Watch No Place for a Lady For Free

Undescribable Perfection

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film starts with a scam. A truck load of new rubber tires is switched for a load of worthless used tires. The crooks plan is to deliver the worthless tires at night to the retailer and then set them on fire before they can be identified as junk. The viewer isn't sure who is behind the crime, but it is evident a number of people who work at the tire manufacturer are aware of the switch.The scene shifts to private detective Jess Arno (William Gargan) who is driving to a beach house with a client (Phyllis Brooks) who is involved in a blockbuster murder case. Upon entering the beach house, Arno finds the corpse of a woman. Since there is no working phone at the beach house, Arno drives to a nearby club and phones the police. The police arrive and as they enter the beach house they find the corpse has vanished. The police doubt Arno's story but Arno had previously made an important discovery. He identified the designer of the dress on the corpse.Of course the two subplots come together and soon Arno is tracking the killer. Production values are pretty good for a Columbia B. The cast is filled with veterans of such material and they do an excellent job as expected. Margaret Lindsay plays a real estate agent who is also Arno's fiancée. She is determined to make sure Arno's interest in his client stay professional. Also on hand are James Burke as the slightly dense local detective and Thomas Jackson playing his usual cynical Police Captain. Top suspects include a nosey reporter played by Dick Purcell; an oily crook, played by Jerome Cowan; and a nightclub owner, played by Edward Norris.