Riffraff (1947) Reviews

• Tetzlaff directs O'Brien in overlooked, and smashing-looking, "movie movie"

  bmacv2002-07-08

  One of the many felicities of Ted Tetzlaff's top-notch Riffraff, the cinematography of George Diskant can be best seen, unencumbered by dialogue, in the first few dazzling minutes. Torrential storms darken an airfield in Peru, where in the dead of night a cargo plane bearing two passengers departs for Panama; only one of them arrives. The opening previews Tetzlaff's pure-cinema approach; he lets the story unfold through images (and occasionally sounds) with a casual adroitness that remains striking more than half a century later. At the center of the story is Pat O'Brien, a Canal Zone operative-for-hire. The surviving passenger engages him for protection, but doesn't survive for long. Then an oil company hires him to find a map, supposedly with the vanished man, of unclaimed oil fields in Peru. Walter Slezak wants it, too, but through strong-arm tactics. O'Brien, with the help of his driver Percy Kilbride and nightclub singer Anne Jeffreys, sets out in pursuit of the elusive document (which we know from almost the get-go hangs pinned to a screen in his room). In retrospectives of film noir, Riffraff usually gets overlooked. While its genre is international intrigue and its touch on the light side, its conventions and, especially, its look, bring it to the fringes of the noir cycle. (And it's a better movie than two noirs released the same year which mine similar veins: Calcutta and Singapore.) Bigger stars like Humphrey Bogart and Alan Ladd monopolized this tough-guy-in-ports-of-call genre, but O'Brien acquits himself honorably. Unfortunately, he was nearing 50 at the time, and his early-middle-age looks probably weren't what post-war audiences were looking for (Bogart, however, was exactly the same age). No matter: the real heroes of Riffraff are Tetzlaff and Diskant, who collaborated to make what Judith Crist used to call a `movie movie.'

• Put it in a capsule

  jkholman2004-08-02

  For the sake of restraint I shy away from awarding 'tens'. But Riff Raff is so well made and keeps with the beat, that it is a perfect piece of cinematic work. I was on the telephone with my girlfriend (we were arguing about something) and had the television on mute and was impressed enough with the camera work (not the argument) that I just had to record the movie on the next go-around. This is the movie that would go in a time capsule so well that it captures the genre of movie it represents. This film is the one that made me a Walter Slezak fan. If he is in it, I'll watch it (you mean he actually has a fan base?). It was actors like Slezak [and John Qualen, Peter Lorre, Thomas Gomez, Mervyn Johns, his daughter Glynnis Johns, Percy Herbert, and many more] that made movies like this so effective. It is not a good VHS copy, but until I get a better one, this will do just fine. By the way, the telephone girl and I will celebrate our thirteenth anniversary next week.

• Canal Capers

  bkoganbing2006-07-28

  Riffraff finds Pat O'Brien as Dan Hammer, hardboiled private eye, operating in the Canal Zone which when the USA was operating the Panama Canal had a kind of hybrid sovereignty between America and Panama. Of course other than an aerial shot at the beginning of the film, no one got closer to Panama than the backlot of RKO Studios. I'm not sure if Mickey Spillane had already created his character of Mike Hammer, but O'Brien's portrayal sure could have been the model for it. O'Brien is hired by someone to locate a missing map of some undiscovered South American oil fields. His client is later murdered and that starts the ball rolling. A lot of the plot elements of Riffraff are found in that other private eye classic Murder, My Sweet and though Riffraff is entertaining, it doesn't hold a candle to that classic noir. Anne Jeffreys does well as the singer/moll who actually proves to be quite a bit of help to him in that last encounter with the bad guys. Walter Slezak is as always one charming, but dangerous villain. Jerome Cowan does well as the feckless and luckless oil executive and the best performance in the supporting cast is that of Percy Kilbride as a laconic cabdriver. In fact Percy's the one who gets the best of Slezak. You should see Riffraff just to see how he does it.

• This Is a Real Winner!

  Jed from Toronto2006-12-02

  I thought I'd seen just about all of the great, dark thrillers made in the late 40s - this little gem was a great surprise! It is well scripted, well acted, fast paced and commands the viewers attention. Walter Slezak is wonderful in his role as villain: fat, sweaty and greedy - what worked for Sidney Greenstreet works equally as well for Slezak. Slezak, who usually played villains and cads, had the knack of winning an audience's affection. Pat O'Brien is excellent in the role, if a little long-in-the-tooth to be courting a 23 year old Anne Jeffrys. Percy Kilbride, of Pa Kettle fame, is fun in his role as a placid yet cunning taxi driver, whose taxi would have been considered ancient, even in 1947. Definitely worth watching if you are a fan of this genre. As an aside, it's great to see that Anne Jeffreys is still very active in acting, and still very beautiful - nearly 60 years after this film was made.

• Great Little B Movie

  ThreeGuysOneMovie2012-02-18

  On occasion I head on over to TCM to see what's on and I walk right into great film that I haven't seen before. This time, I came across Riffraff a little film noir gem that I had never even heard of. The plot of Riffraff is pretty simple. Two men get on a plane headed for Panama. One of the men has a map to some oil locations in Peru. When the plane lands one of the men is missing along with the map. All kinds of seedy characters want the map. So they all seek out the help of Dan Hammer, (could there be a more perfect name for a noir anti-hero?) the local private eye/man about town. Apparently this movie is pretty well known for its opening sequence that involves 6 minutes with dialogue but what sets this film apart is that it has some great acting and some dialogue that you just won't see in movies today. Pat O'Brien is great in lead role. He doesn't really look like the classic tough guy but his performance is definitely a highlight. Walter Slezak does a decent job trying to imitate Sydney Greenstreet and Percy Kilbride is great as the comic relief/older buddy. I was unfamiliar with Anne Jefferys who plays the femme fatale in this one but she really impressed me. My only complaint is that the missing map is hidden in a location that is painfully obvious and it requires a little bit of a suspension of disbelief in order to accept that the characters don't see the map when it is right in front of their faces. Riffraff is definitely not one of the bigger budget noir's of its time but it's a great little B movie and well worth the a watch. Unfortunately, after I watched this I did a little digging around and I couldn't find a DVD release for the movie. I found it on VHS on Amazon but I don't know a single person that still has a VCR. Hopefully someone will release this on DVD soon.