Blast from the Past: Van Johnson Career Revisited
An hour-long B feature, the crime melodrama Murder in the Big House (aka Born for Trouble) is directed by B. Reeves Eason, the prolific director of low-budget crime actioner.
Grade: C+ (** out of *****)
It stars Van Johnson, who is billed above the title, in his first credited screen role during his six-month contract with Warner.
The female lead, Faye Emerson, billed alongside Johnson above the title, played parts in B pictures during 1940s. She would make geat impression in Cukor’s 1940 comedy, Adam’s Rib, and especially in the 1950 prison drama, Caged, for which she would earn Oscar nomination in the supporting category.
The Premise
Upon receiving a message from death row inmate “Dapper Dan” Malloy (Michael Ames), “Scoop” Conner (George Meeker), investigative reporter for the Morning News, visits him in prison and learns that Malloy intends to incriminate top officials complicit in corruption and the murder of the district attorney.
After Johnson became a top box-office star, the film was rereleased to theaters in late 1945 and early 1946 under the title Born for Trouble.
