{{short description|1951 film by Ted Tetzlaff}} {{Redirect|Gambling house|the article about gambling facilities in general|Casino}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Gambling House | image = Gambling house poster small.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Ted Tetzlaff | producer = Warren B. Duff | screenplay = Marvin Borowsky<br/>Allen Rivkin | story = Erwin S. Gelsey<br>(as Ervin Gelsey) | narrator = | starring = Victor Mature<br/>Terry Moore<br/>William Bendix | music = Roy Webb | cinematography = Harry J. Wild | editing = Roland Gross | studio = RKO Radio Pictures | distributor = RKO Radio Pictures | released = {{Film date|1951|2|23|Los Angeles|1951|3|18|New York|ref1=<ref name="latreview"/>|ref2=<ref name="nytreview"/>}} | runtime = 80 minutes | country = United States | language = English }}
'''''Gambling House''''' is a 1951 American crime film noir directed by Ted Tetzlaff and starring Victor Mature, Terry Moore and William Bendix.<ref>{{TCMDb title|id=75929|title=Gambling House}}.</ref>
==Plot== Gangster Joe Farrow kills a man after a game of craps. He offers gambler Marc Fury $50,000 if he will take the rap and stand trial. When Farrow tries to renege on the payment, Fury steals a ledger with information that could implicate Farrow. While being pursued, Fury slips the ledger into the possession of immigration social worker Lynn Warren.
Fury is acquitted, but immigration officers arrest him, take him to Ellis Island and threaten to deport him, as he is not a naturalized citizen. Fury finds Lynn and, although they are attracted to each other, she does not believe that his desire to remain in America is genuine.
Farrow's gunman seeks Fury but ultimately double-crosses his boss. When Fury offers the $50,000 to a family that desperately longs to remain in the country, Lynn begins to trust him.
==Cast== * Victor Mature as Marc Fury * Terry Moore as Lynn Warren * William Bendix as Joe Farrow * Zachary Charles as Willie (as Zachary A. Charles) * Basil Ruysdael as Judge Ravinek * Donald Randolph as Lloyd Crane * Damian O'Flynn as Ralph Douglas * Cleo Moore as Sally * Ann Doran as Della * Eleanor Audley as Mrs. Livingston * Gloria Winters as B.J. Warren * Don Haggerty as Sharky
==Production== The story, titled ''Mr. Whiskers'', was purchased by RKO Pictures in 1947 and scheduled in 1948 as a vehicle for Victor Mature, a Twentieth Century-Fox player with a contractual obligation to star in one RKO film per year. However, the project was postponed to enable Mature to appear in ''Easy Living''.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Brady |first=Thomas F. |date=1949-07-19 |title=Mature Gets Lead in 'Mr. Whiskers' |work=The New York Times |page=21}}</ref> Mature refused the assignment and was suspended by Twentieth Century-Fox.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brady |first=Thomas F. |date=1949-12-14 |title=Studio Suspension for Victor Mature |work=The New York Times |page=44}}</ref>
In late 1949, the project was renamed ''Alias Mike Fury'', later renamed again as ''Gambling House''.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Schallert |first=Edwin |date=1949-11-30 |title=Tetzlaff Will Direct Mature in 'Alias Fury;' Musicals Wynn's Fate |work=Los Angeles Times |page=7, Part II}}</ref> The script was rewritten and Mature relented.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Brady |first=Thomas F. |date=1950-01-04 |title=Mature Returned to Payroll at Fox |work=The New York Times |page=31}}</ref> Filming began in February 1950.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Thomas F. Brady |date=Feb 2, 1950 |title=2 Newcomers Get Metro Film Leads |work=The New York Times |page=31}}</ref>
==Reception== In a contemporary review for ''The New York Times'', critic Bosley Crowther called the film "a run-of-the-mill melodrama" and wrote: "Your chances for solid satisfaction from this tale of a crook who goes straight after meeting a decent young lady are about as good as they would be from a fixed wheel. ... Put it down as claptrap and the performance of Mr. Mature as another demonstration of an actor doing the best he can with a bad role. Miss Moore is entirely incidental and William Bendix is mulishly mean as the tough and deceitful rascal who crosses up Mr. Mature. To say any more about it might tend to incriminate somebody."<ref name="nytreview">{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=1951-03-19 |title=The Screen in Review |work=The New York Times |page=23}}</ref>
Critic Edwin Schallert of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote: "The desire to avoid a straightaway melodrama on the part of those concerned may be commended, and their effort to inject a patriotic theme is good in principle. But actually these special values tend to defeat the melodramatic portion of the plot. The picture deals rather too sketchily with many tense and potentially suspenseful incidents, and does not carry power and conviction with it that normally belong to this type of production."<ref name="latreview">{{Cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |date=1951-02-24 |title=Gangland Story Essays Mixing in Patriotism |work=Los Angeles Times |page=11}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{AFI film|id=53377|title=Gambling House}} * {{IMDb title|id=0042496|title=Gambling House}} * {{TCMDb title|id=75929|title=Gambling House}}
{{Ted Tetzlaff}}
Category:1951 films Category:1951 crime films Category:American crime films Category:American black-and-white films Category:Film noir Category:Films scored by Roy Webb Category:RKO Pictures films Category:1951 English-language films Category:1951 American films Category:English-language crime films