This Gun for Hire (1942)

After being double crossed by his most-recent employer, assassin Alan Ladd travels from San Francisco to Los Angeles on a mission for revenge. Along the way he meets up with Veronica Lake who has been hired by the employer to sing in his LA club. He’s also being tracked by Lake’s boyfriend and police detective Robert Preston. It’s an intriguing World War II era noir that also involves stolen chemical formulas and appeals to war-time patriotism. I like Ladd as the assassin; he has an air of mystery while also bringing a mix of menace and humanity to the role. I’m up in the air about how I feel about Lake, especially during her singing performances here which are a bit stiff and unnatural even when they involve magic tricks and black satin fishing costumes.