Directed by Roy Rowland; produced by Harry Rapf
When the former partner of Lieutenant Mike Conovan (Van Johnson) is murdered, the Los Angeles homicide detective finds the death may be connected to a turf-war among the city’s bookies. This puts him under pressure from both his bosses and the public. Meanwhile, his wife (Arlene Dahl) is tired of the telephone summoning her husband into danger every evening. Between his job and his home, Conovan is a man under pressure.
Initially, I thought Scene of the Crime somewhat different than many police procedural movies from its era. For one thing, from the title and the scenes unfolding behind the opening credits, I thought its subjects would comprise a police force’s scene-of-crime unit: the science behind the investigations. That is not the case. Nonetheless, and though it began with the cliched premise of the murdered partner, Scene of the Crime had promise.
For one thing, Conovan’s new, young partner (Tom Drake) was a confident, though not arrogant detective who could hold his own with veteran policemen and reporters in terms of repartée. As well, the angle of a hostile take-over of illegal betting operations was interesting; in particular, the business-like methods of the head of the local bookies (Tom Powers) showed a parallel to police operations.
Unfortunately, the story became too convoluted for its own good, and brought in characters that weren’t really significant until they were dropped into the climax as an easy solution to the detectives’ problems. The shoot-out at the end is exciting, but comes as a result of an action of Conovan’s that makes the viewer ask why he didn’t do that at the beginning. Also, there are predictable aspects, such as aged cop Piper (John McIntire) being too old for his job.
The story, then, is the culprit in the film’s relegation to mediocrity, which is too bad, as other elements are better. The writing, though creating nothing special in the dialogue, creates some good characters, such as Gloria DeHaven’s Lili, a singer in a night-club who is used by Conovan because of her connection to a possible murderer. As well, the relationship between Conovan and his wife is a rare one; she is very trusting, even when her husband must romance Lili as part of his investigation. Other movies would have injected an easy sub-plot into that.
The acting too is capable. It is interesting to see McIntire play a cop nearing retirement, even though he was only 42 at the time. His craggy face probably made it easy for the make-up artist to age him - and, indeed, he is convincing. To be honest, to me, McIntire, a very prolific character actor in both movies and television, always seemed old.
In the end, however, despite all - including an unmemorable score by future Oscar-winner André Previn - Scene of the Crime is no more than average.