PAPER BULLETS (1941) Joan Woodbury, Jack La Rue & Linda Ware | Crime, Drama, Thriller | B&W

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Paper Bullets is a 1941 American crime thriller film directed by Phil Rosen and starring Joan Woodbury, Jack La Rue and Linda Ware. It was the first film produced by the King Brothers, launching their career. The film was re-released by Eagle-Lion Films as Gangs, Inc. giving top billing to Alan Ladd, who has a supporting role.

SYNOPSIS
Circumstances force naive Dorothy Adams into serving an unjust prison term, but she emerges from it a cynical criminal who rises to power in the local crime organization.

After seeking revenge for her boyfriend, Joan Woodbury finds herself in jail on a hit-and-run charge. Ladd plays an undercover reporter doubling for a notorious gangster.

Rita grows up to be a struggling single girl who lives with her best friend, singer Donna, and who has a drunken boyfriend, Harold De Witt, the son of a rich, powerful man, Clarence. Rita loses her job in a factory when she cannot get bonded. Bob, who is now an aerospace engineer, offers to try to get her work.

When Harold drives Rita home at night, he kills a pedestrian in a hit-and-run while Rita is in the car. Acting on the advice of his father's lawyer, Bruce King, he gets Rita to claim responsibility for the accident, saying that he will be disinherited otherwise and that she will only get probation. She gets sentenced to one to five years in prison.

Rita then quits the syndicate to marry Bob, but immediately after the wedding she is arrested and indicted along with Parrish, Wood and DeWitt. During the trial, the courtroom spectators are shocked when Jimmy takes the stand, and all four defendants are convicted. As Bob comforts Rita and promises to wait for her, children play at the playground she built as a monument to the innocence of youth.

CAST & CREW
Joan Woodbury as Rita Adams
Jack La Rue as Mickey Roman
Linda Ware as Donna Andrews
John Archer as Bob Elliott
Vince Barnett as Scribbler, a petty forger
Alan Ladd as Jimmy Kelly aka Bill Dugan
Gavin Gordon as Kurt Parrish
Phillip Trent as Harold DeWitt
William Halligan as Police Chief Flynn
George Pembroke as Clarence DeWitt
Selmer Jackson as District Attorney
Kenneth Harlan as Jim Adams
Bryant Washburn as Attorney Bruce King
Stephen Chase as Detective Joe Kent
Robert Strange as Lou Wood
Alex Callam as Joe Fagan
Harry Depp as Johnny Mason

Directed by Phil Rosen
Written by Martin Mooney
Story by Martin Mooney
Produced by Maurice King
executive George R. Batcheller associate Frank King
Cinematography Arthur Martinelli
Edited by Martin G. Cohn
Music by Johnny Lange Lew Porter
Production Company
King Brothers Productions
Distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation
Release date June 13, 1941
Running time 72 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $19,000 or $23,000
Box office $200,000