ROAD HOUSE (1951)

Joe Peters (Charles McGraw, Eternal Tough Guy with Brains) is a hard-boiled but honest insurance detective who's conned at an airport by Diane Morley (Joan Dixon), an equally hard-boiled but conniving kept woman. She''s the mistress of Kendall Webb (Lowell Gilmore), a smooth-talking racketeer, and she tells Peters he'll always be a small-timer unless he gets richer and less virtuous. Peters falls hard for her, eventually scheming with Webb to pull of a major heist which, predictably, goes bad. This trim little (73 minutes) movie has all the elements of a good film noir--taut dialog, interesting twists, excellent photography on urban streets, credible acting. Very good!