Title character Virginia Mayo anticipates
double-crossing she'd commit in same year White Heat, this a dry B run by director
Richard Bare (of Joe McDoakes series fame) and cast members better accustomed
to lower bill placement. Utility players like Tom D'Andrea, Helen Westcott, and
Douglas Kennedy must have welcomed work like this, getting more words than in A's they assisted. The set-up is mob lawyer Zachary Scott framed for a
murder he confesses to, but doesn't actually want to go to jail for. Yes, I was
confused too. What a rabbit hole movies plunge down when characters go senseless to
serve a plot point. Scott is smooth in one scene, surly the next, all in
service to jerry-built remaking of Smart Money, an oldie maybe better left in
Warner attics. Not noir, at least to degree of cultists caring about it, and so
by-numbers as to shout indifference. Flaxy Martin was fruit of WB increasing production and renewal of a budget policy at full blast. 1948-49 saw them back
at B's in a largest way since early in the decade. Theatres still needed second
features, and Flaxy Martin helped fill such breach. It's enjoyable for
Warner completists and as accompaniment to a nap.
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