Breakdown (1952)
Director:
Edmond Angelo
Writers:
Robert Abel (play), Robert Abel (screenplay)
Stars:
Ann Richards, William Bishop, Anne Gwynne, Sheldon Leonard, Wally Cassell, Richard Benedict
Low-budget Realart Films managed to pick up an above-average property when it secured the screen rights to the Robert Abel play The Samson Slasher. Retitled Breakdown, the story concerns a heavyweight boxer, played by William Bishop. Framed for murder, Bishop is sent to prison, but is released after a few years on good behavior. Putting two and two together (no mean feat when you're wearing boxing gloves), Bishop surmises that the real killer is linked up in some way with his girl friend Anne Gwynne. Richard Benedict, a real-life boxer who turned actor in the mid-1940s, appears in the supporting cast as "Punchy."
Pegasus Productions was a company headed by Max Gifford which announced they were going to make three films. One of these was The Slasher based on a play by Robert Abel. Abel had been a prize fighter for four years. He had written a play The Big Shot which was produced on stage in 1951, directed by Edmund Angelo. Abel then wrote The Slasher and Angelo signed to direct. His wife Ann Richards played the female lead. It was Richards' first film in three years. It was then known as Decisions. Filming started 1 December 1951 at Republic Studios. Filming went for eleven days. Pegagus' second production was to be You're Not So Dangerous and was to star Richards as a social worker confused for a gangster's moll.
Region 0 (ALL), will play in all DVD players, 76 minutes, Black and White, English, very good print.
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 DVD, $9.99 (https://www.zeusdvds.com/breakdown-1952-dvd/))
