Bullet Scars
{{short description|1942 film by D. Ross Lederman}}
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2014}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Bullet Scars
| image = Bullet Scars FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption = Film poster
| director = D. Ross Lederman
| producer = no credit
| screenplay = Robert E. Kent
| based_on = an idea by Charles Belden
and Sy Bartlett
| starring = Regis Toomey
Adele Longmire
Howard da Silva
| music = Howard Jackson
| cinematography = Ted McCord, A.S.C.
| editing = James Gibbon
| studio = Warner Bros.–First National
| distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.
| released = {{Film date|1942|03|07}}
| runtime = 59 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Bullet Scars is a 1942 American film produced and distributed by Warner Bros.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1996&dat=19420621&id=06YiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ba8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4106,1774557&hl=en "AMUSEMENTS / Majestic Theatre" (The Daily Times, Beaver and Rochester, June 21, 1942, p.Four)][https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1913&dat=19420703&id=OvE0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=zWkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1882,234291&hl=en "At Strand" (Lewiston Journal Magazine Section, July 3, 1942, p.A–5)] It was directed by D. Ross Lederman with top-billed stars Regis Toomey, Adele Longmire[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19411217&id=nJRRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LWoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5143,3552154&hl=en "Addenda / Adele Longmire, the ingenue in Old Acquaintance on Broadway last season, will make her screen debut at Warners in Bullet Scars with Regis Toomey" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 17, 1941, p.29)] and Howard da Silva.{{cite news |title="BULLET SCARS"|url=https://archive.org/details/pressbook-wb-bullet-scars/mode/2up?q=Bullet+Scars|access-date=March 12, 2024 |work=Warner Bros. pressbook|agency=|date=March 1942|page=|via=Internet Archive}}
Plot
Gangster Frank Dillon is on the run with his gang after a bank robbery in which one of them, Joe Madison, was badly wounded. The gang stops at a doctor's office, but when the doctor tries to call the police about the gunshot wound, Dillon kills him.
Dillon hides in a lodge and sends for nurse Nora Madison, who comes because she is Joe's sister. Knowing that she does not have the skill to treat her brother, she insists on a doctor. Dillon finds Dr. Steven Bishop, who is preparing to leave for a research assignment. Dillon promises to build Bishop a complete research lab and pay him $500 a month if he will stay and heal Joe. Bishop accepts, not realizing who Dillon is.
Bishop and Nora operate on Joe, who remains paralyzed and unable to speak. The two gradually become closer, to Dillon's displeasure, as he feels that Nora belongs to him. Bishop gradually begins to understand who Dillon is and, when Joe dies, Nora explains that Dillon will now kill them both. They conceal Joe's death, and Bishop asks Dillon to send two members of the gang to the pharmacist for medicine. Bishop writes a prescription in what he tells Dillon is pharmaceutical Latin, but it is actually information about the gang's location.
The pharmacist calls the sheriff, who calls in state troopers, resulting in a climactic shootout in which the gang is wiped out. Bishop and Nora find their happy ending.{{cite news|title=FILMS / BULLET SCARS|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_america_1942-04-04_66_26/page/722/mode/2up?q=Bullet+Scars+Regis+Toomey+Adele+Longmire|access-date=March 12, 2024|work=America|agency=|date=April 4, 1942|page=723|via=Internet Archive}}
Cast
{{Cast list|
- Regis Toomey as Dr. Steven Bishop
- Adele Longmire as Nora Madison
- Howard da Silva as Frank Dillon
- Ben Welden as Pills Davis
- John Ridgely as Hank O'Connor
- Frank Wilcox as Mike
- Michael Ames as Joe Madison
- Hobart Bosworth as Dr. Carter
- Roland Drew as Jake
- Walter Brooke as Leary
- Creighton Hale as Jess
- Hank Mann as Gilly
- Sol Gorss as Dude
- Don Turner as Mitch
}}
| class=wikitable | |
| +Uncredited (in order of appearance) | |
| William Hopper | bank teller who is shot after stepping on alarm button |
| George Meeker | police radio announcer of bank robbery |
| Fred Kelsey | police chief answering reporters' questions about pursuit of bank robbers |
| Frank Mayo | Frank, police chief's deputy who ushers the reporters into the chief's office |
| Glen Cavender | reporter who asks the chief, "Was one of them shot?" |
| Stuart Holmes | reporter who asks the chief, "Have you got any witnesses to identify the mob chief?" |
| Charles Drake | reporter who asks the chief, "What about the washout at Pinehurst [or Penhurst]? Are they blocking off the detours?" |
| Vera Lewis | car driver's wife who says, "What's the meaning of this? Charles you drive right ahead. We've done nothing wrong." |
| Leo White | Charles, the car driver who says, "but officer, I... I..." |
| Jack Mower | roadblock officer who says, "That's all right, brother. I know just how you feel. My wife tells me how to drive too." |
| Ray Montgomery | news photographer at police shootout with robbers who says, "This is terrific." |
Reception
In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Thomas M. Pryor called Bullet Scars "a lot of 'bang bang' noise; nothing more" and wrote: "The Warners must have been kidding when they solemnly renounced the production of B pictures a while back, for 'Bullet Scars' ... has a familiar buzz about it."{{cite news |last=Pryor |first=Thomas M. |date=1942-04-24 |title=The Screen in Review |work=The New York Times |page=21}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0034555|title=Bullet Scars}}
- {{Internet Archive film|id=Bullet_Scars_1942|name=Bullet Scars}}
{{D. Ross Lederman}}
Category:American crime drama films
Category:1940s English-language films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Films directed by D. Ross Lederman
Category:1942 crime drama films
Category:Films scored by Howard Jackson (composer)
Category:English-language crime drama films
{{1940s-crime-drama-film-stub}}
{{1940s-US-drama-film-stub}}