I Love Trouble (1948)

And I just love the title of this film noir. I Love Trouble is one of those films noir with so many twists and turns that you have to follow the plot closely and, as is typical with so many films noir, it helps to see the film more than once. It also has plenty of snappy dialogue, which adds to the fun. And to make things even better, I Love Trouble has plenty of roles for female actors, with not one femme fatale among them.

Just writing that last sentence is something of a spoiler. And just so you know: This article has more spoilers ahead.

I Love Trouble is in the public domain. You can watch it for free at the Internet Archive by clicking here. There are a few versions of the film at the Internet Archive, but this one was the best print that I could find there.

Private investigator Stuart G. Bailey has been hired by Ralph Johnson to learn more about Johnson’s wife. Johnson is a prominent local citizen in Los Angeles (L.A.); he is the estate planning commissioner and chair of the civic council. He has been receiving notes hinting at his wife’s dark past and threatening blackmail. Bailey has gotten on his bad side from the start because he is following Mrs. Johnson (aka Jane Breeger) in L.A., not digging around in her past in Portland, Oregon, as he was instructed to do. Bailey’s work in L.A. has paid off, however. He asks Johnson if he knows about his wife’s account at a bank in Westwood. Johnson knows nothing about it. He decides to retain Bailey’s services after all, but he still wants him to investigate his wife’s past in Portland.

In Portland, Bailey discovers that Jane Breeger’s former home address is now a shipping yard. The address for her first job, at a club called Keller’s Carousel and owned by a man named Keller, was closed by the police years ago. Bailey keeps looking for Keller and finds an illegal club in what appears to be an abandoned building He meets someone there named Reno, who just so happens to be working for Keller. Keller tells Bailey that Jane Breeger left Portland in 1941 with a comic named Buster Buffin. When Bailey leaves Keller’s club and reaches the street outside, someone attempts to run him down—twice. When that doesn’t work, someone knocks him out. Bailey believes Reno is responsible so, before he leaves Portland, Bailey returns to Keller’s club, punches Reno twice, and knocks him out. This antagonism between the two men will flare up again during Bailey’s investigation back in L.A.

Bailey’s next stop is Buster Buffin’s Buffet in Venice, California. (The film is yet another one from the period that shows the beach studded with oil derricks, back when California was a major oil producer, back before the environmental movement took shape.) Buster Buffin now owns a café on the beach in Venice, and he tells Bailey that Jane Breeger once worked under the name of Janie Joy at Club Zorro in Long Beach.

Bailey was followed on his way to Buffin’s Buffet, and he stops his car to confront the person following him. The person just drives away, but Bailey is followed repeatedly throughout his investigation, and this particular person and his associates, including Reno, catch up with Bailey eventually.

Mrs. Ralph Johnson has a very complicated past that adds to the very complicated plot of I Love Trouble. She has changed her name, moved from Portland to L.A. (and from a past that seems to have been obliterated by new construction more than once), and lied to her husband about when exactly she left Portland. Why all the lies? And why are so many people so hesitant to talk about Janie Joy? Why does her sister, Gretchen Breeger, fail to recognize the one photo that Stuart Bailey has of Jane Breeger? Gretchen Breeger moved to L.A. to work as a model, and she has changed her name to Norma Shannon. But this naturally draws more suspicion, at least at first, on the part of Bailey. Stuart Bailey falls for Norma Shannon, but he confirms everything that she tells him before acting on his feelings.

Why is Keller, Jane Breeger’s former employer, so interested in finding her? He goes to great lengths to learn what Bailey knows, setting Reno and two men named Sharpy and Herb after Bailey. They kidnap him and try to beat information out of him. The police, Lieutenant Quint in particular, start to believe that Bailey isn’t very forthcoming with information about the murders, first Buster Buffin’s, then Mrs. Ralph Johnson’s, both of which occur only after he has started his investigation. Someone tries to frame Bailey for the murders, and Lieutenant Quint is happy to take Bailey into custody. Although viewers know that Bailey is innocent, police suspicion complicates his life and the plot even further.

Stuart G. Bailey is a competent private investigator. He solves the mystery and even gets the girl in the end. I enjoyed the fact that his secretary, Hazel Bixby (played by Glenda Farrell), is just as competent at coming to Bailey’s rescue on more than one occasion. Bixby keeps the office tidy and functioning smoothly, and she can trade wisecracks with Bailey, especially when clients get huffy. And she can handle a gun and herself out on the streets. Stuart Bailey owes some of his success to Bixby.

The character Stuart G. Bailey likes the ladies, and he meets many in this film. I hear that Franchot Tone, the actor who plays him in I Love Trouble, might have been similar. He was married four times to several actresses, including Joan Crawford, and his private life may have been more scandalous that Stuart Bailey’s. For more information about Tone and the film’s production, click on the following links:

◊ Wikipedia—Franchot Tone—Personal Life: The entire entry at Wikipedia gives a lot more information about the actor, but the focus on his personal life is fascinating. Many fans of film noir may already know about his troubles with the actor Tom Neal.

◊ Noir Alley—I Love Trouble (1948) Intro, September 25, 2022: As he always does, Eddie Muller gives lots of great information about the film’s production; the screenwriter, Roy Huggins; and Franchot Tone. But I do suspect that he overplays Franchot Tone’s relationships with women just a bit.

I Love Trouble is a lot of fun, and I cannot recommend it enough. Watching it more than once to make sure I followed the plot was a pleasure. So many film noir regulars have parts in this film that the fun also comes from watching the supporting cast. Glenda Farrell, Janet Blair, Janis Carter, Adele Jergens, John Ireland, Raymond Burr, Steven Geray, and Tom Powers all give wonderful performances. It really is too bad that Franchot Tone didn’t make more of this type of film.

January 15, 1948, release date  •  Directed by S. Sylvan Simon  •  Screenplay by Roy Huggins  •  Based on the novel The Double Take by Roy Huggins  •  Music by George Duning  •  Edited by Al Clark  •  Cinematography by Charles Lawton, Jr.

Franchot Tone as Stuart Bailey  •  Janet Blair as Norma Shannon  •  Janis Carter as Mrs. Alicia Caprillo  •  Adele Jergens as Irene (aka Boots) Nestor  •  Glenda Farrell as Hazel Bixby  •  Steven Geray as Keller  •  Tom Powers as Ralph Johnson  •  Lynn Merrick as Mrs. Johnson  •  John Ireland as Reno  •  Sid Tomack as Buster Buffin  •  Donald Curtis as Martin  •  Eduardo Ciannelli as John Vega Caprillo  •  Robert Barrat as Lieutenant Quint  •  Raymond Burr as Herb  •  Garry Owen as Gus  •  Eddy Marr as Sharpy

Distributed by Columbia Pictures  •  Produced by Cornell Pictures