Written, Directed, and Produced by Andrew L. Stone known for Stormy Weather, and Noirs Julie, Cry Terror!, The Night Holds Terror, A Blueprint for Murder, The Steel Trap, Highway 301.
Cinematography for Highway 301 and Storm Warning was by Carl E. Guthrie. Visually those are Director Stone's best. Of all the rest, I've never watched Julie.
Cinematography for Confidence Girl was by William H. Clothier known more for Westerns i.e., The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, The Alamo, and Cheyenne Autumn. The cinematography is uninspiring, which is the main reason I put this one "On The Cusp."
The Music was by Lucien Cailliet.
The film stars Tom Conway (at least 10 Classic Noir) as Con artist Roger Kingsley. My hometown Astoria gal Hillary Brooke (Ministry Of Fear, Strange Impersonation, and a lot of comedy over the years appearing with Red Skelton and with Bud Abbot, and Lou Costello in their films and TV Show). Brooke plays Kingsley's con partner in crime Mary Webb.
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| Tom Conway as Rodger Kingsley |
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| Hillary Brooke as Mary Webb |
The rest of the cast includes Eddie Marr as Johnny Gregg, John Gallaudet as Detective Chief Brownell, Jack Kruschen (The Apartment) as Detective Sergeant Quinn, Dan Riss as Detective Lieutenant Fenton, Walter Kingsford as Mr. Markewell, Paul Livermore as Hal Speel, ,Aline Towne as Peggy Speel, Helen Van Tuyl as Maggie, Edmund Cobb as Detective Lieutenant Cobb, and Truman Bradley as Narrator
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| Eddie Marr as Johnny Gregg |
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| Walter Kingsford as Mr. Markewel |
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| Jack Kruschen as Detective Sergeant Quinn |
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| John Gallaudet as Detective Chief Brownell |
I first stumbled across this when I was just searching the available catalog of streaming films on Netflix at least 11 years ago and came across an interesting/intriguing title Confidence Girl (1952), and gave it a go.
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| Los Angeles Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz |
It starts off as a typical police procedural with a narration by Truman Bradley and then a brief introductory spiel by Los Angeles Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz warning against the confidence game, then proceeds to tell the case of Mary Webb (Brooke) and her association with Roger Kingsley (Conway).
The whole tale takes place in the space of 10 days. Roger Kingsley is officially a licensed New York P.I. and unofficially a whiz at running large confidence games that involve a lot of advance planning. Mary Webb is his gal pal. When Rodger found Mary, she was playing a fiddle in a Bowery bar.
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The story starts in New York City where Roger presents his P.I. credentials to The Arlington Insurance Company head telling him that he has a lead on a woman Mary Webb who is about to hit one of the department stores in Los Angeles they insure. Rodger asks him if he's rather pay out on a claim or pay him $10,000 if he catches her. The guy agrees and writes Rodger a letter of introduction saying he represents the company. Rodger doesn't give a rats ass about the $10,000 he really wants the letter of introduction.
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| at LAPD |
The letter he presents to Detective Chief Brownell, of the Los Angeles Police Department. Rodger tells Brownell that he'll coordinate with the store dick and when they apprehend Webb he'll let LAPD know. Brownell tells Rodger that they'll send a cruiser from the Wilshire division. This gets Rodger an insider knowledge of what the LAPD is doing.
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The way it works is one of there accomplices shops for furs. A saleswoman brings out various coats and leaves the ones that she wants to finally decide on. While this is going on Mary Webb walks up and tries on one of the coats left out on the rack, and walks to the elevator. She is followed by Rodger and the store dick. When she walks outside Rodger and the store detective arrest her.
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| Busted!!! |
Rodger tells the store detective to call Detective Chief Brownell. When he goes back in the store to do so Rodger walks Mary over to a car and she drives off. Rodger tells the store detective that she pulled a gun out of her boddice and got away.
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Webb, next as planned, goes to a large pawn shop and asks the owner Mr. Markwell if he has any violins for sale? She tells him that she is a concert violinist and that when traveling she always shops for lost treasures. Seeing Mary in a $15,000 fur coat gives the impression that she is very well off.
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Markwell tells her that he can't sell it to her. She tells Markwell she'll pay him $10,000 for it. So Markwell goes to visit Rodger and the accomplice from the department store, who this time is posing as his mother. Rodger a few months prior has rented a furnished house for this very part of the scam.
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All this is building up to the big con, a mentalist act set in Johnny Gregg's nightclub where most of the staff is in on the con, gathering bits and pieces of info from the guests cars, their checked coats, info overheard by the waitstaff, etc., etc. Each batch of info assigned a table number corresponding to the guests, each table is bugged and each table is under a fake ceiling light that is actually a two way mirror with an operative with binoculars reading any thing written down or various inscriptions on cigarette cases etc., etc. All this info is brought to Rodger to read to Mary through a microphone set up, Mary has an earpiece and speaker running up her dress from a receiver.
The whole "mentalist" shebang is a set up for Mary to eventually get private sessions where she will steer the rubes into buying silver mining stock certificates from Rodger and Johnny Gregg. The plan is to sell a million dollars worth of stock in one month and then disappear. Things go Noirsville after Mary acquires a conscience after she sees the wonderful nursey in a high end house with a pool they rented as part of the con.
Noirsville
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