711 Ocean Drive

Yes, I was heavily rooting for O'Brien to prevail in this flick. The cops seemed to get too much out of the smallest bits of info in taking him down. The crappy preach at the ending, and the inevitability that O'Brien wold be foiled spoiled it somewhat. And it was much too long to get to the predictable conclusion. But Dorothy Patrick as Trudy was a nice plus! O'Brien's aide, "Chippie" was good as his reliable 2nd man. Constant visible Cash profits from vigorish helped the realism. Also enjoy the gambling lingo. This is year 2013 and I believe 'past posting' is still prevalent today!

source: 711 Ocean Drive

This noir has a most unusual protagonist - an electronics expert (Edmund O'Brien as Mal Granger) working for the telephone company, griping about his low wages, who gets introduced to a gangster running a bookie operation as somebody who can upgrade his infrastructure and thus boost profits. And that he does. Like Little Caesar, he eventually takes over that operation by virtue of the fact that the lead guy can't operate without his knowledge or equipment. By virtue of a random violent act, he actually gets the title too. But then he gets greedy, and tries to take too big a percentage and grows too prosperous, getting the attention of the tougher outfits back east. Up to now, Mal has just been greedy, but once hooked up with the syndicate back east he thinks he can outsmart the smarter hoods, and even get away with murder. And what really precipitates his downfall is of all things - a woman. Not unusual in a noir, but unusual since up to the point when he meets this classy damsel in distress, he has always been saying that no woman will get her hooks into him. But there are more ways than just walking down an aisle to get hooked by a woman, and here he is. What is odd about the woman, played by Joanna Dru, is that she seems like a somewhat straight arrow. She says the right things, seems to not want Mal to go down a violent risky path. But she seems to protest not too loudly and in the end is with him every step of the way. This is a long movie for its time period at two hours, but it is always moving, always keeping you guessing, with the great Otto Kruger as a syndicate guy so smooth and polite he is scary. In this film not getting the wool pulled over his eyes is a magnificent obsession. Highly recommended.

Enjoyed this great 1950 film starring Edmond O'Brien, ( Mal Granger) who plays the role of a telephone repair man with great skills in communications and all kinds of ability to set up telephone lines anywhere he so desires. Mal gets tired of his old routine job and meets up with his bookie who places his bets on the race track and offers him a very profitable job with the big time gambling bosses. Mal gets very powerful with all the bookies and begins to disturb the big shot bosses from other states and that is when Carl Stephens, (Otto Kruger) decides he is going to cut in on Mal Granger's business. Mal joins up with Carl Stephens and then gets himself involved with a married woman named Gail Mason, (Joanne Dru) and they fall madly in love with each other. There is many twists and turns in this film and you have some fantastic scenes all around Hoover Dam with non stop entertainment right to the very end. Enjoy.

At the time of its release, this fine crime thriller was both an expose of the involvement of organised crime syndicates in the gambling rackets and an account of the rise and fall of a top mobster. The whole production is fast-moving, strong on realism and culminates in an exciting and spectacular climax at the Hoover Dam (which was then known as Boulder Dam). The mobster's story is unusual because of his untypical background and the fact that it's his technical knowledge that initially propels him to the status of being a crime boss. Furthermore, it's also interesting to watch the very natural and plausible ways in which he gradually transforms from being an ordinary working class guy into a ruthless, unprincipled criminal who's powerfully motivated by greed. Telephone company engineer Mal Granger (Edmond O'Brien) gets on well with his co-workers and enjoys placing bets on horse races. His lack of success at betting leaves him out of pocket and one day his bookie and good friend Chippie Evans (Sammy White) suggests that he might do better by using his technical expertise for the benefit of a private company that would pay him far more than the modest income he receives from his current employer. This leads to Mal being introduced to Vince Walters (Barry Kelley) who runs a racing wire service and being hired after he outlines a number of efficiency improvements that he could make for the benefit of the business. Mal enthusiastically makes a whole range of changes that quickly increase its profits and enable Vince to develop his long-term plan to expand the service to cover all of California. When Mal isn't rewarded financially for the huge difference that he's made to the profitability of Vince's business, he makes it clear just how easily he could reverse the process and Vince reluctantly agrees to make him a partner. Another benefit that Mal enjoys in his new surroundings is his friendship with fellow employee Trudy Maxwell (Dorothy Patrick). Vince Walters is an intimidating character who puts enormous financial pressures on the bookies who are dependant on his wire service for the success of their businesses. One day, after pressing one of these bookies to the limit and even threatening his family, the bookie shoots and kills him and this leads to Mal taking full control of the operation. This change also, however, brings him under the scrutiny of Los Angeles Gangster Squad Detective Pete Wright (Howard St. John) who had for some time suspected that the business was a cover for some criminal activities. A more significant and damaging development then follows after Mal is approached by Larry Mason (Don Porter) on behalf of Carl Stephans (Otto Kruger) who's the head of the East Coast crime syndicate. They make him a generous offer to take over his business and compensate him handsomely by making him a partner in their outfit. The complications that follow lead to Mal getting involved in infidelity, murders and blackmail in a sequence of events that bring about a rapid decline in his fortunes that he's completely unable to control. "711 Ocean Drive" is a top class documentary-style film noir that doesn't enjoy the level of recognition that it deserves. Its story is far more original and interesting than many similar movies and the quality of its screenplay, cinematography and acting performances is really impressive. Edmond O'Brien conveys Mal Granger's drive, enthusiasm and initial optimism brilliantly and his whole descent into the dark side is extremely convincing.in what must be one of the best performances of his career. This is definitely a movie that no film noir fan should overlook.

I'd like to give this film a better recommendation but there's nothing really special about it, nothing that lifts it above the average crime drama of the time, except perhaps the business about modern electronics to update the bookie business, and that's pretty much gotten over with in the first twenty minutes. Edmond O'Brien is an ambitious but honest telephone lineman who is hired by a local bookie manager -- is that the right term? Anyway the administrator of a rather small-scale betting business in Southern California. When he's finished modernizing the arrangement, making it faster, cleaner, and more efficient, he becomes indispensable to the organization and nudges the big guy out. But the success of the business attracts the attention of the REALLY big guys in Cleveland. They form a partnership with him, cheat him, he cheats back, he's betrayed by his partners, and has a confrontation with the cops in the internal passageways and on the sunlit roof of Boulder Dam. Nice scenery at Boulder Dam, but I could have sworn someone was bound to tumble off it. The usual scenario calls for O'Brien to take the swan dive. Instead, there is one of those pointless shoot outs, in which O'Brien is wounded and stumbles at a run across the dam, bullets whistling past him, firing back blindly, until he collapses on the asphalt. Joanne Dru is in it, looking good, as is what's her name, Dorothy Patrick as one of several blonds that O'Brien picks up and discards on his way to the top. ("Marriage is for suckers.") O'Brien is a capable actor. In his earlier roles he was a little too fast, a little too jumpy, kind of anxious, and I know anxiety when I see it. But despite his working-class New York accent, he was excellent as Casca in MGM's "Julius Caesar." He never seemed quite attractive enough for romantic leads. He always looked as if he were just about to develop a double chin. And there was a certain absence of neck. But, wow, he became a fine character actor as he aged, good in either comic roles ("The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance") or dramatic ("Seven Days in May"). The oddities in his appearance, the askew eyes, became emblems. This film though is routine and not worth seeking out, although if it's on TV, it will at least not batter you over the head with its stupidity.

While Oscar winner, Edmond O'Brien, was never much of a leading man, he does a very good acting job in this 1950 film. Here he plays a telephone installer whose knowledge of electronics soon gets him involved with the mob affairs in phone hookups and gambling. By a quirk of fate, O'Brien moves up readily until he is put in charge of the western operations. The film, an interesting one, deals with mob relations, deceit, corruption and has plenty of violence. Watch for an interesting performance by Hardy Kruger as a gambling magnate. Howard St. John appears as a police detective who is hot on the trail of O'Brien and there is a brief but memorable acting job by Don Porter, who later turned to comedy in the television show "Private Secretary" with Ann Sothern. The film admirably deals with the evils of gambling and its relation to organized crime. Well worth watching as well to see the interesting performance of Joanne Dru, as Porter's wife and O'Brien's girlfriend.

"711 Ocean Drive" is an interesting '50s film noir set in Los Angeles. Edmond O'Brien stars as Mal Granger, a nice telephone repairman who is into a bookie for some gambling debts. The bookie makes a deal with him and, since he's a technician, has him do some modernization on the illegal gambling in the area that uses the wire service. The O'Brien character turns out to be pretty ambitious and greedy and starts making his way up the ladder in the syndicate. He does well until some guys from the East coast show up and want some of his action. The O'Brien character really changes from the beginning, when he's a relaxed, friendly guy. Then he becomes ruthless and murderous. O'Brien does a great job in making this change believable. There are also very good performances from Howard St. John as a police officer, Bert Freed as a hit man, and Otto Kruger as a mob boss. Joanne Dru is the object of Mal's affections, although she's married to someone else. Seeing Los Angeles in the '50s is one of the best parts of this film. Recommended for Edmond O'Brien, the scenery, and the noir style.

Skirting the periphery of Film-Noir this one probably lands more than not in the Police Film or the Authorities Are Your Friend Category. These Types were Everywhere after the War. This one Preaches about Your "two dollar bet" Financing Organized Crime and Murder. These Movies were not only for Entertainment but for a sort of Public Service. Technology was also a "new" element in Law Enforcement and the Fight against Communism and Films were want to display as much High Tech Stuff as possible. We get quite a bit of that here with Electronic Whiz Kid, Edmond O'Brien strutting His Stuff and landing a Slot with the Local Mob. This is a less Personal Film then most Noir's and tends to paint with a wide brush with its Coast to Coast Crime Syndicate with tangled wires and many Locations. A good tightly wound Thriller, this has an Energy for sure and hardly ever settles down and the Interpersonal is disposed of quite Brutally at times. Interesting and more layered than most, this one has a Bigger Budget and Broader Scope than a typical B-Movie and is a well crafted, if at times Stiff, Expose.

Along with DOA, The Killers, White Heat, Shield for Murder, the Hitchhiker, this entry attests to the style of O'Brien, who may be the worlds best sweater. This film is quick, has good dialogue, and location shooting. The best moments are really not the climactic finale, but rather those where O'Brien banters with Otto Kruger (who is perfect) and Don Porter. I agree however that the preachy ending might best be ignored.