"Riffraff" is a surprisingly well done film noir. It is expertly directed by Ted Tetzlaff and contains a veritable Who's Who of noir cinema: Pat O'Brien, Walter Slezak, Anne Jeffreys, and Jerome Cowan. The plot is fairly routine - a rogues gallery of shady types (or riff-raff) hunting down a valuable item (in this case a map of oil wells) and committing any crime necessary to obtain it. The film boasts a memorable opening sequence devoid of dialogue that sets the tone for the film: a stormy Peruvian airport, a ramshackle aircraft, sketchy-looking passengers, and a man prematurely abandoning an airborn plane by taking the express route to the terra firma. The surviving passenger shows up in Panama with the skydiver's briefcase and immediately hires local PI Dan Hammer (O'Brien, sporting a name that only exists in fiction) to protect him. Unbeknownst to Hammer, the man clips a map onto a bamboo changing curtain and departs. The remainder of the film concerns the quest for this map and how many times the actors can walk past it or be framed by the camera with it in the backround as it hides in plain site. Tetzlaff does a wondeful job of shooting this film; from the brilliant opening sequence to the final fadeout. Many of these RKO noirs prove to be an endurance test to get through despite relatively brief running times but "Riffraff" held my attention with the visuals and performances of a stellar cast. Portly, balding, and painfully over-the-hill Pat O'Brien nevertheless turns in a surpsrisingly virile performance particularly near the end of the picture where he dukes it out with several tough guys and runs down a moving car by dashing through dark alleys & disturbing couples necking in parked cars. Of course he is brilliant at mouthing his lines both laconically and with his trademark staccato elocution. The script isn't particularly great but his delivery makes it seem like snappy dialogue. Despite his appearance the actor's performance is great and holds the film together. Walter Slezak seems to be reprising his role of the treacherous Incza from RKO's "Cornered" although sans moustache. He never runs out of flowery ways to make his point and conveys menace when flanked by his bodyguards. There is a priceless scene of him sitting in the window of Hammer's office, sketching the street outside, while his thugs work Hammer over with the obligatory nosey PI beating. He must be a fast illustrator because Hammer doesn't look too much the worse for wear when the goons finish roughing him up. In fact, after a good night's sleep, he's back to barging around and doing a little threatening of his own the next morning. Anne Jeffreys fills the part of the heroine in a one-note role as the love interest; unfortunately she has no femme fatale duties. However, she does get to wrestle around with Slezak in a late scene and is the first to discover the elusive map. Percy Kilbride adds levity as O'Brien's personal taxi driver and they exchange some curious banter about marriage to each other. Fortunately O'Brien moves on to Miss Jeffreys and Kilbride heads to the hills with Marjorie Main. Jerome Cowan adds a little Warner Brothers flavor with his typical role as a wormy executive who meets a deserved fate. A neat little film, "Riffraff" passes a pleasant 80 minutes, delivers a memorable opening sequence, and demonstrates the hazards of wearing a tie if you're a private investigator.

Two passengers board a plane during a storm. When the journey is complete, only one passenger is left. It's a great opening sequence filled with tension, angst and progressed without any dialogue. It's pretty stylish and promises great things. However, the film doesn't live up to this gripping start and at only 80 minutes in length, this short film ends up seeming a lot longer.Apart from the excellent beginning, the dialogue is snappy and humorous and Anne Jeffreys (Maxine) sings a great song. The director puts on a good show for this offering. Unfortunately, everything falls apart with the lead actor - Pat O'Brien (Dan) - who is tasked with tracking down a map. He's unlike-able, too old, fat, balding and reminds me of a paedophile. The end sequence with him chasing after a taxi is ludicrous as we watch this fat blob running after and unrealistically keeping up with the car's journey. Ha ha. He looks ridiculous. The film somehow kills the interest and drags on. It's watchable, though.

This typical film noir production has an unusual setting in Panama, although the fact that it's an RKO production means there aren't any exotic visuals or location shooting here. Instead this is a simply-plotted movie about the hunt for a missing map which has the location of oil highlighted on it. A private eye by the name of Dan Hammer (Mike's brother?) gets involved in the hunt and finds himself up against a criminal gang.RIFF-RAFF boasts a memorable opening sequence on board an in-flight aircraft in which a guy goes missing. However, it soon descends into your typical mystery thriller, with a few hard-knuckle fights here and there but little to distinguish it from literally hundreds of others. While Pat O'Brien was a great character actor (such as when he played the priest in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES) he's an odd choice for lead and doesn't exactly seem to be the sort of guy able to handle himself. However, Walter Slezak is better as the sleazy villain and Anne Jefferys as the youthful love interest.

I was never taken much by Pat O'Brien, even though he appeared in many good movies since 1930. This is another good one, but not because of Pat O'Brien...This was the first time I saw Anne Jeffreys, and for her alone it's worth seeing this film: without doubt, Jeffreys is a head-turner and heart-stopper. In reviewing her acting career, it's now clear to me why I have missed seeing her: soon after the early 1950s, she moved into TV for most of her career. And, as I have mostly avoided TV, well, there you go...Anyway, to the movie...I guess I'd call this type of story an adventure, a treasure hunt for black gold in the form of a missing map of oil wells in Peru, and a map that various nasty people are all trying to find. The reason for that lost map is finely drawn – on a dark and stormy night (okay, there are a few clichés along the way in this narrative) - with an exquisitely done sequence at the start, as the camera pulls back from a lizard at the edge of airfield in deepest Peru to reveal a waiting DC-3 and a small group of people trying to hear themselves think while the rain pours down on the tin roof of the terminal. Not a word is spoken, natch. Eventually, a passenger arrives to board the plane with another who'd been waiting. The plane leaves, clawing its way into the storm with the passengers sitting with the cargo. During the voyage, however, one of the passengers either jumps or is pushed from the plane – but the other passenger, Hasso (Mark Krah), now has the map...From that point, you know there's more dirty dealings coming and, after telling his story to the cops, Hasso hires PI Dan Hammer (Pat O'Brien) to act as a bodyguard. Leaving Hasso at the hotel, Hammer visits Gredson (Jerome Cowan) who hires Hammer to find the map that Hasso now has, unbeknown to both. Hasso, being devious, hides the map in plain sight – a delightful ironic touch that's used to good effect throughout the movie, but would have been better, in my opinion, if the viewer had been kept in the dark also.However...the plot thickens when Molinar (Walter Slezak), another treasure seeker, starts putting the squeeze on Hammer to get the map, and who roughs up Maxine (Anne Jeffreys) while trying to find it in Hammer's office where Maxine had been waiting. Maxine, you see, had wormed her way into Hammer's sight at the club where she sings – not only for herself as a singer, but as a spy for Gredson with whom she is romantically involved. Or is she? That's for Hammer to find out, along the way. Got the picture? The denouement, of course, is fairly predictable but enlivened by Percy Kilbride as Pop, the taxi driver who shows how easy it is to run circles around unwary and over-confident crooks on the run. The whole movie is further enhanced by the dark/light cinematography that captures the Panama City scene so well (even though it's a Hollywood back-lot); indeed, the highly inventive chase at night between Hammer, on foot, and Molinar in the taxi with Pop, almost leaves you...well, breathless; and wondering whether Carol Reed chose to use the same techniques of dark shadows, narrow streets and running footsteps in The Third Man (1949) when Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) chases Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in post-war Vienna. The similarity is quite distinctive, even down to some of the skewed close-ups and sharp camera angles.And, finally, the dialog throughout is just right: sharp, full of innuendo, devious, and witty - and every bit as good as others you've heard in great thrillers and intrigues. Pat O'Brien does a credible job – as always – but his attempt as a hard-boiled PI and fixer doesn't quite match Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past (1947) or the great Bogie in any one of his fine works from the 1940s or 1950s. However, I was looking at Anne Jeffreys most of the time anyway...If you get the chance, see this one, for an enjoyable eighty minutes. Recommended for all.