Actor: Bill Williams, Georgia Lee, Douglas Kennedy, Phil Tead, Paul Picerni Director: Dick Ross Genre:Drama Year: 1955 Studio:Alpha Video Length:1 hours, 25 minutes Released:January 25, 2013 Rating: Not Rated Format: DVD (NTSC/Region 1) Misc:Black & White Language: English Subtitles : N/A
DESCRIPTION:
Jim Vaus returns from the war and marries his sweetheart Alice. Despite his brilliance as an electronics engineer, he struggles to make a living. He is hired by wealthy Charles Rumson to fix a doorbell, and realizes that his client is a mob boss. When Jim discovers government eavesdropping devices at Rumson's mansion, he rips them out, ingratiating himself to the syndicate. Recognizing Vaus' value, Rumson puts him to work. Before long he is making a fortune, installing wiretaps on the police, and even graduating to a system of electronically fixing the horse races, all the time concealing his criminal activities from his wife. When Alice discovers the source of Jim's income, their relationship is strained to the breaking point. She forces the reluctant Jim to attend a Billy Graham sermon, in a last desperate attempt to save their marriage and Jim's soul.
Bill Williams headlines this true story based on Jim Vaus' biography, Why I Quit Syndicated Crime.Blonde athlete Williams had a long career playing nice-guy second leads beginning in 1944 when he appeared in Murder In The Blue Room. Bill co-starred with actress Barbara Hale in West Of The Pecos (1945). They married the following year and would appear together in A Likely Story (1947) and The Clay Pigeon (1949). Bill later found success as the titular character in the popular television show The Adventures Of Kit Carson (1951-53).
Aside from the rare opportunity to witness a young Billy Graham delivering a fire and brimstone sermon, Wiretapper boasts an outstanding supporting cast. Lovely Georgia Lee is joined by Paul Picerni (House Of Wax (1953) and "The Untouchables" television series), Stanley Clements (The Bowery Boys series), Phil Tead and Richard Benedict.
Also known as WIRETAPPER and THE JIM VAUS STORY, this low-budget production begins as a crime melodrama, then bumpily segues into a religious tract. Bill Williams stars as the real-life Jim Vaus, who for many years was a minor functionary in two major crime syndicates. The wastrel son of a minister, Vaus was "born again"late in life, and as a result he agreed to gather evidence against his mob bosses--including the notorious Mickey Cohen. The Rev. Billy Graham appears as "himself", whom the real Jim Vaus credited for his latter-day conversion to Christ. WIRETAPPER was adapted from Vaus' autobiography, WHY I QUIT SYNDICATED CRIME.
Actor: Bill Williams, Georgia Lee, Douglas Kennedy, Phil Tead, Paul Picerni Director: Dick Ross Genre:Drama Year: 1955 Studio:Alpha Video Length:1 hours, 25 minutes Released:January 25, 2013 Rating: Not Rated Format: DVD (NTSC/Region 1) Misc:Black & White Language: English Subtitles : N/A
DESCRIPTION:
Jim Vaus returns from the war and marries his sweetheart Alice. Despite his brilliance as an electronics engineer, he struggles to make a living. He is hired by wealthy Charles Rumson to fix a doorbell, and realizes that his client is a mob boss. When Jim discovers government eavesdropping devices at Rumson's mansion, he rips them out, ingratiating himself to the syndicate. Recognizing Vaus' value, Rumson puts him to work. Before long he is making a fortune, installing wiretaps on the police, and even graduating to a system of electronically fixing the horse races, all the time concealing his criminal activities from his wife. When Alice discovers the source of Jim's income, their relationship is strained to the breaking point. She forces the reluctant Jim to attend a Billy Graham sermon, in a last desperate attempt to save their marriage and Jim's soul.
Bill Williams headlines this true story based on Jim Vaus' biography, Why I Quit Syndicated Crime.Blonde athlete Williams had a long career playing nice-guy second leads beginning in 1944 when he appeared in Murder In The Blue Room. Bill co-starred with actress Barbara Hale in West Of The Pecos (1945). They married the following year and would appear together in A Likely Story (1947) and The Clay Pigeon (1949). Bill later found success as the titular character in the popular television show The Adventures Of Kit Carson (1951-53).
Aside from the rare opportunity to witness a young Billy Graham delivering a fire and brimstone sermon, Wiretapper boasts an outstanding supporting cast. Lovely Georgia Lee is joined by Paul Picerni (House Of Wax (1953) and "The Untouchables" television series), Stanley Clements (The Bowery Boys series), Phil Tead and Richard Benedict.
Also known as WIRETAPPER and THE JIM VAUS STORY, this low-budget production begins as a crime melodrama, then bumpily segues into a religious tract. Bill Williams stars as the real-life Jim Vaus, who for many years was a minor functionary in two major crime syndicates. The wastrel son of a minister, Vaus was "born again"late in life, and as a result he agreed to gather evidence against his mob bosses--including the notorious Mickey Cohen. The Rev. Billy Graham appears as "himself", whom the real Jim Vaus credited for his latter-day conversion to Christ. WIRETAPPER was adapted from Vaus' autobiography, WHY I QUIT SYNDICATED CRIME.
