Exposed (1947)

Director:

George Blair

Writers:

Charles Moran (story)
Royal K. Cole (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 September 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Colonel Bentry hires private-eye Belinda Prentice to investigate his stepson and heir Bill Forestman...

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Chicago | Butler | Heir | Private Detective

Cast

Adele Mara	...	Belinda Prentice
Mark Roberts	...	William Foreman III (as Robert Scott)
Lorna Gray	...	Judith (as Adrian Booth)
Robert Armstrong	...	Insp. Prentice
William Haade	...	Iggy Broty
Bob Steele	...	Chicago
Harry Shannon	...	Severance
Charles Evans	...	Jonathan Lowell
Joyce Compton	...	Emmy
Russell Hicks	...	Col. Bentry
Paul E. Burns	...	Prof. Ordson
Colin Campbell	...	Dr. Richard
Edward Gargan	...	Big Mac
Mary Gordon	...	Miss Keets
Patricia Knox	...	Waitress

Runtime:

59 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

Republic Pictures

Female private-eye, murder-not-murder, the Butler did-and-did not ,and a hypodermic needle.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Colonel Bentry (Russell Hicks) hires private-eye Belinda Prentice (Adele Mara)to investigate his stepson and heir Bill Forestman (Robert Scott.) Bill has withdrawn large sums of money from his account, according to the Colonel, rented an apartment in the city and stoutly refuses to explain his actions.

On their way to the Bentry estate, Belinda and her assistant, Iggy Broty (William Haade), stop near Bill's apartment and their attention is attracted by two suspicious-looking characters. Iggs stays to check them out while Belinda goes on to Bentry's. She is admitted by Severance (Harry Shannon), the butler, who goes to the library to announce her arrival. She hears a cry from Severance, goes to the library and finds the Butler standing over the dead body of his employer. Belinda picks up a hypodermic needle lying near the body.

Inspector Prentice of Homicide (Robert Armstrong), Belinda's father, arrives to take over. He questions Bill, his sister Judith Forester (Adrian Booth), Jonathan Lowell (Charles Evans), the family lawyer...and Severance, who confesses that he is a reformed drunk AND a disbarred lawyer.

Belinda leaves and confers with Iggy, and learns that the two men in front of Bill's apartment house were Professor Ordoson (Paul E. Burns) and "Chicago" (Bob Steele), Bill's personal bodyguard. Iggy "visits" Bill's apartment and is beaten up by "Chicago", making about the tenth time the 200-pound Haade has lost a film-fight to the 160-pound Bob Steele.

Belinda makes a formal call on Bill, and Bill is most cooperative and he explains that he and Ordson are working on a secret-but-harmless experiment; that "Chicago" is employed to protect their material and equipment; and that he HAS NOT withdrawn large sums of money from his account.

Belinda, highly satisfied by Bill's explanation, decides she and Iggy will follow her number two suspect---Judith. They find her in a downtown bar where she is plying the family butler with liquor, and if one is a butler, getting plyed with liquor by Adrian Booth is about as good as butlering (buttling?) can get. Belinda finds this interesting but has another surprise awaiting her when she returns to her office and finds Lowell and "Chicago" there, and Lowell's intention is for Belinda to leave town for a while and has asked gun-for-hire "Chicago" to accompany him there so Belinda will grasp the seriousness of his get-out-of-town request. But Iggy, knowing he can't whip Bob Steele in a Republic fist-fight, shows up with a .38 automatic and sends Lowell and an unhappy "Chicago", who wasn't packing his own .38, on their way.

So, on a hunch, Belinda goes with her father to the Bentry estate---where they find Lowell dead on the lawn. It is at this point that Belinda provides the solution to all that has been transpiring.

And it is a nifty solution, indeed. But one gets all distracted just watching the delectable Adele Mara, that one sometimes isn't paying much attention to whatever it is she is saying. And whatever it is, she sure looks good saying it.

Any film that isn't a western and still has Adele Mara, Adrian Booth and Bob Steele in it is a three-star keeper.