This film was memorable in ways that the director probably didn't intend it to be. George Raft's performance is over the top, in a good way. He doesn't hold back his anger with the church yet shows his inner conflict by donating money and praying at the altar. That's the serious part. And Raymond Burr is seriously evil. But many other scenes cracked me up with laughter. All the scenes with the Bible, the guy who comes back after the train scene, and of course the ending which was spectacular in a hilarious way. The phrase "24 hour Service" will always remind me of this film... In fact, that should have been the title...This film is worth seeing because it is so unusual for a noir picture to combine the serious with the humor and the religious themes. And the cast has plenty of interesting characters....

Businessman George Raft is out for blood after his priest brother is murdered. The brother's last words are about a bible so Raft scours the city searching for it, hoping it holds a clue to the identity of his brother's killer. Fine film noir with George Raft bringing a "WB gangster from the '30s" edge to things. It's a really good performance from tough guy Raft. This is about as sensitive as he gets on screen. He even cries in one scene. Great cast backing him up, including Gene Lockhart, Raymond Burr, Barton MacLane, and Harry Morgan. Virginia Mayo provides the lovely. Burr's a memorable heavy. Starts and ends well but middle drags some. Scene with the window washer is pretty cheesy stuff. Final scene is something of an eye-roller.

George Raft stars in the 1949 "Red Light" with Virginia Mayo, Raymond Burr, Gene Lockhart, Arthur Franz, and a host of other familiar faces.Raft plays Johnny Torno, the head of the Torno Freight Company. When he caught Nick Cherney (Burr) embezzling from him, he had him put in prison.When Johnny's brother Jess, an army chaplain, is discharged, Nick sees a chance to get back at Johnny, who adores his brother. Jess is found dying in a hotel room, and all he can say to Johnny is, "Bible...in the Bible." Johnny believes that Jess means his own Bible. Eventually he realizes he meant the Gideon Bible in his hotel room. But the Gideon Bible is missing by the time Johnny gets back there.Johnny sets out to find the Bible by tracking down anyone who had stayed in the room since Jess, determined to find out who killed his brother and killing the murderer himself.The Bible plays an important part in the film, not just the physical Bible, but what's inside. And it isn't what Johnny thinks.I really liked this movie because of its interesting slant, and also, I don't know what it is, but I like George Raft. He normally stays in one range - he's dapper, he gets angry, he's tough -- and in this film, he's really tough. I mean, nobody gets to him, not even a blind man! One thing Raft had on screen was warmth, and here, you see Johnny's love for Jess, and his pain when his brother dies.The other thing about this movie that is wonderful is all the familiar faces - besides actors known primarily for films: Raft, Mayo, and Lockhart, we have TV star Burr, Harry Morgan (September Bride, Pete & Gladys, MASH), William Frawley (I Love Lucy), Victor Sen Young (Charlie Chan, Bonanza), Barton MacLane (I Dream of Jeannie), Arthur Franz, who was in everything, Philip Pine, who must have done every TV show ever, Ken Murray, known for his home movies of celebrities, Paul Frees, the "Man of a Thousand Voices" who was the voice of Boris on Rocky the Squirrel), Bob Jellison (Bobby the Bellboy when "I Love Lucy" was in Hollywood), and Marlon Brando's first wife Movita.Dmitri Tiomkin's music ranges from riffs on Ave Maria, Dies Irae, and some Tosca thrown in. Good movie.

This film had a few interesting noir-like scenes, but overall it was a stinker. (Lots of spoilers coming, see other reviews for plot summary.) First of all, the scene in the washroom where George Raft knocks Burr to the floor was ridiculous. I'm sure Burr, who must have weighed twice as much as Raft, could have demolished him with a couple of punches.Then Virginia Mayo is a suspect by Raft in the murder of Raft's priest brother Jess who has returned from a prison camp overseas. Mayo stayed in the same hotel room as Jess and maybe took the Bible from the room (product placement for Gideon Bibles). It contains an important clue to Jess's killing. Mayo doesn't have the Bible, but instead has a photo of Jess, because her now-dead brother was in the military with Raft's brother. What are the chances of this happening? She says that Jess sent her the photo and her brother's effects. It would have made more sense if she had come to the hotel to meet with Jess, who was on his way to his new parish, and picked up the photo and other stuff, and she ended up getting Jess's room (though she still didn't take the Bible).Then there is the scene with soldier Philip Pine, who did take the Bible. Having become blind, he is depressed and is about to blow his brains out in the hotel room (where the Bible is), and then this guy suddenly appears at the window. What is this guy doing, running up and down the fire escapes in the hotel or around the hotel ledges looking for people about to commit suicide? What about the scene where Gene Lockhart is hiding under the truck and Burr kicks out the blocks which are holding the truck up? The whole truck suddenly crushes Lockhart ... but isn't the truck partially held up by the tires? Duh! At the end, Harry Morgan shows up at Raft's office just as Burr is on his way out and fingers him as the killer. Another wacky coincidence: what are the chances of this happening, that the two of them will run into each other at the office, or that Morgan survived the fall from the back of the train where Burr pushed him off? The score by Dimitri Tiomkin, was crap, aside from the fact that it cribbed passages from several famous classical works including Beethove's Eroica Symphony.