RIFF RAFF

US, 1947, 80 minutes, Black and white.
Pat O' Brien, Walter Slezak, Anne Jeffreys, Percy Kilbride, Jerome Cowan.
Directed by Ted Tetzlaff.

Riff Raff is a small-budget gangster thriller of the mid-40s. It was a B-production from R.K.O. Studios. However, it has some interesting credits and, of its kind, it works very well and entertainingly.

Director is Ted Tetzlaff who was to direct The Window with Bobby Driscoll. Pat O' Brien does a variation on his Warner Bros. roles - private eye style, deadpan humour, tough hero. Walter Slezak does yet another variation of his slightly comic villain. There is a very interesting character sketch by Percy Kilbride as a taxi-driver - he was just about to be come Pa Kettle.

The film has the studio atmosphere of Panama, a contrived plot about oil deposits in Central America. The characters are almost stereotype of this kind of thriller - con man, crooks, private detectives, taxi-drivers etc. But they are quite well portrayed.

The film is influenced by the atmosphere of gangster thrillers from Hollywood at the time - the touch of black cynicism and pessimism which made them film noir. An efficient Hollywood thriller.