I re-watched this one in the Noirvember 2023 thread and wrote:
This Gun For Hire (1942)
Fun movie, not perfect but an enjoyable watch none the less. The opening scenes must have shocked the hell out of the audiences back in 1942...Those contract killing scenes are cold blooded violence. I doubt audiences had seen anything like that before. I've never been a fan of Alan Ladd but this is my favorite performance of his and I think he's real good here. However I am a fan of Veronica Lake and Miss Lake is on the beam. Even her musical number that she does in the nightclub of the bad guy is a treat to watch. So was the bad guy, Laird Cregar, really a strong performance from him. It's a pity he died so young, he was such a talent. Oddly Robert Preston who owns The Music Man was rather milquetoast in his role as a cop and boyfriend of Veronica Lake, maybe he was waiting for a musical number of his own. I liked this well enough that I'm going to watch the other Ladd, Lake noir pairings.***Which I did.
This Gun For Hire (1942)