Things are heating up as we sit down to discuss Jayson's pick, 1949's Arson Inc. and sip the original smoke beer, Schlenkerla's Marzen. This film's only 63 minutes, and doesn't waste a minute.
The characters in this film are all named like comic book characters: Jane Jennings, Pete Purdy, Freddy Fender.
I thought this one was sponsored by the Firefighters of America, because it sure comes off like a PSA. It also has a lot of furs. A lot about furs.
Joe, our hero, knows his furs. And, he's an up and comer in the fire department. He's added to the Arson Squad.
Frederick Fender, our villain, is straight out of villain typecasting.
Joe is tasked to infiltrate an arson ring and crack the case. He's also pretty forward when it comes to the ladies. "I thought baby sitters were bobby soxers or old and fat." That's a pick up line of his he uses on Jane, the babysitter he meets on the case and courts.
Betty, Fender's secretary, ain't coy when she likes something. And, she likes Joe.
The camera work on Fender is actually pretty clever, using crooked angles for a crooked fella. And, Fender's crooked. Just listen to his voice.
Joe lets it be known that he's willing to play along with Fender. The scheme is shaping up nicely.
Pete Purdy, Fender's right hand man, follows Joe. Pete is a fire bug. Probably insane, too. Joe, to prove his shady bona fides, leads Pete to a gambling parlor. Because the scheme, see?
Pete wanted to be a fireman, which would have been a bad match, him being a pyromaniac and all.
Pete's apartment: Where to start. There's a huge chemistry set out in the open that goes unaddressed. Joe, sans fireman's uniform, because he's a hood now, shows up looking for work. They share a drink of rocket fuel to seal the deal.
This is not a comedy, but there's sure a lot of comedy in it.
Joe's choices are questionable. He takes Jane to a party at Fender's, who's a dangerous criminal.
The whole party's a study in awkwardness and creepiness. Fender has eyes for Jane, and mistreats Betty. This, unfortunately, is a recurring theme.
Jane, for all her smarts, and she's the smartest person in the film, somehow sticks with Joe, even though he takes her to places like Fender's.
High comedy moment, when Fender tries to hire Jane to babysit, but granny shows up. Cue an eye roll and sad trombone wah, wah, wah.
Furs come up, again. Pete, for all his weirdness, really knows how to set fires in elaborate ways.
Jayson did a deep dive into arsonists, you can see what he found here.
Nutball Pete shoots policeman Murph during an arson job, which, in our opinion, should have been the end of Joe's undercover scheme. Spoiler alert, it isn't.
Fender makes it clear Joe and Pete are on their own where this botched arson job is concerned. Then, some unpleasant treatment of Betty. Fender smells a rat
Fender runs his own scheme: Have Betty ask Pete, who likes her, out on a date, to find out who informed the cops about the fire. This is a really mean thing to do, because Pete's ten types of creepy.
We're treated to another weird date scene, with Pete, Betty, Joe and Jane. Another questionable decision by Joe, especially now that it's known what dangerous people he's tangled up with. Jane's game, though, when he comes clean about his scheme.
Fender's scheme involves Betty talking too much, but it didn't involve Pete slugging Betty.
Believe it or not, car phones were a thing back in the 40s. And, we get a climax in a warehouse. Pete, as you can probably guess, uses fire.
Fender and Betty barrel off a cliff, which is kinda sad, for Betty. We find it an odd ending for the main villain, but this is a 63 minute movie made for about 100 bucks.
The Schlenkerla is the smokiest beer I've ever had. And I love it. Not for every taste, but we think every beer drinker should try one of their smoke beers at least once. Jayson likes it, so they have a new fan. Huzzah!
We found it really uncool that Joe and Jane locked granny out of her own home so they could mess around. But, granny peeking in the door, trying to watch them, is pretty gross, so maybe they were right to do so. And why is Jane still with Joe, who's been a big liar to her from the start? What's going on here?
Would Jayson recommend this? Nope. If you listen to the episode, you'll get the gist. He thinks it's an unintentional comedy. It's also not easy to find, so, maybe don't bother. Would I? Nope. What it has going for it is it's brevity, but I still found myself going "Why?" We both recommend the beer, highly. You should be able to find it. Let us know what you think.
Intro music for this episode is a mix of (1) Turn on The Funk (Story Blocks Audio subscription), (2) sample 1961’s The Phantom Planet [in the public domain], and (3) sample 1968’s Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women [in the public domain]. Outro music Vintage Background Jazz Atmosphere by Volodymyr Piddubnyk (Story Blocks Audio subscription)
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