The Game That Kills
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Game That Kills |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1937 |
| length | 55 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | D. Ross Lederman |
| script |
Grace Neville , Fred Niblo Jr. |
| production |
Irving Briskin , Harry L. Decker |
| camera | Benjamin H. Kline |
| cut | James Sweeney |
| occupation | |
| |
The Game That Kills , also known as Flashing Skates , is an American crime film with Charles Quigley and Rita Hayworth from 1937. It was based on a story by J. Benton Cheney .
action
Tom Ferguson, an important ice hockey player for the New York Indians, is killed in an alleged accident on the ice. The truth is, his own teammates, Dick Adams and Bill Drake, have him on their conscience. The terrible act was initiated by the owner of the team, Rudy Maxwell, who is involved in windy betting deals and bets against his own team. He shares the high profits with Adams and Drake. Since Tom was unwilling to lose games on purpose and because he threatened to blow up Maxwell and his accomplices, it cost him his life.
When Alex Ferguson learns of his brother's death, he is immediately convinced that it couldn't have been an accident. Now he is on his way to New York to bring the truth to light. Once there, he poses as an ice hockey player named Steve Moreau and manages to be accepted into the team. He quickly proves himself a talented player and falls in love with the pretty Betty Holland, the coach's daughter. During his research, he discovers Maxwell and also finds out that he has the team's coach, Joe Holland, in hand for check fraud.
When sports reporter Sam Erskine also suspects the poor performance of the Indians manipulation, he convinces Betty to work for his newspaper and to collect as much information as possible in order to protect her father's reputation. During her research, Betty discovers Steve's true identity shortly afterwards and also tracks Maxwell's shady machinations. This in turn catches her in her investigation, takes her hostage and uses her as leverage against her father so that he can continue to lead the team to lose the games. Alex finally manages to lure Maxwell's henchmen Adams and Drake into a trap and get them to confess about the murder of his brother. Thereupon he finds Maxwell's hiding place, has him and his helpers arrested by the police and frees Betty, with whom he now wants to start a new life.
background
The Columbia Pictures- produced B-movie The Game That Kills was the second of three ice hockey films released in 1937. The other two were Warner Brothers ' King of Hockey and Universal's Idol of the Crowds with John Wayne .
Reviews
According to Weekly Variety, the film shows “mainly” Charles Quigley, but there is also Rita Hayworth, “who recently appeared in a small dance role in one of his films”. The brunette Hayworth is "an eye-catcher" and speaks her lines "well". So you will "probably see them more often in future Columbia films." Hal Erickson of the All Movie Guide , in retrospect, found that Rita Hayworth, who was second in the film, was "very decorative as Holland's daughter and Ferguson's sweetheart."
Web links
- The Game That Kills in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Game That Kills at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ “The film features Charles Quigley on top, but sharing with Rita Hayworth, who broke in recently with a small dancing role in one of his pictures. The brunette is a looker and talks the role well; we will probably see her more often in the Columbia prints of the future. " Weekly Variety quoted. after Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, p. 87.
- ↑ "Second-billed Rita Hayworth is decorative as Holland's daughter (and Ferguson's sweetheart, natch)." Hal Erickson , cf. omovie.com