CS #74 Edmond O'Brien in "711 Ocean Drive" (1950)

CS #74 Edmond O'Brien in "711 Ocean Drive" (1950)

Lt. Pete Wright (Howard St. John) and his partner, members of the Los Angeles police gangster squad, set out for Las Vegas to arrest Mal Granger (Edmond O'Brien) on a murder charge.

Granger works for the telephone company and supplements his meager salary by betting on the horse races. His bookie, Chippie Evans (Sammy White), suggests that Granger could make even more money by using his electronic expertise to help Vince Walters (Barry Kelley, as Barry Kelly), the owner of a racing wire that furnishes bookmakers with the results of every race direct from the track. Walters, who wants to expand his network throughout the state of California, offers Granger a good salary to set up and maintain an expanded system. Granger is also drawn to the arrangement by the presence of Trudy Maxwell (Dorothy Patrick), Walters' attractive assistant.

Wright is assigned to the newly established gangster squad and investigates Walters' organization, which is suspected of being a front for illegal gambling. One day, while signaling the changing odds of a race, which are then transmitted to Walters, Trudy is arrested and then banned from the track. Granger keeps refining the signaling process and eventually, is able to pressure Walters into making him a partner.

Walters is killed by a member of his gang. Granger takes over his position. After his success attracts the attention of an eastern syndicate, Larry Mason (Don Porter) and his attractive wife Gail (Joanne Dru) are sent to Los Angeles to make an offer to Granger. Carl Stephans (Otto Kruger), the head of the syndicate, successfully uses the flirtatious Gail as bait, and Granger later announces the partnership to his bookies.

The syndicate demands protection money from the bookies, and those who refuse are terrorized. Disgusted, Trudy reveals that the syndicate is cheating Granger. Granger plots to run away with Gail. Mason beats up Gail. Granger hires Gizzi (Robert Osterloh) to kill him. Gizzi blackmails Granger, who then runs him off a pier. To establish an alibi, Granger calls Wright, using the device he invented, pretending to be in Palm Springs. But Wright detects a street car whistle on the tape, revealing the call is a fake.

Wright identifies Granger's car as the one that killed Gizzi. When they learn that Chippie has been killed by the syndicate, Gail and Granger try to escape, but the police and the syndicate catch up with them at Boulder Dam. Granger is killed in the ensuing shootout, and Gail is arrested.

A 1950 American Black & White film noir crime drama film directed by Joseph M. Newman, produced by Frank N. Seltzer, written by Richard English and Francis Swann, cinematography by Franz Planer, starring Edmond O'Brien, Joanne Dru, Otto Kruger, Barry Kelley, Dorothy Patrick, Don Porter, Howard St. John, Robert Osterloh, Sammy White, and Cleo Moore.