This Gun for Hire

This Gun for Hire (1942) starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Robert Preston. Killer-for-hire named Raven (Ladd) does a job for traitor Willard Gates (Preston) and gets paid in "hot" money. On the run, Raven travels to Los Angeles to get revenge on Gates and expose his plan to sell poison gas to the Japanese. In the course of events, nightclub entertainer Ellen Graham (Lake) gets mixed up in the deal. The film mixes crime and war themes with only partially successful results; its principal claim to fame is being Ladd's movie debut. (The subtitles included on the disc are adequate. No closed captions.) Grade: B