doesn't have anything interesting to say. Her sultriness falls far short of what's required for the role of bad girl. And her hair is incredibly awful. The photography was above par. When the character of Lucy is introduced in the story, you just see the back of her hat. Then there's a close-up, and well, it's just Ella Raines. The script is a lot of yak, some of it's kinda good, but it's still mainly a yakfest. I gave-up after 55 minutes.