On this day in movie history – Pitfall (1948 movie & novel):

Pitfall

directed by André de Toth,

written by Karl Kamb, André de Toth and William Bowers,

based on the novel The Pitfall by Jay Dratler,

was released in the United States on August 24, 1948.
Music by Louis Forbes.

Cast:

Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr, John Litel, Byron Barr, Jimmy Hunt, Ann Doran, Selmer Jackson, Margaret Wells, Dick Wessel.

Recommended reading:

The Pitfall

By Jay Dratler.

Introduction by Jay Dratler Jr. & Timothy J. Lockhart.

Published by Stark House Press.

First published 1939.

ASIN: B0BGMFDDKV

ISBN-13: 979-8886010084

Description:

Jon Forbes is a happily married screenwriter in Hollywood when his cop friend Mac tells him about a gal named Mona he’s interested in. Her husband is in jail, and she knows that Mac is the cop who put him there. So, Mac asks Forbes to set her up for him. Take her out, introduce her to him as a friend.

But that’s where Forbes’s troubles begin. Because happily married or not, Mona gets into his blood immediately. And he into hers. And now he’s not only lying to his wife, but trying to avoid Mac as well. He and Mona have no idea where this will lead, but they both know it can’t end well. But neither of them figure just how far Mac will go to get Forbes out of the way once he discovers his friend’s betrayal. Nor what Forbes will do to protect his own.