Scene Of The Crime (1949)

• Director
  • Roy Rowland
• Writers
  • John Bartlow Martin(story "Smashing the Bookie Gang Marauders")
  • Charles Schnee(screenplay)
• Stars
  • Van Johnson
  • Arlene Dahl
  • Gloria DeHaven

  The Dore Schary regime at MGM brought a much-needed dose of stark realism to the venerable studio. Van Johnson sheds his boy-next-door image to play L.A. plainclothes lieutenant Mike Conovan. Determined to bring a cop killer to justice, Conovan will let no man stand in his way -- not even his level-headed superiors. The detective's single-purposed pursuit causes a rift in his marriage to wife Gloria (Arlene Dahl). The film comes very close to the Dragnet school of unadorned, unglamorized police procedure: it adheres to standard MGM formula only in the final reconciliation scene. Officially a Harry Rapf production, Scene of the Crime was completed by another producer when Rapf died during filming.