Tonight's Movie: Lighthouse (1947)

I'm following up last week's review of THE PREVIEW MURDER MYSTERY (1936) with another review from TCM's July "B" movie series.

This time around I watched LIGHTHOUSE (1947), a 62-minute film from Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). And I'll say right at the top that I absolutely loved this one!

Don Castle, who also starred that year in the very good Monogram B's THE GUILTY (1947) and HIGH TIDE (1947), plays Sam. Sam is an assistant lighthouse keeper to Hank (John Litel, who was also in THE GUILTY). Their station is off the coast, accessible only by boat.

While shoreside Sam misrepresents both his job and his availability to lovely Connie (June Lang), who falls for him. She's crushed to later learn the truth about him and decides to get back at Sam by marrying his older boss Hank on the rebound.

With the three of them living at the lighthouse station it's a bit crowded, especially as Sam continues to pursue Connie. But Connie quickly realizes both the depths of Sam's sleaziness and what a high quality man she's married...

This movie was a refreshing change of pace. The screenplay by Robert B. Churchill, based on a story by Don Martin, initially starts out as though it could be a DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) type story, but then it goes in completely unexpected directions.

LIGHTHOUSE is essentially a three-character play, with Connie's friend JoJo (Marian Martin) occasionally popping in as well. I always enjoy Litel and Castle, and I thought June Lang was a real find as Connie. She gives a fresh, natural performance and was quite sympathetic.

Lang had been in movies since the early '30s, with notable roles including John Ford's WEE WILLIE WINKIE (1937), but I don't seem to have come across her work prior to this. Sadly, this was her last film. She lived until 2005 and is interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

The LIGHTHOUSE exterior is evocative; I'd love to know where it was shot. Wikipedia indicates it was somewhere in the San Pedro area.

The interior sets are extremely bare bones, but the story and acting overcome that aspect; I was very invested in finding out "what happens next." When the movie ended I also found myself wondering what happened to the characters afterwards, which is for me one of the marks of a good movie.  I'll definitely be watching it again in the future.

LIGHTHOUSE was directed by Frank Wisbar and filmed in black and white by Walter Strenge.

Look for it to possibly return on TCM one day, or it may be found "out there on the Internet."

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