With the US just about to enter the war, Hollywood started to bend toward the mission. This is a rather interesting and peculiar case.
Its an ordinary police procedural, with a tough cop, someone who yearns for what in movieland was "the good old days" when he could just beat crooks up. But the world is different now, presumably because the characters have to rise to the moral challenge. That's the first striking change we see.
But there are two others, and the way they are spliced in makes it easy to imagine the script planning discussions.
Early in the war, planners thought it would be short and determined by the ability to manufacture things fast. Since the pipeline for steel was longer than they thought the war would last, and had other problems, the idea was to call in the nation's scrap. So this plot has evil profiteers diverting scrap to enemies. This plot point is screwed a bit when we learn there is more deadly cargo included, but I suppose they thought it sufficient to just mention scrap and its importance.
The other change is the movement of women into men's jobs. In this story there's a completely inessential line about Rita Hayworth taking over the job of chief forensic scientist and proving her mettle. Naturally, she still is a romantic interest who gets won by the tough cop.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
Its an ordinary police procedural, with a tough cop, someone who yearns for what in movieland was "the good old days" when he could just beat crooks up. But the world is different now, presumably because the characters have to rise to the moral challenge. That's the first striking change we see.
But there are two others, and the way they are spliced in makes it easy to imagine the script planning discussions.
Early in the war, planners thought it would be short and determined by the ability to manufacture things fast. Since the pipeline for steel was longer than they thought the war would last, and had other problems, the idea was to call in the nation's scrap. So this plot has evil profiteers diverting scrap to enemies. This plot point is screwed a bit when we learn there is more deadly cargo included, but I suppose they thought it sufficient to just mention scrap and its importance.
The other change is the movement of women into men's jobs. In this story there's a completely inessential line about Rita Hayworth taking over the job of chief forensic scientist and proving her mettle. Naturally, she still is a romantic interest who gets won by the tough cop.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.