The ongoing series of reviews of vintage Warner Archive DVD release aptly picks the scorching 1947 noir film "Riff-Raff" for the hot and steamy weather that much of North America is experiencing. Pat O'Brien stars as awesomely named PI Dan Hammer, who almost certainly has a past behind his present as a well-connected (and liked) shamus/fixer who lives in his shabby one-room office in Panama.
"Riff" creatively opens in the interior of a cargo plane that is transporting two passengers from Peru to Panama; one of these men not heeding the standard airline instruction to stay in his seat with his belt fastened until the plane comes to a complete stop at the terminal sets the action in motion.
Hasso, who is the other passenger, seeks out Hammer time on landing in Panama. This client, who is on a 24-hour mission similar (but more nefarious) to the one around which the (Unreal TV reviewed) Archive BD-released "Bad Day at Black Rock" centers, wants to hire Hammer to ensure that the journey is a round-trip one for Hasso.
The noirness of "Riff" increases when an oil company executive calls Hammer to summon him to his office while Hasso is still present. Hammer drops off Client #1 on his way to visit potential Client #2.
On arriving at the executive suite, Hammer learns that passenger who deplaned prematurely was carrying a map to a historically rich oil field. The dual mission that Hammer accepts is to locate Hasso and to recover the map. Anyone at all familiar with this genre knows that this task is going to be much more difficult than Hammer anticipates.
Not being a fool, Hammer rushes over to the hotel where he dropped Hasso only to find that someone has gotten there before him; the next actions by Hammer nicely convey his character (no pun intended).
The dame comes in the picture in the form of club singer Maxine (Anne Jeffreys of the "Topper" franchise and "General Hospital"), who has a mission of her own and who is as fast with quips as Hammer. Of course, love has a great deal to do with every action of Maxine.
The investigation further enhances the noir element of this post-war film with the introduction of sinister German Molinar. Molinar also wants the map and shares the belief that Hammer is the key to obtaining it. This sets the stage for a scene for a creative time-lapse segment in which Molinar tries to prove that he has ways of making Hammer talk.
Much of the (once again) noir-style film relates to Hammer repeatedly helping Molinar make a fool out of himself. The best of this lot involves Hammer sidekick/driver Pop (played by Percy Kilbride fully channeling Pa Kettle). As an aside, seeing Pop and Hammer joke about gay marriage in the '40s is equally amusing and awesome.
The Hays Code is fully respected in that crime does not pay and the girl ends up with the right fella.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Riff" is encouraged to email me; you also can connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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