SHOOT TO KILL is a low budget film noir with some thriller aspects, including a fun night-time car chase, some bits of characters being stalked through dark streets, and character suspense. The story starts with a criminal being sentenced to prison but blaming the district attorney for framing him. Shortly afterwards the DA falls for a woman who may have ulterior motives, while a crusading reporter also gets mixed up in the story. Truth be told this is a cheap little affair with few surprises in store, but it's short and to the point and the story just about hangs together.

Shoot to Kill (1947)Weak and Confusing, Shoot to Kill YourselfYou know how you can plop in front of a t.v. and find an old movie and watch it even though you know it's bad. The mood, the clunkiness, the archetypes, the nostalgia all work on you. As long as you have nothing better to do. Say in a motel on a business trip.That's as far as Shoot to Kill will rise. It's fun, it's dramatic, and there are crimes and suspects. It will keep you up more than put you to sleep. To a point.So why actually rent it (or stream it free on Netflix)? Well, there are a lot of nice night scenes, little moments where the camera looks at a door archway or the feet of some people walking, and you might be able to watch this just for that aspect. That fight scene toward the end of the movie, between the reporter (who is a better fighter than actor) and a thug (who is not bad at both), tumbles down a set of stairwas and it's very physical and amazing, actually. The requisite car chase scene(s), less so. There's lots of high contrast light and moving camera, which is pretty standard by the late 40s, but is one of the reasons to watch in the first place. The plot, however, is so full of double crosses it's not worth the effort keeping everyone straight. That might make it a lot of fun for some people, but I was hoping for a clearer line that actually mattered when it got twisted.William Berke, the director, has dozens of films of this caliber to his name, and he cranked them out with no budget. Shoot to Kill is entertaining, yes, and many with more consistent acting, but it clips along so that you just go with it. The woman is less a femme fatale than just a strong willed and duplicitous lead. She's made sympathetic by the end. Maybe the small insert of real music by Gene Rodgers is enough to search for that scene (about 9:40 in), where he plays a nice stride or similar style piano, though probably not miked while filming, since the fingerwork doesn't match up. It's an odd addition that makes no real sense in the plot, but it's given billing in the opening credits, and Rodgers did some good backup work in the 1930s and 40s (including Coleman Hawkins). The only other think I noticed of some small note (and I'm stretching to find things): among all the flashbacks (the movie is basically one big flashback, as well) is at least one case of a flashback within the flashback. Or is that three layers? Brilliance beget by necessity.

Unremarkable but entertaining enough minor noir. Russell Wade is spirited as the newspaper man with a cause, Edmund MacDonald is the aspiring District Attorney but sales a little close to the wind and spends much time brooding in a Vincent Price sort of way. Luana Walters is the girl in the middle and halfway through the film brings everything to life with one of the very many twists. Unfortunately it has been a rather slow beginning and before the end tips back down. There is always an inherent problem with movies that are flashbacks and this one is no exception. Worth it though for Walters' performance when for a time the film revolves around her and we seem to be going places.

Better than most of the low budget thrillers, this is fun because it involves a series of flashbacks which explain why a woman has been badly injured due to her connection with a corrupt district attorney. The story is pretty well put forward with a minimum of stereotyping. The woman is really a fireball, putting herself in harm's way over and over. It's odd she survived as long as she did. Most of the characters are bad guys with their own agendas. There is some double crossing and an effort to expose a frame-up. I felt the ending was pretty well done, which isn't always the case in this genre. The acting is quite good because the bad guys are presented as human beings, with human failings and emotions. Not that they aren't pretty evil and pretty cold. It's worth a look.