The film's opening credits are supported by an upstanding military march theme followed by a voice-over that spells out the film's premise. The narrator plays the Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department who smoothly transitions his speech to welcome handsome Robert Lowery (below center) into his office. Chosen because of his special interest and knack in solving crimes of fire. He is given full reign to find the missing briefcase of evidence from a fellow investigator, deliberately killed during his own arson investigation. Lowery must expose who is behind the killing and the suspicious warehouse fires of recent years.
Perennially slimy bad
guy, Doug Fowley (above right), is the insurance claims adjuster whose payouts for
property loss in fires seem legitimate. The smug agent delivers his
lines—initially in extreme
close-ups—as tight-lipped as
someone whose jaws are wired shut following reconstructive surgery.
On the take is Hollywood's well-known nervous weasel, Byron Foulger,
needing money to cover past debts. Fowley tells him to torch his
wife's mink coat—something
Foulger has probably thought about for years—to
be awarded the needed cash. The spineless husband senses he may get
burned after Lowery's initial questioning.
With a never-ending supply of matches is the usually harmless, double-chinned, balding, comedic actor, Ed Brophy (above left), often delivering reactionary lines in other films as a poor man's Curly of The Three Stooges fame. As Fowley's fire man, he is instructed to keep tabs on Lowery. The investigator goes deep cover as a disgruntled firefighter to gain the confidence of Brophy, the latter vouching for him to his boss. Now, good pals, they frequent a bookie's backroom hideout. During a raid, the two are arrested. The following day, a phony newspaper headline indicates Lowery lost his job as a firefighter. Brophy is encouraged that Lowery is a rat just like himself. The duo works with Fowley on his next fire sale.
There are three female costars in this film: Anne Gwynne plays a school teacher and part-time babysitter for Foulger's young son. Lowery is instantly aflame for her upon their first meeting. She initially puts his fire out, but it does not take long to figure their budding relationship. Gwynne even plays along as part of his undercover work. Brophy sets off a warehouse fire but cannot resist having Lowery drive him back to see the huge flames. But Lowery tipped off an undercover cop, who was nearby to put the potential blaze out. This is disappointing to Brophy, and very suspicious to Fowley.
The second female is Marcia Mae Jones (above lower right), Fowley's secretary, with facial features appearing to be a composite of three females, all put together at odd angles. With too much to drink while dining with Brophy, Lowery, and Gwynne, she lets it slip about the next warehouse fire of mink stoles. Turns out it is Fowley's plan to see if Lowery shows up. No minks are going up in flames with a flummoxed Lowery trying to explain it to the fire captain. Bullets whiz by Lowery as he and Gwynne take cover in the warehouse. The seething Brophy sets off another fire to flesh them out for a clear shot.
Note: The briefly seen third female costar is Maude Eburne as "Grandma," also an occasional babysitter for Foulger. Her elderly face is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Gwynne. As is often the case in a Lippert production, levity plays its part. She and Lowery accidentally bump into each other early in the film—she completely in his arms. It becomes the amorous highlight of her day. Eburen wrapped up her thirty-three-year career one picture and two years later.
