From vixen to P.I. within the same year, blonde bombshell Adele Mara intends to solve murders rather than commit them. In this case, she's trying to find out who killed her client, a wealthy older man trying to get information on his stepson. Mara, unleashing a crack every time she opens her mouth, is beautiful and feisty, although the cynicism and constant snarling may get on some viewer's nerves after a while. The typical non-stop fast action doesn't mean squat when you have a rather ridiculous story, especially one where you begin to not care "who done it". Sure, Mara reflects a new breed of independent woman, doing what just five years ago (other than a few other women) was pretty much a man's job. Mara's Belinda is a dame who does not accept "no" when it comes to being turned down, and she goes overboard a bit. Some interesting theories about how the victim died are unique, but this is mostly just far fetched and often tedious in its attempts to move along quickly. Of the supporting cast, former B leading lady Lorna Gray is perhaps the most commanding, but her part is rather small compared to the duller supporting characters involved in the messy intrigue.

EXPOSED - 1947This one is a Republic Pictures quickie with the always ravishing, Adele Mara, as a private-eye. Mara played many a damsel in distress, femme fatale or general all round babe in 60 films between 1941 and 1950. Here, in a real change of pace role, Mara plays a female version of a hard-boiled, wise cracking private detective. A rich industrialist type, Russell Hicks, pays Mara a visit at her office looking for a P.I. Though somewhat at a loss for words after discovering the detective is a woman, he hires her. Hicks explains that he thinks his step-son Mark Roberts might be in some sort of trouble. Roberts is withdrawing large amounts of cash from the family business without any explanation.Mara agrees to take the job and arranges to meet Roberts at Hick's home that afternoon. When she arrives, there is a more than slight problem, Hicks has been murdered. The Police are summoned and the Inspector assigned turns out to be Mara's father, Robert Armstrong. Armstrong of course is not at all pleased with daughter Mara's choice of profession. Suspects and red herrings abound as Mara and her assistant William Hadde, sift through the clues. In the mix beside Roberts, is his sister, Adrian Booth, the butler, Harry Shannon, the family doctor, Colin Campbell, the shady company lawyer, Charles Evans, the ex-business partner, Paul Burns, gangster, Bob Steele and Edward Gargan as a less than helpful drunk. Everyone seems to have a motive for the killing, or at least for helping to cover for the killer. Who did, or is going to do what, to who, is the theme here. First the coroner says it is murder, then suicide, then a heart attack and finally back to murder. There are plenty of snappy lines traded here between Mara and the various suspects. The only real problem with this film is that there is really too much story. They cram far too much dialogue into the plot. This cuts down to a degree on the action, which for Republic film fans, is one of the reasons they watch these low renters. There is one good knock down fist fight between Bob Steele and William Haade. But with a runtime of only 59 minutes, it still moves along more than fast enough. The director here is Republic regular, George Blair. Blair helmed several very under-rated low rent crime/film-noirs. These include, POST OFFICE INVESTIGATOR, UNMASKED, FEDERAL AGENT AT LARGE, INSURANCE INVESTIGATOR, LONELY HEART BANDITS and SECRETS OF MONTE CARLO.While not a world beater by any means, if you take it as the programmer it is, it will pass the time well enough on a rainy afternoon. If you want to see Miss Mara in full tilt femme fatale mode, hunt up 1945's, THE TIGER WOMAN. (Not to be confused with the 1944 serial of the same name)

Exposed (1947) ** (out of 4) Yet another cheap and bland "B" picture from Republic. This time out smart alack P.I. Belinda Prentice (Adele Maria) is hired by a rich father to do some snooping on his son who recently moved out of his house. Soon the father is murdered and Belinda must try to work around the family to get clues as well as her inspector father (Robert Armstrong). If you must watch every murder-mystery that was released during this era then I'd recommend this to you but all others should certainly avoid as there's very little to recommend here. I would love to say that the screenplay was horrid and the entire investigation was just poorly written but I wouldn't say that in good faith. The film is so blandly directed that it's hard to really care about the investigation and it's not even fun trying to figure out who the killer was. The movie gets off to a rather silly start as our "hero" is held up only to use her brains to get out of it. The problem is that I didn't believe she was smart for a single second. To make matters worse is that her "catch" is that she has a smart and sassy mouth, which grows very tiresome very quickly. It doesn't help when you're suppose to be rooting for someone yet you can't stand her. To be fair, Maria is pretty good in the role as you can tell she's giving it her all but the screenplay simply makes her character unlikeable. It's always fun seeing Armstrong even if, again, the screenplay doesn't do much for him. The supporting cast includes Lorna Gray, Mark Roberts and cult favorite Bob Steele playing a gangster-like character named Chicago. EXPOSED runs an hour but you'll be running out of patience around the twenty-minute mark and sadly things never really pick up. This isn't a horrible movie by any standards but there's simply no life or energy and in the end there's really no point in watching it.

Colonel Bentry (Russell Hicks) hires private-eye Belinda Prentice (Adele Mara)to investigate his stepson and heir Bill Forestman (Robert Scott.) Bill has withdrawn large sums of money from his account, according to the Colonel, rented an apartment in the city and stoutly refuses to explain his actions.On their way to the Bentry estate, Belinda and her assistant, Iggy Broty (William Haade), stop near Bill's apartment and their attention is attracted by two suspicious-looking characters. Iggs stays to check them out while Belinda goes on to Bentry's. She is admitted by Severance (Harry Shannon), the butler, who goes to the library to announce her arrival. She hears a cry from Severance, goes to the library and finds the Butler standing over the dead body of his employer. Belinda picks up a hypodermic needle lying near the body.Inspector Prentice of Homicide (Robert Armstrong), Belinda's father, arrives to take over. He questions Bill, his sister Judith Forester (Adrian Booth), Jonathan Lowell (Charles Evans), the family lawyer...and Severance, who confesses that he is a reformed drunk AND a disbarred lawyer.Belinda leaves and confers with Iggy, and learns that the two men in front of Bill's apartment house were Professor Ordoson (Paul E. Burns) and "Chicago" (Bob Steele), Bill's personal bodyguard. Iggy "visits" Bill's apartment and is beaten up by "Chicago", making about the tenth time the 200-pound Haade has lost a film-fight to the 160-pound Bob Steele.Belinda makes a formal call on Bill, and Bill is most cooperative and he explains that he and Ordson are working on a secret-but-harmless experiment; that "Chicago" is employed to protect their material and equipment; and that he HAS NOT withdrawn large sums of money from his account.Belinda, highly satisfied by Bill's explanation, decides she and Iggy will follow her number two suspect---Judith. They find her in a downtown bar where she is plying the family butler with liquor, and if one is a butler, getting plyed with liquor by Adrian Booth is about as good as butlering (buttling?) can get. Belinda finds this interesting but has another surprise awaiting her when she returns to her office and finds Lowell and "Chicago" there, and Lowell's intention is for Belinda to leave town for a while and has asked gun-for-hire "Chicago" to accompany him there so Belinda will grasp the seriousness of his get-out-of-town request. But Iggy, knowing he can't whip Bob Steele in a Republic fist-fight, shows up with a .38 automatic and sends Lowell and an unhappy "Chicago", who wasn't packing his own .38, on their way.So, on a hunch, Belinda goes with her father to the Bentry estate---where they find Lowell dead on the lawn. It is at this point that Belinda provides the solution to all that has been transpiring.And it is a nifty solution, indeed. But one gets all distracted just watching the delectable Adele Mara, that one sometimes isn't paying much attention to whatever it is she is saying. And whatever it is, she sure looks good saying it.Any film that isn't a western and still has Adele Mara, Adrian Booth and Bob Steele in it is a three-star keeper.