A Life at Stake (1955)

The life at stake in this film noir is Edward Shaw’s, who starts to believe that he might be ensnared by Doris Hillman (played with what looks like delicious delight by Angela Lansbury) in a murder plot hatched by . . . well, he’s not quite sure. Is Doris Hillman orchestrating everything herself so she can get all the insurance money? Or is she working with her husband Gus because she really is in love with him and not Shaw?

A Life at Stake may be a noir made on the cheap, a B film, and Angela Lansbury may have been an unknown starlet at the time, but she and Keith Andes, who plays the increasingly suspicious and confused Shaw, make the most of their roles. Doris Hillman is (or maybe she isn’t) the femme fatale, but Edward Shaw is onscreen to be reeled in by her and to reel in female viewers. The films starts with Shaw sitting in a chair in his rented room with his feet up. He is shirtless, and the camera lingers while he stands to examine his framed $1,000 bill and to make some coffee.

A Life at Stake is in the public domain. Click here to watch it at the Internet Archive. I saw the film for the first time on DVD, but the print quality is much better at the Internet Archive.

Please note that, at the time that I posted this article, the Internet Archive site was down, the victim of hackers. You can get updates by clicking here.

A lawyer, Sam Pearson, arrives at Shaw’s boardinghouse to talk to him and propose a business deal. Pearson already knows about the framed bill. Shaw is saving it so he will always have something to rely on, a way out, something he feels he needs after his old business partner gambled away $37,000 and left their lenders (friends and family) high and dry. Shaw has some principles: He wants to pay off these debts.

Pearson buys Shaw a new suit and sets up an appointment for him to meet Doris Hillman. Shaw, now in his new suit, goes to the Hillman home and meets Doris in her bathing suit by her pool. There’s a bit of chemistry and flirting between them while Doris describes the business deal: Her husband Gus will put up the money, she will buy the real estate, Edward Shaw will build on the land, and Doris will sell the newly developed properties. Shaw wants to think about the business deal before making a commitment. He may be attracted to Mrs. Doris Hillman, a married woman, but he is still cautious. He has been burned in that previously mentioned business deal, and he still has some of his principles.

Doris Hillman arranges another meeting, this time in a family member’s apartment. With some additional flirting, Shaw’s principles begin to crumble a bit. Doris tells him that her husband wants Shaw to take out a life insurance policy, for more money than Shaw is willing to pay. He tries to bargain the amount of the policy down, but she will have to talk to her husband about it. When Shaw leaves, he is angry about the insurance policy, but he has already agreed verbally to the Hillmans’ business arrangement.

In spite of his misgivings about the insurance policy and about Doris’s intentions, Shaw has fallen in love with her. Waiting for her phone call to finalize the business deal becomes torture for him. He leaves his rented room and almost calls Doris but decides against it. He sits on the steps outside his boardinghouse, then starts pacing up and down the side of the house when she happens to drive by. Doris tells Shaw that she is falling for him, too, and they kiss passionately. He talks down the amount of the life insurance policy, and Doris agrees to the terms.

(This article about A Life at Stake contains spoilers.)

At a meeting with Gus Hillman and Sam Pearson the next day, Gus Hillman protests the policy amount that Edward Shaw and Doris agreed to, but Gus signs the contract anyway. Doris arrives late to the meeting accompanied by her younger sister, Madge Neilan. Doris is not too happy when Madge shows interest in Shaw. After her sister leaves, Doris is so upset that she cannot bring herself to sign the contract.

Madge Neilan is the one to break the news to Shaw that Doris was married once before, to a man named Mr. Narlesky who died in an auto accident. Gus Hillman was the beneficiary of Narlesky’s life insurance policy because they were in business together. Edward Shaw asks questions and learns from Madge that his situation is very similar to Narlesky’s. He starts to think that the Hillmans want to kill him, and he even goes to the police station to report his suspicions. The officer on duty, Officer Biff, isn’t sympathetic to his concerns because Shaw has little physical evidence. But Detective Lieutenant Hoff talks to him anyway because he doesn’t think Shaw is the type of run-of-the-mill crackpot who usually shows up at the police station with this kind of complaint. He does think that Shaw needs more evidence, and he tells Officer Biff in private to stay on top of it. What follows is a set of cat-and-mouse maneuvers as Edward Shaw becomes increasingly uneasy and Doris Hillman’s actions become increasingly suspicious.

Edward Shaw and Madge Neilan start seeing each other and find themselves falling in love. In spite of his entanglements—both business and romantic—I found myself rooting for Shaw as the sympathetic character. It’s admirable that he wants to pay off his debts, and he seems sincere about his feelings for Madge. The confusion about Doris doesn’t always allow him to think clearly, however, even when it would make sense for his character to do so, and this leads to a couple of plot details that don’t quite make sense.

Is Shaw’s confusion part of a loose plot, or is he meant to be confused by everything that is changing in his life? For instance, I found it hard to believe that Shaw would go to the Hillmans’ mountain cabin and not be wary about Gus Hillman’s intentions when he shows up unexpectedly. Gus is aware of the affair between his wife and Shaw, and he wants it to stop. He proposes that the business partnership continue, but only if business is conducted during business hours—only. Shaw agrees because he is starting to care more for Madge now, but for some reason, he seems to let go of all his previous suspicions. When Gus serves some coffee to Shaw, he drinks it without hesitation. Of course, it’s laced with a mickey because Gus wants to see Shaw drive down the mountain and off a cliff, which is exactly what happens. Shaw survives his car accident on the mountain, but he doesn’t put two and two together just yet, which also struck me as incongruous with all the suspicions Shaw harbored previously.

Another improbable plot point occurs after the accident, when Shaw meets with Gus Hillman and Myles Norman, the insurance agent, about canceling the insurance policy on Shaw. At first, Gus is willing to cancel the policy, but he states to Norman that Shaw is in love with his wife, which Shaw admits is true. After hearing this, Norman refuses to cancel the insurance policy, and that is the end of the discussion. But what does Shaw’s admission have to do with keeping the policy in effect? Doesn’t his admission prove that both Doris and Gus Hillman have a motive for killing him? Doesn’t it also prove that Edward Shaw and Doris Hillman have a motive for killing Gus? I couldn’t figure out why an insurance agent would be willing to keep the life insurance policy in effect when so many of the signatories have an incentive to kill for the payout.

At this point in the narrative, Shaw is truly afraid that his life is in danger. He is always looking over his shoulder, wondering if he is being followed by a stranger or if every car on the road has been sent to run him down. He meets with Madge Neilan because he wants to say goodbye. All the stress and worry are too much, and he wants to leave town and go on the run. Madge encourages Shaw to challenge Gus and Doris Hillman, and he can use the framed $1,000 bill for the money to do it. Shaw agrees, which sets up the final confrontation.

A Life at Stake is one of those films that made me wonder if categories like C and D were ever used for low-budget productions. At the start of the film, when Edward Shaw and Doris Hillman sit poolside to discuss their business prospects, I found myself watching the freeway traffic far away in the background, then wondering if someone on the set lent out their own apartment for location shooting!

But this is hardly a fault; on-location shooting had become a feature of 1950s film noir, and low budgets had been a noir feature since the 1940s. As a fan of noir, I find these points more of a plus than a distraction. And Edward Shaw is a sympathetic character, maybe even more so because of his flaws and poor judgment. The mounting tension portrayed in the narrative as Shaw becomes increasingly fearful for his life is believable and keeps viewers engaged. There aren’t too many surprises in this particular film noir, but A Life at Stake is a lot of fun to watch.

April 6, 1955, release date  •  Directed by Paul Guilfoyle  •  Screenplay by Russ Bender  •  Based on a story idea by Hank McCune  •  Music by Les Baxter  •  Edited by Frank Sullivan  •  Cinematography by Ted Allan

Angela Lansbury as Doris Hillman  •  Keith Andes as Edward Shaw  •  Douglass Dumbrille as Gus Hillman  •  Claudia Barrett as Madge Neilan  •  Jane Darwell as Mrs. Piltz, the landlady  •  Gavin Gordon as Sam Pearson  •  Charles Maxwell as Lieutenant Hoff  •  William Henry as Myles Norman, the insurance agent  •  Kathleen Mulqueen as Mary, the secretary  •  Dan Sturkie as Officer Biff  •  Jeane Wood as Mabel, the maid  •  Robert Haver as the mechanic

Distributed by Gibraltar Motion Picture Distributors, Inc.  •  Produced by Hand McCune Productions, Telecraft Productions, Inc.