"A Life At Stake" opens with a shirtless Keith Andes (playing a smart patsy)....I have to admit he has a great body. Soon afterwards, he meets Angela Lansbury (playing a conflicted femme fatale) lounging in her pool....Lansbury was 29 when she made this film and although not conventionally beautiful even back then, she is shockingly sexy here....she uses her whole body strategically. Their dialogue is surprisingly suggestive for a 1950s movie, for example leaving little doubt as to how Lansbury's character became such a successful real estate saleswoman ("Isn't there a big Naval base in San Diego?" - "HUGE"!). Their second meeting, in an apartment, is almost equally heated. The rest of the movie is a little more lukewarm, but it does have a dependably slimy Douglas Dumbrille, and a fitting - and ironic - ending. **1/2 out of 4.

Yes, once, Angela Lansbury was young with a good figure (which I think she still has) and a sexy way about her.

In 1955's "A Life at Stake" she plays Doris Hillman, a woman who propositions a down-and-out architect, Edward Shaw (Keith Andes) with a business plan where she will buy property and he will put up houses. He had done this previously but he was bilked out of $37,000, (327,700 in today's money) some of which had been put up by friends. In the end he lost everything.

The flirtatious and seductive Hillman says that her husband (Douglas Dumbrille) will put up the money but that Shaw will have to buy keyman insurance for $250,000, which is $2.2 million today. This is business insurance that compensates for financial losses that would arise from the death or incapacity of an important member of a company.

Well it isn't hard to figure out what's going on, and it doesn't take Shaw that long either, even though he and Hillman fall for one another and begin sneaking around. He dodges several cars and a car where the brakes slip -- trying to stay alive is difficult around these people, but the police want proof. On top of this, he has met Hillman's sister (Claudia Barrett) and she's fallen for him.

Pretty good noir. I noticed on the reviews that many people aren't familiar with Keith Andes. He had a small but decent film career, in films such as The Farmer's Daughter, Clash by Night, Tora Tora Tora, and And Justice for All, as examples. He starred on TV in a series, This Man Dawson, and was in dozens of prime time shows up until 1980.

Most notably, he appeared on Broadway with Lucille Ball in Wildcat - he had a beautiful baritone voice; he also did Kiss Me, Kate on Broadway and toured in Man of La Mancha. At the age of 85, beset by health issues, he committed suicide.

Definitely worth seeing for young Angela and Keith Andes was certainly a hunk - he had his shirt off a lot of the time.

This film stars mostly unknown actors, other than Angela Lansbury in a leading role and Jane Darwell in a supporting role. The leading man is played by Keith Andes--a handsome and rather non-descript actor who, at first, I had trouble recognizing. Then I realized that I saw him in a bad episode of the original STAR TREK series--he was the high priest of Val (a giant rock-hewn lizard god). Not exactly an auspicious role, I know.

Andes is a down and out architect whose old partner split and left him ridden with debts. Into this sorry life appears Lansbury who offers to have him go into business with her and her older husband. The offer is just too good to be true--sudden wealth and a somewhat attractive married woman throwing herself at him. Despite misgivings, he agrees to the partnership. A part of this partnership includes a life insurance policy on him, so in case he died his partners wouldn't be left without a builder. Over time, Andes becomes convinced that maybe the reason the two took him on in partnership was because they planned on killing him and collecting the $175,000 policy.

In the weakest part of the film, Andes goes to the police who seem almost completely uninterested when he announces someone is trying to kill him! In fact, the desk sergeant even goes so far as to make fun of him--something that surely never would happen in real life. However, after going to the police, real attempts to occur and eventually even on of the detectives in convinced that Andes might be in danger after all--but is it too late to save him? The acting and writing are decent and the overall film is pretty good despite the low budget. What I especially liked was the last ten minutes or so of the film--it kept me guessing and offered a lot of suspense.