I’ll have to call you back, I just realized there’s a badger climbing up my leg.
Behind Green Lights (1946) is a workman-like examination of corruption in a city, and how its twists and turns can enfold good guy and bad. When private detective William Bard’s body is found in his car in front of the police station, it seems to be an open and shut case, as the fingerprints of Janet Bradley are found on the gun lying next to the body in the car. Bradley, the daughter of a leading mayoral candidate, admits holding the gun, but denies shooting the man, and Police Lt. Carson finds her convincing enough to delay charging her for a couple of hours.
Max Calvert, the owner of a newspaper virulently against Bradley’s father, though, pushes for the charge to be put through, and then, when the corrupt medical examiner, Dr. Yager, notes but does not report to Carson, but does to Calvert, that there’s surprisingly little blood flowing from the gunshot, Calvert orders Yager to get rid of the body. Soon the body is lost, and then found, as the twists become more and more interesting.
Eventually, a solution to the entire mystery is found, a solution no audience member will deduce, but this failure is cushioned by some fine acting by bit characters.
Is this an earth-shaking movie? No. It tells a story, teaches a moral, and does it without a lot of flash. But it’s believable without being preachy, and if the comedic touches are a little thick and even squirmy, there’s more to complain about in the quality of the print than the quality of the story.
It’s tightly told at barely an hour long, so if you have an hour you need to burn, Behind Green Lights can present you with an acceptable story and one more mystery: What the hell does this title mean? My guess, using green light as shorthand for giving permission or giving up information indiscriminately, then it’s a lead-in to the dangers of green-lighting everything without consideration of what ethics or morality might restrict.
But that’s just a guess. Let me know if you have any ideas …
