Tight Spot

Furnished with an excellent script by William Bowers based on Lenard Kantor’s play, which in turn was inspired by true events, Phil Karlson directs Tight Spot with his customary confidence and instinct for tension, but in this case character development supersedes action since the story largely takes place in a single setting. Story-wise, a female prison inmate is relocated to a New York City hotel in the hopes that a U.S. attorney can convince her to testify against a former gangster boyfriend. Edward G. Robinson (as attorney Hallett), Brian Keith (as police lieutenant Vince Striker in charge of her safety), Lorne Greene (as mobster Costain who’s plotting to have her killed), and Katherine Anderson (as friendly prison matron Willoughby, serving as her escort and caretaker) are all outstanding and understated in their roles. Then there’s Ginger Rogers. Some noir fans may find the film frustrating specifically because of her central performance as wise-cracking (and very strangely coiffed) former mob moll Sherry Conley: it’s anything but understated. Over-the-top, scenery-chewing, and occasionally silly, she gives us a comical caricature for the first two acts, but, to her credit, by the third act she comes down to earth, the attempts on her character’s life having brought out a more realistic humanity. (Of course, devoted Rogers fans may find the entire performance thrilling). Guffey’s cinematography shines throughout, especially when illuminating the underworld universe outside the hotel at night, while the criminal sequences and one plot twist in particular place the film squarely in noir territory despite the Ginger Rogers show.