Detective Dan Turner (William Marshall) has been hired by movie exec Ziggy Cranston (Ricardo Cortez) to stop a blackmail plot against him by Carla (Stephanie Bachelor), who has photos of him but is soon murdered. He’s also being set up by some mobsters.
Based on Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective, a pulp story that ran in Spicy Detective and Hollywood Detective. This story came from “Stock Shot” by Robert Leslie Bellem, which was in the June 1944 issue of the latter magazine. The character was also played by Marc Singer in The Raven Red Kiss-Off, which was also released as Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective.
This is just 67 minutes, which is perfect for a quick film noir. This has a lead that says, “Don’t move, sweetheart, this thing doesn’t shoot marshmallows.” It was directed by Lesley Selander, who did more than fifty episodes of Lassie and ended his career working in Westerns. Writers included Royal K. Cole (who did the Captain America, Blackhawk, Superman and Tex Granger movie serials, as well as Valley of the Zombies, The Tiger Woman and The Monster and the Ape) and Albert DeMond (who wrote The Crimson Ghost and D-Day On Mars).