Cheap Riffraff (Video) (Ted Tetzlaff) Price

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Customer Reviews of Riffraff

A dynamic blend of visual and verbal delights.
Pat O'Brien plays a weary but slick detective in Panama, cutting through deception and dodging death while he tries to locate a map of rich oil fields. That's as much story as there is, and if left in Monogram's hands, this film may have been nothing special. But this was made by RKO and directed by Ted Tetzlaff, who brings a grand eye to the proceedings.

Tetzlaff lensed Hitchcock's Notorious, and this is a similarly crafted piece, with good, conspicuous, yet never intrusive direction. Tetzlaff employs well-designed scene transitions, compositions, tracking shots, and the like. In fact, I found the famed silent opening to be the *least* interesting part of the movie.

As with most RKO products of this era, some nifty dialogue is dispersed throughout, although the movie as a whole perks up considerably when the delightful and beautiful Jeffreys is on screen, especially in the wisecracking department. I had not discovered her before this, but she has a grabbing presence, in the type of role more often played by Jane Greer or Ann Sheridan.

O'Brien as our hero is not exactly possessed of a superhero's build, mind or morals, but that works in the context of the story. He's a very human character who is supremely comfortable in these limited surroundings and perhaps nowhere else, although the movie doesn't reveal much background about his Dan Hammer persona. BTW, you've gotta love that hackneyed (Dan Turner, Mike Hammer) PI name! Although I do not think any other self-respecting hard-boiled PI would be caught dead in the fuzzy fedora Pat wears here.

For comic relief there is nice old coot Percy Kilbride as Pat's driver/ sidekick/ boss/ pal/father figure. And if all those words seem to contradict each other, you're right. They do. One funny scene has him entertain Jeffreys in his broken-down cab, which he says also functions as Hammer's waiting room.
Walter Slezak is effective as a wannabe Greenstreet. His part starts out bland but gets more interesting later in the film, benefiting from some framing devices designed to portray him as a cinema grotesque, and as his methods become more brutal.
Handsome but weaselly RKO regular Jerome Cowan is fine in what is basically a throwaway role.

This movie is hurt slightly by the fact that the map everyone seeks was hidden where it was, a place I will not reveal here. But the audience finds out early on, and it lends a slight air of "Oh, come on!" to the whole affair. I know, hiding the great whatsit in plain sight is the best place sometimes, but from its location this particular mcguffin practically tweaked everyone seeking it right on the smeller. There's a good fight over the map near the end, though, so I'm mostly forgiving.

Digressions and miniscule complaints aside, I recommend this along with just about any other RKO movie from the 40's that you can find (which ain't always easy, friend).