“What kind of a dame are you?”

In the dreary 1944 crime-thriller Dark Mountain, clean cut forest ranger, Don Bradley (Robert Lowery) loses childhood sweetheart Kay (Ellen Drew) to thug Steve Downey (Regis Toomey). Kay doesn’t know about her husband’s sordid career, but when he’s exposed, he forces Kay to go on the run with him with the police in hot pursuit. Kay and Steve part ways, and Kay goes to Don for help. Don hides Kay in a remote Dark Mountain cabin, and the plan is that she will wait there until things cool off.

There’s a general lack of tension in Dark Mountain. The film, about 57 minutes long, is fast paced, but really corny scenes involving another ranger’s long distance romance and his dog’s antics interrupt the action. The elements of a decent crime film are all here, but somehow the film only raises a yawn. Another problem is in the plot itself. Kay doesn’t know about her husband’s activities, but all is revealed in one clumsy scene with henchman Whitey (Elisha Cook Jr.).