Vice Squad (1953)

Look sister … That was a cop they killed - and you gals know who pulled the trigger!

Vice Squad (AKA: The Girl in Room 17) is directed by Arnold Laven and adapted to screenplay by Lawrence Roman from the novel "Harness Bull" written by Leslie T. White. It stars Edward G. Robinson, Paulette Goddard, K.T. Stevens, Porter Hall, Adam Williams, Lee Van Cleef, Edward Binns, Barry Kelley and Jay Adler. Music is by Herschel Burke Gilbert and cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc.

Whichever title the marketing people throw at this MGM programmer does not in any way tell you exactly what sort of film is on offer. I mean, "Vice Squad" sounds devilishly tempting but this is merely one strand in a whole, likewise the suggestive "The Girl in Room 17" is exactly the same. Really - and it is too bland for MGM suits to have ever considered - it should have been called "A Day in the Life of a Los Angeles Police Captain", for that is exactly what this is, and damn great it is too.

Robinson is Captain Barnaby, who while trying to focus on who is responsible for the killing of a cop, has to juggle several other incidents in the day whilst coming to believe that a planned bank robbery the same day could be linked to the cop's murder. What quickly transpires is that Barnaby is not merely a cop, throughout the day he also has to be a psychiatrist and a councillor. He will have to make deals - not all text book legal - and he will use tricks and tactics that would now make the prissy brigade shiver and shake - and yet to get the right results has to be the order of the day here. He even will, during the chaos of the day, be called into a TV show interview to exude the upstanding greatness of the police force. What a day!

As police procedural "noirs" of the 50s go this one sits at the top end of the table. The editing (Arthur H. Nadel) is high quality as it stitches all the threads together without halting the flow of the story, the multitude of subplots seamlessly holding attention throughout. Within these sublots we find cynicism and dramatic verve, some choice suggestive and mocking dialogue, and even some censor baiting humour (hello underwear thief). Cast are superb within their respective roles, led by a steely in character Robinson, and even though Goddard (all swingy hips and suggestive postures as the "escort agency" boss) is underused (a crime given her scenes with Robinson are electric), this is a fine roll call of 40s/50s genre performers doing justice to the material to hand.

This was at the beginning of what would be a limited big screen directorial career for Arnold Laven (he would become a prolific TV series director/producer), but he marshals this one splendidly. He's helped by having Biroc (Cry Danger) on photography duty, where Biroc brings some deft noir visuals to the play (see the cross shadows as Barnaby takes troubling phone calls). Nifty location work comes out of Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Long Beach, and how nice to report that there is now a nice looking print of the pic out there to sample. Ultimately though we want a hot pot of crims, coppers, shysters and working dames to seal our deal, and here we get the all - and all in one day! 8/10