Framed

Framed (1947) starring Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan

Synopsis of Framed

Glenn Ford is down and his luck, but stumbles into 10% of a silver mine after a driving accident in a small town.  He meets a lovely waitress and becomes her patsy in a scheme to defraud the local bank.  She murders her accomplice and blames him.  He’s is Framed for the murder.

Cast of characters in Framed

• Mike Lambert (Glenn Ford, Superman, The Big Heat, Gilda).  Unhappy at home, Mike takes a job driving a truck.  He literally runs into Jeff Cunningham, who later offers to use Mike’s mining knowledge on his silver mine.  But when Cunningham goes to the local bank for a loan, the plan is revealed to frame Mike.  It should also be mentioned that he blacks out when he drinks – an important plot point.
• Jeff Cunningham (Edgar Buchanan, Petticoat Junction, Penny Serenade).  The likable mining prospector who’s finally striking it rich.  He hires Mike, with 10% of the silver from the mine.  But the loan officer at the bank unexpectedly refuses to loan him the money he needs.  Heated words between them later lead Cunningham to be accused of murder.
• Steve Price (Barry Sullivan, The  Bad and the Beautiful, Planet of the Vampires).  The banker, whose girlfriend leads him to embezzle $250,000 from the bank.  They plan to murder Mike and leave his burned body in Price’s car.  The perfect murder – except the girlfriend murders him first.
• Paula Craig (Janis Carter, Miss Grant Takes Richmond, Flying Leathernecks).  The beautiful, manipulative, unscrupulous mastermind behind the murder.  She murders Price, strings Mike along, and is perfectly content to leave Cunningham in jail.  A very good performance, portraying a soulless, evil woman.

Editorial review of Framed courtesy of Amazon.com

Mike Lambert takes to driving a truck when he falls on hard times. When his rig brakes stop working in a small town he meets Paula Craig (Janis Carter) at the La Paloma Cafe and is quickly drawn into a criminal plot devised by the seductive femme fatale. Paula talks her boyfriend, Stephen, into robbing the bank that he manages. The two then drug Mike, intending to frame him for the crime. Paula then kills Stephen and takes all of the stolen cash. She then tells Mike that he is the one who killed Stephen in a drunken rage and that she has covered up for him, thereby implicating herself. She begs him to run away with her. Mike considers her offer until he learns that his close friend Jeff has been accused of the killing-and that Paula intends to pin the robbery that Stephen committed on his friend. …Framed