The System Page #9

Synopsis: Gambler John Merrick (Frank Lovejoy) is the head of a bookie syndicate and the newspaper is crusading against him and the rackets, primarily because Merrick is in love with Felice Stuart (Joan Weldon), daughter of the newspaper publisher who can not break up the romance through persuasion. A senate committee investigating crime gets involved, the racketeers, other than Merrick who is a "nice guy", strike back and kill a reporter, and Merrick's own son, Jerry Merrick (Robert Arthur), commits suicide. Merrick, to his own disadvantage, helps bring down the syndicate. Since it is in black-and-white-, deals with crime and was an American-made film, some will call it "film noir" since that seems to be the current guidelines for putting a film in that, at one time limited-and-defined genre. It ain't, and neither are most of the others currently so classified.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

Director(s): Lewis Seiler

Actors: Frank Lovejoy, Joan Weldon, Robert Arthur, Paul Picerni


IMDB:: 6.4

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: APPROVED
Year:: 1953
: 90 min
: 84 Views

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but the truth, so help you god. - Yeah.
Alright, sit down.
State your name.
Harry Goubernik.
Where do you live, Harry?
- Mission Street in Chicago. Chicago.
How do you happen to be in Clarkton?
They brought me.
- Who?
Mr. Marty, Big Ruben and Specs.
For what purpose were
you brought to Clarkton?
They don't tell me no purpose.
Well, why did Mr. Marty, Big Ruben
and Specs come to Clarkton?
To see Merrick. Johnny Merrick.
They know John Merrick.
Sure, they know him.
He lays off with Mr. Marty's syndicate.
And did they see Mr. Merrick?
- Yeah. They've seen him.
They left me at this hotel, see?
And they come back and say..
"We got to do something about this here
Allen". They say.. - You mean Jerry Allen?
Yeah, this here Jerry Allen.
They say they talk to this here Merrick.
But he don't want to do
nothing about this Allen, see?
So, they send me..
me and Specs to..
take care of this here Allen.
What do you mean by
"take care" of Allen?
Like he was took care of.
- You mean you were told to kill him?
Yeah.
Who gave you those instructions?
Mr. Marty and Big Ruben.
That's all.
Mr. John Merrick, please.
You heard Harry Goubenik's testimony?
- Yes.
Was he telling the truth?
- Yes.
Did Mr. Marty, Big Ruben and Specs visit
you to discuss the situation in Clarkton?
Yes. - Are these the men from the
syndicate in Chicago and St. Louis? - Yes.
And you did a lay off business
with this syndicate? - Yes.
You are therefore in control of the
organized gambling racket in Clarkton?
Yes.
The witness is excused.
A warrant will be issued
for your arrest for perjury.
Further findings will be forwarded
to the proper federal authorities.
We recommend that Mr. Merrick
be taken into immediate custody.
This committee stands adjourned!
Johnny!
My deadpan friend.
I love you and I will always love you.
All aboard!

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Jo Eisinger

Jo Eisinger (1909 - 1991) was a film and television writer whose career spanned more than forty years from the early forties well into the eighties. He is widely recognized as the writer of two of the most psychologically complex film noirs: Gilda (1946) and Night and the City (1950). His credits also include The Sleeping City (1950) and Crime of Passion (1957), a coda to the films of the noir style, for which he wrote the story as well as the screenplay. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, it is a strikingly modern commentary about how women were driven mad by the limitations imposed upon them in the postwar period. Jo Eisinger started writing for radio penning numerous segments for the Adventures of Sam Spade series. He returned to thriller and private eye adventure series writing for the ITC television series Danger Man (1960–61) and the mid-1980s HBO series Philip Marlowe, Private Eye. His script for an episode of the latter show, "The Pencil", earned him a 1984 Edgar Award. Eisinger's credits also include several films that departed from his accustomed genres of mystery, adventure and crime. Among them are Oscar Wilde (1960), starring Robert Morley and Sir Ralph Richardson, The Rover (L'Avventuriero, 1967), from the novel by Joseph Conrad and starring Rita Hayworth and Anthony Quinn, and The Jigsaw Man (1983), starring Laurence Olivier and directed by Terence Young. Eisinger wrote the books on which the Broadway plays What Big Ears! (1942) and A Point of Honor (1937) were based. His novel The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1943) was adapted for the long-running radio drama program Suspense in 1944; the episode featured screen and radio actors Keenan Wynn and Hans Conried. A film version of The Walls Came Tumbling Down starring Edgar Buchanan and George Macready was released in 1946. Jo Eisinger's second marriage was to Lorain Beaumont. Eisinger used his wife's maiden name for Mr. Beaumont, one of the characters in The Walls Came Tumbling Down. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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The System Page #9

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