Strange Bargain

Nov 5, 1949

1h 8m

★ 5.7

"$10,000 If You Make My Suicide Look Like MURDER!"

Overview

Bookkeeper Sam Wilson learns from his boss, Malcolm Jarvis, that he is losing his job because the company is closing down. Jarvis then makes a strange proposition, saying he intends to commit suicide but wants Sam to make it look like a murder, in order for his wife and son to inherit Jarvis's life insurance. Sam declines, but when he goes to see Jarvis and finds his dead body, he reluctantly goes along with the scheme.

Genres

Mystery

Thriller

Production Companies

RKO Radio Pictures

Strange Bargain Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Georgia Wilson

Martha Scott

Sam Wilson

Jeffrey Lynn

Richard Webb

Harry Morgan

Edna Jarvis

Katherine Emery

Malcolm Jarvis

Richard Gaines

Timothy Hearne

Henry O'Neill

Sergeant Cord

Walter Sande

Roddy Wilson

Michael Chapin

Hilda Wilson

Arlene Gray

Sydney Jarvis

Raymond Roe

Detective McTay

Robert Bray

Tip (uncredited)

Dan Foster

After two gang-related killings in "Center City," a suspect (who was framed) is arrested, released on bail...and murdered. Inspector Briggs of the FBI recruits a young agent, Gene Cordell, to go undercover in the shadowy Skid Row area (alias George Manly) as a potential victim of the same racket. Soon, Gene meets Alec Stiles, neurotic mastermind who's "building an organization along scientific lines." Stiles recruits Cordell, whose job becomes a lot more dangerous.

6.9

Hangover Square

Feb 7, 1945

When composer George Harvey Bone wakes with no memory of the previous night and a bloody knife in his pocket, he worries that he has committed a crime. On the advice of Dr. Middleton, Bone agrees to relax, going to a music performance by singer Netta Longdon. Riveted by Netta, Bone agrees to write songs for her rather than his own concerto. However, Bone soon grows jealous of Netta and worries about controlling himself during his spells.

6.8

Obsession

Aug 3, 1949

A British psychiatrist devises a devilish revenge plot against his wife's lover.

5.2

A Cry in the Night

Aug 17, 1956

A police captain's emotions get in the way when his daughter is kidnapped.

6.8

Beyond the Forest

Oct 21, 1949

Rosa, the self-serving wife of a small-town doctor, gets a better offer when a wealthy big-city man insists she get a divorce and marry him instead. Soon she demonstrates she is capable of rather deplorable acts -- including murder.

5.9

Cry Vengeance

Nov 24, 1954

Ex-cop Vic Barron crossed the wrong mobsters; his wife and child were killed and he was scarred, framed, and imprisoned. On release, Vic has but one desire, revenge on still-hiding Tino Morelli.

5.8

Crime Against Joe

Mar 21, 1956

Down-and-out artist Joe Manning wakes up from a night of drunken revelry in a jail cell, where he's being held on suspicion for the murder of a nightclub singer.

5.5

The Clay Pigeon

Mar 3, 1949

Jim Fletcher, waking up from a coma, finds he is to be given a court martial for treason and charged with informing on fellow inmates in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Escaping from the hospital he tries to clear himself by enlisting the aid of Martha Gregory, widow of a service buddy he was accused of informing on. Helped also by Ted Niles, a surviving fellow prisoner, he gets closer to finding the answers he needs, and becomes ensnared in a grandiose scheme involving his Japanese ex-prison guard, $10,000,000 of US currency forged by the Japanese and a burgeoning crime network poised to wreak havoc throughout southern California.

6.0

Cornered

Nov 23, 1945

A World War II veteran hunts down the Nazi collaborators who killed his wife.

6.5

Desperate

Jun 20, 1947

An innocent trucker takes it on the lam when he's accused of robbery.

5.6

Dial 1119

Nov 3, 1950

A deranged killer escapes from a mental institution, intent on locating the psychiatrist whose testimony sent him to the asylum, holds the patrons of a bar hostage.

6.5

Once a Thief

Apr 24, 1965

Ex-convict Eddie and his wife, Kristine, attempt to build a new life for themselves and their daughter Kathy in San Francisco, but police officer Mike Vido is determined to send Eddie back to prison.

4.3

Playgirl

Apr 21, 1954

If you remember Shelley Winters from "The Poseidon Adventure" or "Bloody Mama," you might tend to forget what a knockout she was early in her career. This film will give you the chance to see her as a sexy nightclub singer teaching her just-in-from-the-sticks friend Colleen Miller the ropes in New York City. When Winters finds out that her married boyfriend Barry Sullivan has fallen for Miller, the recriminations...and bullets...start to fly!

6.8

Quiet Please, Murder

Mar 19, 1943

A forger steals and kills for a rare book from a library in order to make forgeries to sell to rich suckers.

6.6

Never Let Go

Jun 2, 1960

John Cummings, an unsuccessful cosmetics salesman, has his unpaid-for car stolen by one of the hoods in the employ of Lionel Meadows, the sadistic organizer of a London car conversion racket. The car was not insured, and since the police appear indifferent to his plight, Cummings decides to find it himself -- and gets himself involved in an underworld battle.

5.8

The Sleeping City

Sep 20, 1950

A young doctor taking a break from work is shot in the head, and the police can't find a clue even as to a possible motive. Inspector Al Gordon (John Alexander) decides that he has to put some men on duty at the hospital, and one of them is Fred Rowan (Richard Conte), a detective with experience as an army medic, masquerading as an intern. What Rowan finds is a high-pressure world in which interns are hopelessly squeezed for time, sleep, energy, and -- most of all -- money, and walk a fine line on the edge of personal and professional disaster.

5.4

Fear in the Night

Apr 10, 1947

The dream is unusually vivid: Bank employee Vince Grayson finds himself murdering a man in a sinister octagonal-shaped room lined with mirrors while a mysterious woman breaks into a safe. It is so vivid that Vince suspects it may have really happened. To get the dream off his mind, he goes on a picnic with some relatives. When a thunderstorm forces his party into a nearby mansion, Vince discovers that the bizarre room does exist, and it means nothing but trouble.