Arson, Inc.
| Arson, Inc. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | William Berke |
| Produced by | William Stephens |
| Written by |
Arthur Caesar Maurice Tombragel |
| Music by | Raoul Kraushaar |
| Cinematography | Carl Berger |
| Edited by | Edward Mann |
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Release date
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Running time
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63 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Lippert Productions |
| Box office | $60,000 |
Arson, Inc. is a 1949 American film directed by William Berke. It is also known as Firebug Squad and Three Alarm Fire.
Joe Martin is a fire fighter in Los Angeles who is assigned by his department chief to the Arson Detail. His first assignment is to investigate a suspicious fur store fire that seems to be set by the store owner himself, Thomas Peyson.
The reason why Joe Martin gets the assignment is because his predecessor in the Arson Detail was killed when inspecting the very same fire site. The predessor's file with his findings wasn't found on his body and hasn't been recovered. This is just one of many equally suspicious fires in the last few years, where the insurance claims following the fires has been filed by the same agent, Frederick P. Fender. There is suspicion that Fender is somehow involved in the disappearance of all the destroyed stores' goods as well.
Joe begins with Peyson, the store owner, and visits his apartment that was also raged by fire not long ago. He meets the baby-sitter, Jane, a pretty young teacher, and they get along so well that Joe drives her home and ask her out on a date the next evening.
It turns out Peyson and Fender is in cahoots together, since the first thing Peyson does after Joe leaves, is phone his accomplice. They also meet up the day after, just when Joe comes to see Fender as the next logical step in his investigation. Joe never sees Peyson, as he sneaks out through a back door. Joe gets very little information of use from Fender, but his visit makes Fender put one of his men, Pete, on tailing Joe to see if he finds out something.
Pete starts following Joe around everywhere he goes, even when he visits Jane. Soon Joe realizes that he is followed and when he knowingly enters an illegal gambling place Pete finalky makes contact, offering Joe a chance of making a little extra money. Joe decides to play along and go "undercover".
When visiting an illegal bookie, Joe starts to fight a policeman and the next day a picture showing him hitting a police officer is on the tabloids. He gets fired for this highly unfitting behavior, and Pete makes contact again, wanting to use the ex-fireman in the insurance fraud racket. Joe and Jane both meets Fender at a party held at Pete's, and Fender is smitten with the young teacher. Fender's secretary Betty sees this, and feels her own agenda is threatened.
Joe is hired to do some work for Fender, and the following day he is to drive a car for Pete when he is doing a "job", setting fire to another store. Joe's job is to block the way for the fire trucks coming to put the fire out. Pete also jams the water sprinklers inside the store.
Joe shares the plan with an undercover policeman, Murph, and after the fire is set, the cop steps in and single-handedly extinguishes the fire before it grows out of control. All the store goods are already removed from the store by Pete. But Pete returns to the store to see that the fire is destroying the store completely, and he finds Murph at the scene. Pete shoots Murph, but more police arrive to the store, and a car chase ensues, where Jie and Pete ultimately manage to shake the police.
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