Review of Tight Spot (1955) by Eric R — 23 Jul 2010

Tight Spot opens to a group of detectives escorting a witness to trial. The cops reassure the witness that he is safe, but given the suspenseful atmosphere which the photography and score provide, we know this just isn't the case. As they ascend the stairwell, the witness is gunned down. Tight Spot is a noir suspense film that follows a former model (Ginger Rogers) whom is brought out of prison to testify against what we are told is the one of the biggest crime bosses the country has seen. She is put into protective custody in a nice hotel with a policeman named Vince (Brian Keith) as her primary protection.

Most of the film takes place in this single location as the DA (Edward G Robinson) and Vince try to convince her to testify. This film really succeeds because of fantastic script which slowly unravels plot points and character development smoothly with it never feeling out of place. Ginger and Vince begin to fall for one and other, which is really what drives the story. The dialogue is rather witty and there are some really great scenes between the street tough Ginger, and Vince. There is some action but for the most part Karlson relies on the suspense and tension between the three central characters to keep us interested, and for the most part it does. Great ending.