This one plays like a (boring) chapter from Dragnet; local vice squad, led by Detective Johnson (Robert Sterling) tries to round up the local occult film-flammers who have moved into town. Unfortunately, there is already a group trying to take a rich old dame's dough. Ricardo Cortez, Bernadene Hayes, and Robert Bice team up to pretend to be able to speak with the old lady's deceased son. Elisabeth Risdon plays Jessica Royce, and totally buys into it. Dick Elliot is the gabby real estate guy who gives them some of the info on her son.... of course, he was the mayor in "Andy Griffith". Things get pretty rough, when the gang tries to knock off everyone trying to get in their way... which seems like a lot of trouble. Probably would have been easier to just pack up and find a new town rather than get involved in murder. Directed by Herb Leeds; didn't end well for him.. .he offed himself at age 54, just a couple years after making "Bunco". Anyway... this one is OK. Some great scenes of old Los Angeles. Going to give this one a "6" for being just OK.

To the extent that this movie is apt at all, it fits Los Angeles better than any other American city of the period. There was a certain craziness about the place. There still is. It has hot dog stands in the shape of hot dogs. It has motels with names like The Taj Mahal in the shape of the Taj Mahal only painted day-glo purple. And I don't want to think too hard about the Madonna Inn, which seems to be made entirely of plastic spaghetti, lest my synapses fuse.In the 1930s and 40s it was a land of spiritualism and cults, of which Amy Semple McPherson's Four Square Gospel was perhaps the best known. This movie is like a stretched-out episode of "Dragnet," with all-good police officers in pursuit of all-bad phony spiritualists who rig séances in order to bilk a rich, gullible old lady out of her fortune. Sadly it lacks the reassuring ritual quality of Dragnet's style of dialog and movement.In this Zoroastrian world of black and white, Packards and Nashes career around curves in accelerated motion, the phones ring every ten minutes with important news, actresses are dragooned into plots to undo the evil-doers, and people speak in stereotypical lines that sound like they came directly from a screenplay.Nobody is a good actor. You know what would have pepped this up? Just ONE performer with a modicum of talent -- say, Marie Windsor, as the fake medium. And -- oh, hell -- throw in Mantan Moreland for laughs.

The bunco squad deals with confidence tricksters and fraudsters. In this movie they are trying to bring down a big time phoney fortune telling racket. Robert Sterling was just finding his feet in better films ("Two Faced Woman" (1941) and "Johnny Eager" (1942)) when the war intervened and by the time he returned he was never able to regain his footing. Perhaps he was too much like William Lundigan. After a couple of roles in films like "Bunco Squad" he turned to television where he was in great demand. "Bunco Squad" was also one of Ricardo Cortez's last appearances. He had a fantastic career going back to the silents, where he was the only actor whose name appeared above Garbo's in a film. He never gave a bad performance.Anthony Wells (Ricardo Cortez, doing what he does best!!!) is trying to get friendly with a rich widow, Mrs. Royce (Elisabeth Risdon), who is still grieving for her son Phillip, who was killed in the war. He tries through her secretary Barbara Madison (Marguerite Churchill) who is unaware of his connections. When she tries to warn the police - her car is in a mysterious accident and she is killed. He brings in all his phoney fortune telling friends and they get to work on Mrs. Royce's friends and servants who fill them in on Phillip's young life. When Mrs Royce visits Princess Liane (Bernadene Hayes) she is able to tell Mrs Royce little stories about her son that the widow thought were known only to her. When persons unknown, tamper with Det. Steve Johnson's brakes, he sends his long suffering girlfriend, Grace Bradshaw, undercover. She is an actress and her assignment is to pose as a phoney medium to lure the other "fakes" into a trap. Grace was played by the lovely Joan Dixon, in her first film appearance - unfortunately, she didn't make many more!!!I quite liked this movie - it is all about phoney fortune tellers - not the usual cops and robbers story. Dante the Great was a genuine magician who made an appearance as himself, in order to instruct Grace in the art of being a medium!!!Recommended.

BUNCO SQUAD concerns the efforts of a young policeman to protect a rich widow from a gang of fake spiritualists. This well made B programmer boasts good production values and a brisk pace. Chief among the competent cast is Ricardo Cortez doing his usual best as slick villain, and a small supporting role by Dante the Magician. Attractive locations and such details as 1940's streamlined cars make this film a nice small surprise.