Tim "T.M." Slade
Created by Raoul Whitfield

In High Tide (1947, Monogram), a rarely seen but surprisingly enjoyable little B noir, Lee Tracy plays gruff, crusading newspaper editor Hugh Fresney and Don Castle plays TIM "T.M." SLADE, a former reporter who's become a private eye.

When Fresney, aiming to run a big exposé on a gambling syndicate boss starts to fear for his life, he hires Slade to protect him.

But when a crash send the two men hurtling over a seaside cliff and leaves them trapped and injured inside the car. As the tide rolls in, Fresney decides to come clean, and give Slade the whole story.

It's a great framing gimmick, and most of the flick unfolds in flashback. There are plenty of shadows, plenty of twists and suspicious characters (including an alcoholic widow) and plenty of tough, terse dialogue; no doubt in part due to the source -- it's all based on ashort story by pulp master Raoul Whitfield.

FILMS

• HIGH TIDE
  (1947, Monogram)
  72 minutes
  Black & white
  Based on a short story "Inside Job" by Raoul Whitfield
  Screenplay by Robert Presnell Sr.
  Additional dialogue by Peter Milne
  Directed by John Reinhardt
  Starring Lee Tracy as Hugh†Fresney
  and Don Castle as TIM "T.M." SLADE
  Also starring Julie Bishop, Anabel Shaw, Douglas Walton, Regis Toomey, Francis Ford , Anthony Warde, Argentina Brunetti, Wilson Wood, George Ryland
  

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.