Chicago Calling (1952)

Bill Cannon Dan Duryea loses everything to alcohol his job his family his selfrespect Soon after his wife and daughter leave him he receives word his little girl has been injured in a car accident outside Chicago His wife will call later with news but Bills short the 53 he needs to keep his phone from being disconnected Filled with anguish he heads out onto the Los Angeles streets to find some way to come up with the cash As his character encounters expected cruelty and unexpected kindness Duryea takes what might have been mere melodrama and turns it into a perceptive examination of one shattered soul The other fine star of this raceagainsttheclock programmer is an unglamorous lunchbucket LA rarely captured on film