Tonight's Movie: Arson, Inc. (1949)

During my recent road trip I watched a few movies, all of which had running times of about an hour. I find the short running times perfect to fit in a little entertainment at the end of a busy day.

One of the films I enjoyed the most was a 63-minute Lippert Pictures crime film, ARSON, INC. (1949). Like many Lippert Pictures, it's not exactly a great film, but it's plenty entertaining.

Robert Lowery plays Joe Martin, a young fire fighter promoted to the arson investigation team.

Joe ends up going undercover to investigate sleazy insurance man Fred Fender (Douglas Fowley). Joe believes that Fender is behind a string of mysterious fires and insurance claims, which also involve Mr. and Mrs. Peyson (Byron Foulger and Lelah Tyler).

When Joe pays a visit to the Peysons' apartment, he meets Jane (Anne Gwynne), a schoolteacher earning extra money babysitting in the evenings while she corrects papers. Joe and Jane hit it off, though their budding relationship is somewhat complicated by Joe's undercover work.

This is a fast-moving hour with an interesting story and a number of familiar faces. In addition to those already named, former child actress Marcia Mae Jones has a nice role as Fender's abused (literally and figuratively) secretary Betty. Jones also appeared in Lippert's HI-JACKED (1950), which I reviewed here in 2014.

One of the crooks Joe connects with in his investigation is played by Edward Brophy, known to Disney fans as the voice of Timothy Mouse in DUMBO (1941). Thurl Ravenscroft, long associated with Disney, performs at a party, and listen closely to the race track announcer's voice -- it's John Forsythe in an early audio-only role. This was one of the final roles played by character actress Maude Eburne, who had been in films for three decades at this point.

Some of the movie is on the hokey side, such as the speech by the fire chief (William Forrest) which opens the movie, but it's never dull. Lowery and Gwynne (Chris Pine's grandmother) are engaging, and there are some interesting camera angles which add visual interest. There's also a fiery action scene near the end of the movie.

DforDoom reviewed this film a few years ago at Classic Movie Ramblings and liked it too. It's just the ticket for a "B" movie fan looking for an entertaining hour.

ARSON, INC. was directed by William Berke and filmed in black and white by Carl Berger.

ARSON, INC. is available on DVD in a double feature set or in the six-film Forgotten Noir - Series 1 collection. I previously reviewed THE SHADOW MAN (1953) from the latter set.

A postscript: I visited leading man Robert Lowery's final resting place at Valhalla Cemetery in North Hollywood in January 2020.

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