Adapted from the Graham Greene novel by W.R. Burnett and Albert Maltz, This Gun for Hire (1942) introduced the archetypal film noir coupling of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in an early noir story of murder and deception-with a little war-time patriotism added to soften the harshness. In his star-making performance, Ladd's cat-loving contract killer Raven is icily amoral in his work, utterly emotionless except when angered. Lake's alluring nightclub singer-turned-spy Ellen is his steely, impassive match, even when she manages to momentarily appeal to his well-hidden better nature in order to foil a plan to sell chemical secrets to the enemy. Robert Preston's good cop may wind up getting Ellen, but it is Ladd who proves Lake's coolly charismatic onscreen equal. Shot with shadowy style by John F. Seitz, enhancing the underlying threat of corruption and violence, This Gun for Hire became a box office success, helping to set the standard for noir along with The Maltese Falcon (1941); Ladd and Lake sustained their popularity as the ultimate hard-boiled noir duo in The Glass Key (1942) and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Remade twice, as the feature Short Cut to Hell in 1957 and for TV in 1991.