MARIS WRIXON in HIGHWAY 13 (1949)

                                     

Due to another fine book from Bearmanor Media, Mark Thomas McGee's Robert L. Lippert treatise "Talk's Cheap, Action's Expensive" (2014), I've become quite devoted to the Lippert oeuvre of neat little thrillers like Highway 13, which comes with a compact little mystery about an endangered, and endangering, trucking company. With a cast that includes Lippert regulars Robert Lowery, Michael Whalen and Lyle Talbot and fine production values courtesy of rented sets at Republic Pictures, Highway even comes with a few surprises along the way and splendid performances by old timer Clem Bevans and a surprisingly chilly Maris Wrixon. The latter, a former Warner Bros. starlet who never quite managed to claw her way out of B Movies, turns in an exemplary femme fatale performance that nearly, but only nearly, secures the film its recent "Forgotten Noir" status.

(Illustration: Michael Whalen, Robert Lowery, Maris Wrixon and Tom Chatterton.)