Arson for Hire
1959 film
Arson for Hire is a 1959 American crime drama film directed by Thor L. Brooks. The film stars Steve Brodie, Lyn Thomas and Tom Hubbard, who also wrote.
Arson squad investigator Johnny Broderick and his partner Ben Howard, investigate a warehouse fire, and find evidence of arson.
Plot
Actress Keely Harris inherits a warehouse from her father that is burned in a fire. Her father's business partner informs her that he and her father had planned the fire and demands half the insurance money. Meanwhile, arson investigator Johnny Broderick and assistant Ben Howard suspect the fire wasn't an accident.
Cast
Steve Brodie ... Arson Squad Insp. John 'Johnny' Broderick
Lyn Thomas ... Keely Harris
Tom Hubbard ... Ben Howard, Broderick's Assistant
Jason Johnson ... William Yarbo
Frank J. Scannell ... Pop Bergen (as Frank Scanell)
Wendy Wilde ... Marilyn 'Marilee' Bergen
John Frederick ... Clete, the Photographer (as John Merrick)
Corinne Cole ... Cindy, the Secretary (as Lari Laine)
Antony Carbone ... Foxy Gilbert
Lyn Osborn ... Jim, the Fireman
Robert Riordan ... Fire Chief Boswell
Walter Reed ... Chief Hollister
Reed Howes ... Barney, the Bartender
Lester Dorr ... Cab Dispatcher
Frank Richards ... Man Making Phone Calls
Release
The film was released as a double feature with The Giant Behemoth.
According to tvguide.com, the film is a, "Crummy actioner [that's] pretty horrendous when the stock footage of fires isn't onscreen."
Tabonga
The "Tabonga" suit from the film From Hell It Came appears in a warehouse. The characters even have a gunfight in front of it.
The public source identifies “Arson for Hire” as 1959 film. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Arson, Hire and film.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20001147. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959.
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This entry incorporates text from “Arson for Hire” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.