Admirable film.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A singer goes back to Las Vegas with her new husband and becomes embroiled in a murder investigation. A fine cast including Vincent Price, Jane Russell,Victor Mature and Brad Dexter make this an entertaining watch. The case revolves around a valuable missing necklace. Although at times fairly predictable it is an absorbing story helped by some good acting and some interesting characters. I felt that the film somewhat wasted the intriguing start and turns into a straight chase film near the end. The Las Vegas story isn't a classic by any means but it is always good to watch legends of the screen and so for me this was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

Reading posts on IMDb's Film Noir board,I found an excellent review for a Noir whose title sounded familiar.Checking my TV recordings,I found that it had recently aired in a double bill of rare Jane Russell movies, (the other being the easy-going Adventure flick Underwater!) which led to decided it was time to splash out in Vegas.The plot:Since walking out on Las Vegas, Linda Rollins has kept her back turned on ever looking back at the past. Secretly struggling with gambling debt,Linda's husband Lloyd takes a roll of the dice and takes Linda to Vegas to make some quick cash. Unknown to Lloyd,Linda's ex Dave Andrews has stayed in Vegas since going to war wondering where everything went wrong in his marriage. Treating his wife to a glistering necklace,Lloyd bets everything with the necklace,and loses it all (with casino owner Clayton not wiling give him a second chance.) Getting a call the next day,Andrews (who is now a cop) discovers that Clyton has been killed,and an expensive necklace has gone missing.View on the film:Gliding back to Vegas, Jane Russell (who looks very glamorous in the lavish dresses) gives her Femme Fatale Linda an elegant,playful edge,which becomes fully revealed in songs smoothly performed by Russell,who clouds Linda with an unease about being reunited with her past. Dressed to impress,Russell strips off Linda's glitz to unveil a wonderfully sharp,off the cuff manner, flared up by Russell getting Linda to hit Lloyd and Andrews with barb one-liners delivered by Russell with a spiky relish. A perfect match for Linda/Russell, Vincent Price gives a deliciously wicked performance as Lloyd,whose sharp exchanges with Linda, Price twist and turns into a mix of comedic and Film Noir menace.Caught between the couple, Victor Mature gives a firm, stoic performance as Andrews,but struggles to find breathing room between Russell and Price.Sliding like Flubber from live-action Disney flicks to Film Noir,director Robert Stevenson & cinematographer peel open the haunted Vegas past of Linda in stylish overlapping images that roll a ghostly atmosphere into the casino. Focusing on "the beautiful people" Stevenson still finds spots to dig into the dirt of Andrews unfulfilled romance,driven by great crane/helicopter shots looking down with Andrews at the Noir pit of Vegas. Introducing the Rollins as a couple,the screenplay by Paul Jarrico/Harry Essex/Earl Felton and Jay Dratler pulls the burnt veins of their Film Noir relationship out on the Vegas strip,spanning sour exchanges tangled in Lloyd's gambling debt and Linda's loveless relationship to Lloyd. Attempting to make Andrews and Linda an alluring Noir couple,the writers push Lloyd to the side lines in order to bring the bond between Andrews and Linda into the present,but tear the main Noir root due to Andrews lacking the Noir sparks of Lloyd,as the Vegas house wins on Film Noir.

Jane Russell's performance in "The Las Vegas Story" couldn't really be classified as acting since most of what she does here is react in a series of carefully posed close-ups. Still, when she relaxes a bit at the piano or offers to help an injured pilot, she's much more than just a sultry glamorous-puss--she's actually human. Russell's a former Vegas chanteuse who returns to her old digs after a stint in Palm Springs and a marriage to gambling-addict Vincent Price; she crosses paths again with ex-flame Victor Mature, now a police lieutenant, yet doesn't bat an eyelash when her hubby is eventually jailed on suspicion of murder. Despite the juicy-fruit dialogue and would-be hard-boiled atmospherics, this is a pretty simple and silly story, indeed. Price is the only member of the cast who tries creating a character; Mature goes through the motions unhappily while piano-man Hoagy Carmichael and police captain Jay C. Flippen are ridiculously over-the-top (and speaking of ridiculous, Carmichael's solo number "The Monkey Song" has to seen and heard to be believed!). There's not many females prominently featured besides Jane Russell...but that's acceptable. She'd walk all over them anyway. **1/2 from ****

Substitute Victor Mature for the part that Robert Mitchum normally played in these RKO films of the Fifties and you've got The Las Vegas Story. Wonder what Mitch was doing at this time?Nothing terribly groundbreaking in this film. Jane Russell and Vincent Price arrive back in Las Vegas where Jane used to be a singer when she was a single gal. Also working there is ex-boyfriend Victor Mature now with the Clark County Sheriff. When casino owner Robert J. Wilke turns up dead, there's a host of suspects out there. Jane's diamond necklace also is missing which is seen quite reasonably as a motive as Price said it was in the hotel safe.Things pretty much go as they normally do in these noir films, some good action sequences a nice car chase through an atomic bomb testing site in the end.What sets The Las Vegas Story apart is the presence of that old music master Hoagy Carmichael. ANY film he either appears in and/or writes some songs for is a cut above average just for that. He and Russell end the film singing his Academy Award nominated song My Resistance Is Low.So will your's be once exposed to the talents of Hoagy Carmichael.