On this day in movie history - This Gun for Hire (1942 movie & novel):

This Gun for Hire

directed by Frank Tuttle,

written by Albert Maltz and W.R. Burnett,

based on the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene,

was released in the United States on April 24, 1942.
Music by David Buttolph.

Cast:

Veronica Lake, Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, Alan Ladd, Tully Marshall, Marc Lawrence, Olin Howland, Roger Imhof, Pamela Blake, Frank Ferguson, Victor Kilian, Patricia Farr, Harry Shannon, Charles C. Wilson, Mikhail Rasumny, Bernadene Hayes, Mary Davenport, Chester Clute, Charles Arnt, Earle S. Dewey, Clem Bevans, Lynda Grey, Virita Campbell.

Recommended reading:

A Gun for Sale

By Graham Greene.

Introduction by Samuel Hynes.

Filmed as This Gun for Hire (1942), directed by Frank Tuttle.

Published by Penguin Publishing Group.

First published 1936.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 014303930X

ISBN-13: 978-0143039303

Description:

Raven is an ugly man dedicated to ugly deeds. His cold-blooded killing of a European Minister of War is an act of violence with chilling repercussions, not just for Raven himself but for the nation as a whole. The money he receives in payment for the murder is made up of stolen notes and when the first of these is traced, Raven becomes a man on the run. As he tracks down the agent who has been double-crossing him and attempts to elude the police, he becomes both hunter and hunted: an unwitting weapon of a strange kind of social justice. In doing so, he sets the stage for Greene’s next novel, Brighton Rock. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Samuel Hynes.

On this day in movie history - The Blue Dahlia (1946):

The Blue Dahlia

directed by George Marshall,

written by Raymond Chandler,

was released in the United States on April 18, 1946.
Music by Victor Young.

Cast:

Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Hugh Beaumont, Tom Powers, Howard Freeman, Don Costello, Will Wright, Frank Faylen, Walter Sande, Mae Busch, Anthony Caruso, Noel Neill.

Born on this day – Veronica Lake:

Veronica Lake

Actress

November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973

Credits:

100 Years of Horror (1996); 20 to 1 (2007); All Women Have Secrets (1939); Betty Crocker Star Matinee (1952); Bride of Monster Mania (2000); Bring on the Girls (1945); Broadway Television Theatre (1954); Celanese Theatre (1952); Celebrity Time (1950); Dancing Co-Ed (1939); Danger (1953); Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982); Donahue (1972); Duffy's Tavern (1945); E! Mysteries & Scandals (1999); Flesh Feast (1970); Footsteps in the Snow (1966); Forty Little Mothers (1940); Goodyear Television Playhouse (1952); Hold Back the Dawn (1941); Hold That Blonde! (1945); Hollywood and the Stars (1964); Hollywood Screen Test (1952); I Married a Witch (1942); I Wanted Wings (1941); Isn't It Romantic (1948); I've Got a Secret (1952); L.A. Confidential (1997); Les vamps fantastiques (2003); Lights Out (1950); Lux Video Theatre (1950); Miss Susie Slagle's (1946); Out of This World (1945); Pantomime Quiz (1955); Ramrod (1947); S1m0ne (2002); Saigon (1947); Showtime, U.S.A. (1950); Sixty Years of Seduction (1981); Slattery's Hurricane (1949); So Proudly We Hail! (1943); Somerset Maugham TV Theatre (1951); Sorority House (1939); Star Close-up (1970); Star Spangled Rhythm (1942); Stronghold (1951); Sullivan's Travels (1941); Tales of Tomorrow (1952); The Bert Parks Show (1950); The Blue Dahlia (1946); The Dick Cavett Show (1971); The Eamonn Andrews Show (1969); The Eyes Have It (1942); The Glass Key (1942); The Hour Before the Dawn (1944); The Ken Murray Show (1951); The Mike Douglas Show (1962); The Milton Berle Show (1952); The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (1952); The Sainted Sisters (1948); The Wrong Room (1939); This Gun for Hire (1942); This Is Show Business (1950); Today (1971); Variety Girl (1947); What's My Line? (1951); Young as You Feel (1940); Your First Impression (1963); Your Show of Shows (1950).