Red Light

Combining an unabashedly Christian narrative with brutal violence and ruthless revenge, Roy Del Ruth’s Red Light stars George Raft as Johnny Torno, a trucking company owner whose brother Jess (Arthur Franz), a Catholic priest, is shot in a dark hotel room. When Johnny begs the dying Jess to tell him who did it, the priest says it’s written in the Bible and then takes his last breath. The Gideon Bible that had been in the hotel room’s nightstand drawer, however, is missing. Enraged and vengeful, Johnny tracks down and interrogates a variety of other guests who had recently occupied the room, including Carla North (Virginia Mayo), who feels a spark for the troubled Johnny and agrees to assist him in his quest. Raymond Burr plays the detestable, homicidal Nick Cherney, an embezzling employee of Johnny’s just released from prison, and Henry Morgan plays the volatile Rocky who’s been following Johnny for unknown reasons. Despite the overt religious themes and heavenly redemption, which Christian viewers may find reassuring, Del Ruth’s film wallows in darkness, the deep shadows and low-key lighting canvasing characters and settings in almost every scene, the murder methods increasingly inventive, including electrocution and being crushed by a truck.