Memorergi good film but with many flaws

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

MidnightThud So George Raft goes illegally undercover to bust up a loan shark racket and at the same time gives the mob a new idea to prey on house wives and if they cant pay up - well in the real world would have been exploited for very obvious sexual payments of various kinds.Hollywood certainly comes up with some odd morality tales.Good little film for what it is and another combination of films like Souls for Sale, I was a Communits for the FBI - that kind of thing. Lots of B-Grade familiar faces, fasted paced with typical tough guy dialogue sprinkled throughout. Looking back on these times, i am not sure if i would want to go back to this era.

bkoganbing Loan Shark finds George Raft an ex-con come to live with his sister Helen Westcott after his release. Their neighbor and secretary to the owner of the factory where Westcott's husband is employed, Dorothy Hart puts in a good word for Raft for a job.Owner Charles Meredith has a special job in mind for Raft, investigating and finding out who's behind a group of loan sharks who have been putting many of his employees in their debt. Raft doesn't want this kind of work, but changes his mind when his brother-in-law Bill Phipps is killed.But unfortunately this involves Raft going undercover and working for the gang until he can find out who the real boss is. He makes a lot of enemies, including Westcott and Hart until the job is done.The film was done for B picture studio Lippert films and possibly at a major studio it would have had a lot of the plot holes filled. The writing could have used some improvement, but action goes along at a nice pace and Raft is perfectly cast in the hero part. During this time Raft was doing most of his work in B films and some of them are not bad at all. Loan Shark is one of them.

John W Chance This film is included as part of the "Forgotten Noir" DVD series, which really means B-movie bottom billed Robert Lippert movies. Be warned! No wonder they are forgotten. The best Lippert Picture, however, now in a new fantastic DVD version, is 'Rocketship X-M' (1950) with uncredited script by Dalton Trumbo!This one is a fair time passer. It's clearly built as a vehicle for George Raft, (who is in almost every scene) and his screen persona as a "tough guy." He walks like he has a coat hanger stuck in his back (a walk 'copied' by Jimmy Carter and Al Gore): this is the kind of walk you practice with a book on your head to improve your posture. It doesn't seem right these days for a tough guy, but Raft's look and famous staccato monotone compensate greatly for his stiff walk.It's not really a noir film. Noir films have nice guys being caught up in a corrupt world-- they had titles like 'Undercurrent,' 'Whirlpool,' 'Quicksand,' 'Detour,' 'Roadblock,' 'Criss Cross,' etc. and often were shot in extremely low light and shadows like the amazing 'Out of the Past'(1947). This one is actually 'the good guy goes undercover to trap the Big Boss.'Anyway, George Raft carries the film. For fans of George Raft, this is a must see. He's in his 'element' here with loan sharks, thugs and criminals, not hanging out in Morocco in the Foreign Legion. When he's on screen, we watch him. We also get great bad guy from Paul Stewart, the butler from 'Citizan Kane' (1941). With those eyes and eyebrows he's so good as a heavy! A young John Hoyt is also nicely bad. Dorothy Hart, a former fashion model, as Raft's 30 year younger love interest (!) has eyes that put you on Cloud 9. She quit movies and mostly did work for the UN, since she "hated Hollywood." This movie may be one reason why.This is also for fans like me who enjoy seeing Los Angeles in the early fifties. Hey, when I was growing up in the fifties in the boondocks of Northern California (Petaluma), seeing black and white films of crime in LA, added to the thrill of my first visit to Los Angeles. Best of all, of course, is 'Kiss Me Deadly' (1955) where we get to see the apartments next to Angel's Flight on Bunker Hill before they were razed, and the super noir 'D.O.A.' (1951) which takes us inside the Bradbury Building in downtown LA.Not an Oscar contender. I give it a four.

David (Handlinghandel) OK: That's only at the beginning. catch the start of this nice little noir. Raft makes an entrance any diva would have been pleased with. And he arrives to visit his sister. On the way, he passes a squabbling couple. The sister greets him with love and concern, commenting on how tired he looks. And then he goes to soak in a hot bath! Later in the movie, we see that the authors have been influenced by another play that became a movie: The girlfriend of one of the bad guys suddenly sounds like Judy Holliday as Billie Dawn, from "Born yesterday." It may indeed have been unconscious. But wait: The climactic scene -- and this is giving nothing away -- is set in a theater.All this said, it's an excellent movie for something on so obviously low a budget. Raft is the same as he usually was. He's not exciting but he gives a solid performance. The lead female, Dorothy Hart, is attractive and convincing. The supporting cast is very good and they're all well directed.It's by no means a great movie but it's a decent, good one, worth your time.