In this era of tommy guns and fedoras, Warner Bros. was considered the gangster film kingdom. Most notable actors who defined their careers as tough-guys in this genre, included Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, George Raft, Paul Muni, and Humphrey Bogart. Often these story lines centered around the Prohibition Act, with the requisite assortment of gangsters, bootleggers and floozy moll girlfriends.
As gritty and violent as these films were, The Hays Production Code adopted in 1930 (and enforced in 1934), assured that these gangster characters were not portrayed as folk heroes and that all evil-doers met their comeuppance.
As gritty and violent as these films were, The Hays Production Code adopted in 1930 (and enforced in 1934), assured that these gangster characters were not portrayed as folk heroes and that all evil-doers met their comeuppance.
SUSPENSE FILMS FILMS OF THE 1930s
20,000 YEARS IN SING SING (1933) (81 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Sent to Ossining Prison (popularly known as Sing Sing), influential crook Spencer Tracy is unregenerate and refuses to adhere to the rules. While in solitary confinement, Tracy reconsiders his attitude. Thanks to Sing Sing's compassionate warden (Arthur Byron), Tracy becomes a model prisoner, even refusing to participate in a jailbreak. The warden sets up a special program permitting selected prisoners a degree of freedom and even suggests allowing an occasional furlough. When Tracy's girl friend (Bette Davis) is hurt in an auto accident, he is given a 24-hour pass to visit her. It's a test case—if Tracy doesn't return, the warden will be discredited and replaced. While on the "outside," Tracy learns that his old rival (Louis Calhern) was responsible for his girl's injuries. The furloughed con kills the rival, failing to return to Sing Sing when the allotted 24 hours expires. But Tracy eventually honors the warden's faith in him by voluntarily returning to face execution. Based on the book by real-life Sing Sing warden Lewis E. Lawes, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing was remade in 1940 as Castle on the Hudson.
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot, Warren Hymer, Louis Calhern, Grant Mitchell | Directed by: Michael Curtiz
36 HOURS TO KILL (1936) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A winning sweepstakes ticket is the catalyst in 36 Hours to Kill. The lucky recipient is gangster Duke Benson (Douglas Fowley), who happens to be a fugitive from justice. Duke hops a train to collect his prize money, keeping a low profile lest he be discovered. Also on board are G-man Frank Evers (Brian Donlevy) and newspaper sob-sister Anne Marvis (Gloria Stuart). Yes, they catch the villain, but before that they stop squabbling long enough to fall in love. The basic premise in 36 Hours to Kill was later reshaped by scenarist Lou Breslow for his 1942 Laurel and Hardy comedy A-Haunting We Will Go.
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Gloria Stuart, Douglas Fowley, Isabel Jewell | Directed by: Eugene J. Forde
39 STEPS, THE (1935) (87 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This classic British thriller was one of Alfred Hitchcock's first major international successes, and it introduced a number of the stylistic and thematic elements that became hallmarks of his later work. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat), a Canadian rancher on vacation in England, attends a music hall performance by "Mr. Memory" (Wylie Watson); in the midst of the show, shots ring out and Richard flees the theater. Moments later, a terrified woman (Lucie Mannheim) begs Richard to help her; back at his room, she tells him that she's a British spy whose life has been threatened by international agents waiting outside. Richard is certain that she's mad until she reappears at his door in the morning, near death with a knife in her back, a map in her hand, and muttering something about "39 Steps." Discovering that a group of thugs are indeed waiting outside, Richard slips away and takes the first train to the Scottish town on the dead woman's map. Richard learns that he's now wanted by the police for murder, and he must find a way to clear his name. He begins trying to do so with the help of a woman he meets en route, Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), who serves as his unwitting assistant, even after she tries to turn him in. The 39 Steps was later remade in 1959 and 1978 — both without Hitchcock's participation. — Mark Deming
Starring: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Godfrey Tearle, Lucie Mannheim | Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
70,000 WITNESSES (1932) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This "gimmick" murder mystery begins during a crucial college football game. Wally Clark (Johnny Mack Brown), the team's star player, is killed just before making the winning touchdown, as the titular 70,000 witnesses look on. Wally's teammate Buck Buchanan (Phillips Holmes), the younger brother of gambler Slip Buchanan (Lew Cody), had previously refused to drug Wally at Slip's bequest. Even so, when Wally drops dead, the leading suspect is poor Buck. It's up to bibulous reporter Johnny Moran (Charles Ruggles) and Wally's sister Dorothy Clark (Dorothy Jordan) to save Buck before local detective Dan McKenna (David Landau) railroads the boy into the electric chair.
Starring: Phillips Holmes, Dorothy Jordan, Charlie Ruggles, Johnny Mack Brown | Directed by: Ralph Murphy
ABSOLUTE QUIET (1936) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Despite its title, things get pretty noisy in MGM's Absolute Quiet. Lionel Atwill heads the cast as reclusive financier G. A. Axton, who squirrels himself away at a remote ranch to recuperate from an illness. The only other person at the ranch is Axton's secretary Laura Tait (Irene Hervey), but there's no hanky-panky; Laura is happily (or at least contentedly) married to Barney Tait (Harvey Stephens). Axton's solitude comes to an end when a plane makes a forced landing near his property. The passengers are herded into the ranch house by Jack (Wallace Ford) and Judy (Bernardine Hayes), a pair of inept bandits who'd been holding up the plane when it developed engine trouble. Seeking an opportunity to overpower the crooks are unemployed actor Gregory Bengard (Louis Hayward), crooked governor Pruden (Raymond Walburn) and newspaper reporter Chubby Rudd (Stuart Erwin). It soon develops that the passengers — and Laura — have more to fear from the mysterious G. A. Axton than they do from the gun-wielding Jack and Judy. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Irene Hervey, Raymond Walburn, Stuart Erwin, J. Carrol Naish | Directed by: George B. Seitz
ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN (1938) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Ronald Reagan is his usual sprightly self as ambitious insurance claims adjuster Eric Gregg. While diligently investigating a phony insurance racket, Gregg remains blissfully unaware that his own wife Nona (Sheila Bromley) has become deeply indebted to the crooks. Once this fact surfaces, Gregg loses both Nona and his job. Picking up the pieces is friendly cigar-stand clerk Patricia Carmody (Gloria Blondell), who ends up helping Gregg round up the villains. At the time Accidents Will Happen was released in 1938, the newspapers were jam-packed with stories about big-money insurance frauds; though the film lacks this timeliness when seen today, it remains an enjoyable trifle thanks to the always-dependable Reagan.
Starring: Ronald Reagan, Gloria Blondell, Dick Purcell, Addison Richards, Sheila Bromley | Directed by: William B. Clemens
ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN (1936) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Crime reporter George Melville (Joel McCrea) arrogantly repeated accurate predictions about jewel robberies. He befriends Claire (Jean Arthur), who involves him in a mysterious adventure. Later, George meets producer Blackton Gregory (Reginald Owen), who reveals Claire is an actress hired by other reporters who wanted to show George up. She's starring in a play Gregory is producing, but only as a cover for a tunnel he's having henchmen dig to an art gallery. Gregory is really Belaire, a master thief who everyone but George thinks is dead, so when Claire, now falling in love with George, innocently gives Belaire key information, he uses it against George. To Claire's dismay, this leads to George being fired and, apparently, going nuts. — Bill Warren
Starring: Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea, Reginald Owen, Thomas Mitchell | Directed by: Edward Ludwig
ADVENTURES OF JANE ARDEN, THE (1939) (53 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This minor but entertaining screen version of the Monte Barrett-Russell E. Ross comic strip The Adventures of Jane Arden stars Warner contractee Rosella Towne as the title character. Dapper villain Dr. Vanders (James Stephenson) has been using beautiful, gullible young women as pawns in a clever smuggling ring. After rather nastily disposing of socialite Lola Martin (Peggy Shannon), Vanders is virtually a marked man himself: intrepid gal reporter Jane Arden vows to bring the criminals to justice, and never mind that her managing editor sweetheart Ed Towers (William Gargan) warns her off the case. Jane's adventures range from a dangerous ocean voyage to an exciting equestrian chase across the California countryside, with nary a pause for breath (after all, the picture runs only 55 minutes). Benny Rubin and Dennie Moore provide barely relevant comedy relief.
Starring: William Gargan, Rosella Towne, James Stephenson, Benny Rubin | Directed by: Terrell O. Morse
ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE (1939) (83 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce make their second screen appearances as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Ostensibly based on the stage play by William Gillette, the film owes nothing to the play beyond the characters of Holmes, Watson, Billy the page boy and Professor Moriarty. Played with relish (and a bit of pickle) by George Zucco, Moriarty plots to steal the Crown Jewels, and also to confound Holmes by obliging the Great Detective to be in two places at once. Ida Lupino costars as an imperiled young woman who is seemingly plagued by an ancient family curse—a plot development that has been carefully stage-managed by the malevolent Moriarty. Basil Rathbone is excellent not only as Holmes but also in the guise of a cockney music-hall entertainer (if indeed that is Rathbone performing a buck-and-wing in longshot). The second of Twentieth Century-Fox's Holmes films (Hound of the Baskervilles was the first), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was the last in which Rathbone and Bruce were seen in a 19th century setting. In the subsequent Sherlock Holmes series at Universal, the exploits of Holmes and Watson were updated to the World War II years. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino, Alan Marshal, George Zucco | Directed by: Alfred L. Werker
AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936) (113 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This second of MGM's Thin Man films reteams William Powell and Myrna Loy as, respectively, bibulous private detective Nick Charles and his socialite wife Nora. The Charleses are sucked into another murder case via Nick's lovely cousin Elissa Landi, whose husband Alan Marshall has vanished. Hubby has been conducting an affair with nightclub thrush Dorothy McNulty (later known as Penny Singleton) and is also blackmailing gangsterish Joseph Calleia. When the corpses begin piling up, Nick and Nora try to piece the clues together, with the earnest assistance of Jimmy Stewart, who carries a torch for Landi. You won't believe who turns out to be the murderer in this one—then again, given the plot's strict adherence to "least likely suspect" formula, you probably will. — Hal Erickson
Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart, Joseph Calleia, George Zucco | Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke
ALCATRAZ ISLAND (1937) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Gat Brady (John Litel) is a wealthy gangster, though he's never killed anyone, an he is devoted to his teenaged daughter Annabel (Mary Maguire). When he's arrested for tax evasion on the eve of a European trip, he has Annabel's governess Flo Allen (Ann Sheridan) continue on the trip with the girl anyway. Red Carroll (Ben Welden), who hates Gat, kidnaps Annabel, but is caught and sent to the same prison as Gat. A fight with Red results in Gat being sent to the maximum-security prison on Alcatraz Island but, still bent on revenge, Red later arranges to have himself sent there, too.
Starring: Ann Sheridan, Mary Maguire, Dick Purcell, Addison Richards, Carole Landis | Directed by: William McGann
ALGIERS (1938) (96 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This Hollywood remake of the French Pepe le Moko adheres so slavishly to its source that it utilizes stock footage from the original film, and even picked its actors on the basis of their resemblance to the French cast. Contrary to legend, star Charles Boyer never says "Come wizz me to zee Casbah"; as master criminal Pepe le Moko, he's already in the Casbah, a crook-controlled safe harbor which protects Pepe from the French authorities. Pepe's friendly enemy, police inspector Joseph Calleia, treats his pursuit of Pepe like a chess game, patiently waiting for his opponent to make that one wrong move. The ever-careful Pepe has the misfortune to fall hopelessly in love with tourist Hedy Lamarr (in her first American film). A combination of events, including the betrayal of Pepe by his castaway lover Sigrid Gurie and Hedy's tearful return to her ship when she is misinformed that Pepe is killed, lures the hero/villain into the open. Arrested by Calleia, Pepe begs for one last glance at his departing sweetheart. At this point in the French version, Pepe cheated the hangman by killing himself; this would never do in Production Code-dominated Hollywood, so Algiers contrives to have Pepe shot while trying to escape. Algiers was remade in 1948 as a musical, Casbah, starring Tony Martin. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr, Sigrid Gurie, Joseph Calleia, Gene Lockhart | Directed by: John Cromwell
ALIAS MARY SMITH (1932) (61 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Alias Mary Smith might have been completely forgotten were it not for the diligent efforts of "B"-picture aficionado John Cocchi, who in such books as Second Feature has elevated this unintentionally hilarious cheapie to near-classic status. John Darrow plays a bibulous playboy who rescues put-upon heroine Blanche Mehaffey from a purse-snatcher. Their subsequent romance is complicated by Mehaffey's efforts to prove gangster boss Matthew Betz guilty of murder, a trick she pulls off with the help of a squeezed lemon (no kidding!) The tightness of the film's budget is never more obvious than in the obligatory newspaper-headline close-ups; all of these headlines have been obviously plastered over a single copy of the trade paper Variety (sharp-eyed viewers will note that each news story begins with a report from the Culver City kennel club). The film reaches a giddy high point when the heroine, threatened with a jail sentence by DA Henry B. Walthall, asks plaintively, "Is it a nice jail?"
Starring: Blanche Mehaffey, Myrtle Stedman, Edmund Breese, Alec B. Francis | Directed by: E. Mason Hopper
ALIBI BREAKER (1937) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
(AKA: Double Exposures) A industrialist has a row with his son, who leaves home. Meanwhile, both his assistant and solicitor conspire to embezzle a fortune in bonds. A plucky young newspaper reporter pursues the rich man's daughter.
Starring: Ruby Miller, Julien Mitchell, Brian Buchel, Mavis Clair | Directed by: John Paddy Carstairs
ALIBI FOR MURDER (1936) (61 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Winchellesque radio commentator Perry Travis (William Gargan) fancies himself a brilliant amateur detective; the cops wish he'd just stick to his microphone and let them do the detecting. This proves impossible when a famed scientist is murdered in Perry's studio, right in the middle of an interview. All the evidence points to Perry as the guilty party, which of course means that he isn't. With the help of the dead man's secretary Lois Allen (Marguerite Churchill), Perry tries to figure out how a man could be murdered in a locked room with no visible weapon or assailant. A hectic car chase winds up this cookie-cutter Columbia mystery, which features appearances by such familiar "B"-picture faces as Gene Morgan, John Gallaudet and Dwight Frye.
Starring: William Gargan, Marguerite Churchill, Gene Morgan, John Gallaudet | Directed by: David Ross Lederman
AMAZING DR. CLITTERHOUSE, THE (1938) (87 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Edward G. Robinson shines in a fine comic role as Dr. Clitterhouse, a brilliant psychiatrist doing research into the criminal mind. The good doctor wants to gain a clearer understanding of how a thief feels when he's in the midst of a robbery, so strictly for academic purposes he tries to crack a safe at a high society party to which he's been invited. While trying to get rid of the jewels he swiped in the course of this experiment, Clitterhouse makes the acquaintance of "Rocks" Valentine (Humphrey Bogart), the tough-as-nails leader of a group of professional thieves. Clitterhouse is fascinated by Valentine and discovers that he enjoys committing robberies, so he joins forces with Valentine's gang and uses his superior intellect to mastermind a series of daring and profitable heists. Clitterhouse is also beguiled by Jo Keller (Claire Trevor), a beautiful dame who fences stolen gems. But Valentine doesn't appreciate how Dr. Clitterhouse has worked his way into the gang, and he is soon looking for an opportunity to get him out of the picture. The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse was co-written by John Huston and features several key members of the Warner Brothers stock company in supporting roles, including Allen Jenkins and Donald Crisp. — Mark Deming
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, Humphrey Bogart, Allen Jenkins | Directed by: Anatole Litvak
ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES (1939) (86 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Though not a sequel to Angels with Dirty Faces, this Warner Bros. programmer does star the Dead End Kids-or, more specifically, Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, and Bernard Punsley. Fresh out of reform school, Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) promises his sister Joy (Ann Sheridan) that he'll go straight, and promptly joins the Beale Street Termites (the Dead Enders), a tough but basically good-hearted street gang. Local mobster William Kroner (Bernard Nedell), seeking out a fall guy for a series of arsons, frames Gabe for a fire in which helpless invalid Sleepy (Punsly) dies. With the help of the other Termites, crusading DA Pat Remson (Ronald Reagan) tries to prove Gabe's innocence, using surprisingly high-handed tactics to get results: arresting Kroner on a misdemeanor, he turns the crook over to the kids, who force a confession out of the terrified crook. In this and several other instances in the film, the gang's rowdy behavior is "purified" because the end justifies the means. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Ann Sheridan, Billy Halop, Ronald Reagan, Bernard Punsly | Directed by: Ray Enright
ANOTHER THIN MAN (1939) (105 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Three years after the second Thin Man entry, MGM brought back the property by popular demand with Another Thin Man. As ever, William Powell and Myrna Loy star as sophisticated sleuths Nick and Nora Charles, with the added filip of 8-month-old Nick Charles Jr. At the invitation of munitions manufacturer Colonel MacFay (C. Aubrey Smith), the Charleses spend a weekend at MacFay's Long Island estate. The Colonel is certain that his shady ex-business associate Phil Church (Sheldon Leonard) plans to do him harm, a prognostication that apparently comes true when murder rears its ugly head. Though he's promised to cut down on his drinking (after all, he's a daddy now), Nick spends an inordinate amount of time sorting out the clues and identifying the actual murderer-who, of course, is the least likely suspect (and in fact is played by an actor who seldom if ever harmed a fly in any other film). Adding to the merry mayhem is the Charleses' efforts to find a good baby-sitter, resulting in an onslaught of "help"-and additional babies!—courtesy of Nick's old Underworld cronies. — Hal Erickson
Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Grey, C. Aubrey Smith, Otto Kruger, Ruth Hussey, Patric Knowles, Tom Neal, Sheldon Leonard, Shemp Howard | Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke
ARREST BULLDOG DRUMMOND (1938) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Arrest Bulldog Drummond was the last of Paramount's "B" film series based on Sapper's two-fisted soldier of fortune, and also the final appearance by John Howard as Drummond. In this one, Drummond's honeymoon with his beloved Phyllis (Heather Angel) is postponed for the umpteenth time when Drummond is framed for the theft of a new ray-gun device (which looks like a reconditioned movie projector). Though designed for "the good of mankind", the gun will be a deadly force if it falls into "the wrong hands"--which in this case belong to goggle-eyed reprobate George Zucco and his gang. Still a fugitive, Drummond gives chase to the real crooks, with the help of several friends and associates, as well as the unofficial approval of Scotland Yard inspector Nielsen (H.B. Warner). Drummond narrowly escapes being dunked into a slime pit before he brings the crooks to justice.
Starring: Heather Angel, H.B. Warner, Reginald Denny, George Zucco, John Howard | Directed by: James Hogan
ARSENE LUPIN (1932) (84 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
John Barrymore plays a burglar and his brother Lionel Barrymore is the detective trying to catch him in this cleverly cast drama. An upscale thief who works under the name of Arsene Lupin is making the rounds of the homes of the wealthy and privileged, and Detective Guerchard (Lionel Barrymore) is determined to track him down. What he doesn't know is that the suave and sophisticated Duke of Charmerace (John Barrymore) is actually the man behind the robberies. Will Guerchard find out the thief's true identity before he can execute a daring theft from the Louvre Museum? Karen Morely co-stars as Sonia, the Duke's love interest. — Mark Deming
Starring: John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Karen Morley, John Miljan | Directed by: Jack Conway
ARSENE LUPIN RETURNS (1938) (81 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This follow-up to MGM's 1932 John Barrymore vehicle Arsene Lupin stars the ineluctable Melvyn Douglas. Reported to be dead, suave gentleman jewel thief Arsene Lupin (Douglas) resurfaces under the assumed name of Rene Farrand. Intending to follow the straight and narrow path, Lupin/Farrand reverts to his old larcenous ways when the opportunity to pilfer $250,000 in gems presents itself. Slowing down our hero somewhat is the presence of hotshot American private eye Steve Emerson (Warren William) and glamorous adventuress Lorraine de Grissac (Virginia Bruce). Ironically, both Melvyn Douglas and Warren William also played thief-turned-sleuth Michael Lanyard, aka "The Lone Wolf", over at Columbia.
Starring: Melvyn Douglas, Virginia Bruce, Warren William, John Halliday, George Zucco | Directed by: George Fitzmaurice
BAD GUY (1937) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This drama chronicles the fate of two disparate brothers, both of whom work at the same power plant. One of them is incarcerated after killing a gambler. He tries to convince his brother to help him use electricity to blow up the iron bars of his cell so he can escape. The electrifying results of the experiment insure that final justice is done.
Starring: Bruce Cabot, Virginia Grey, Edward Norris, Jean Chatburn, Cliff Edwards, Charles Grapewin | Directed by: Edward L. Cahn
BEAST OF THE CITY, THE (1932) (87 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A reluctantly appointed police chief in a crime-riddled city takes his job seriously and works hard to clean the streets of gangsters and to shape up his own corrupt department in this brutal, gritty film noir. Jean Harlow plays a luminescent but ill-fated gun moll.
Starring: Walter Huston, Jean Harlow, Wallace Ford, Jean Hersholt, J. Carrol Naish | Directed by: Charles Brabin
BEFORE MIDNIGHT (1934) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In the first of Columbia Pictures' "Inspector Trent" whodunits, the inspector (Ralph Bellamy) is called in to investigate the death of Edward Arnold (William Jeffrey). Although the young doctor in charge, David Marsh (Arthur Pierson), maintains that Arnold died of natural causes, a family curse causes Trent to become suspicious. The good inspector becomes even more alarmed when the victim, who has indeed been poisoned, proves to be one John Fry, the real Arnold (Claude Gillingwater) having changed places with an old friend in order to defeat the curse. But who killed Fry? Was it the Japanese houseboy, Kono (Otto Yamaoka)? Or the family attorney (Bradley Page)? Suspicion also centers on Arnold's beautiful ward, Janet (June Collyer); Fry's widow, Mavis (Betty Blythe); and sundry other more or less sinister characters lurking about the family's cavernous Forest Lake estate. Before Midnight was followed by three additional "Inspector Trent" mysteries: One Is Guilty, The Crime of Helen Stanley, and Girl in Danger, all released in 1934 and starring the affable Ralph Bellamy.
Starring: Ralph Bellamy, June Collyer, Claude Gillingwater, Bradley Page | Directed by: Lambert Hillyer
BEHIND PRISON GATES (1939) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Brian Donlevy was well enough established as a film personality in 1939 that he didn't have to accept the leading role in the Columbia "B" Behind Prison Gates. But like many other actors, Donlevy realized that Columbia treated character actors like stars-and boy, did he ever want to be a star. In this no-frills prison drama, Donlevy plays an undercover agent who goes "in stir" to locate the money stolen by a pair of cop-killing bandits. He almost pulls it off, but then someone recognizes him. Jacqueline Wells assumes the "gal on the outside" role generally played by Anne Sheridan over at Warner Bros.
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Jacqueline Wells, Joseph Crehan, Paul Fix | Directed by: Charles Barton
BEHIND THE MASK (1932) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Behind the Mask is a typically virile Jack Holt vehicle, with the hero at one point shooting himself in the arm to establish an alibi! Holt plays a federal agent named Hart who has himself planted in jail as a convict to get the goods on a drug syndicate. Befriending small-time gangster Henderson (Boris Karloff), Hart follows the trail of clues to unmask the head of the syndicate, who turns out to be the supposedly respectable Dr. Steiner (Edward Van Sloan). In the rip-roaring climax, Steiner prepares to perform an "operation" on Hart, gleefully informing his victim that his chances for recovery are next to nil. Because of the presence of Boris Karloff and Edward Van Sloan in the cast, Behind the Mask was included in Screen Gems' "Shock Theater" TV package, even though there's nothing really horrific in the film.
Starring: Jack Holt, Constance Cummings, Boris Karloff, Claude King | Directed by: John Francis Dillon
BIG GUY, THE (1939) (78 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
In this melodrama, the acting warden at a correctional facility must make a difficult choice when he comes across some ill-gotten loot after averting a prison break. At first he keeps it for himself, but then one of the recently recaptured inmates gets blamed for the crime. During the attempted escape, an inmate was killed and he is blamed for that too. They sentence him to death, and he later accuses the acting warden of stealing the loot, which the convict only wanted so he could get an education. As the inmate's final days approach, the warden's conscience erupts and inspires him to action. Unfortunately, tragedy still ensues.
Starring: Victor McLaglen, Jackie Cooper, Edward S. Brophy, Ona Munson | Directed by: Arthur Lubin
BIG HOUSE, THE (1930) (88 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Not the first of the prison pictures, but the one that truly put the genre on the map. Playboy Kent (Robert Montgomery), driving drunk, kills a couple of pedestrians and is sentenced to a 10-year manslaughter term. His cellmate is forger Morgan (Chester Morris), a tough but essentially decent con; the cell-block leader is Butch (Wallace Beery), whose outer oafishness hides a cruel, calculating mind. Butch lives for the day that he can bust out and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. Panicking, Kent "rats" on Butch and is murdered during the climactic breakout as a consequence. Morgan behaves courageously, saving the warden (Lewis Stone) and the guards from Butch's wrath; as a reward, Morgan earns a reduced sentence and the love of Kent's sister Anne (Leila Hyams). Remarkably brutal for an MGM film, The Big House (a double Oscar winner, for best screenplay and sound recording) established not only the grimy mise-en-scene of prison life, but also a whole new glossary of slang terms and a veritable menagerie of movie "types," from the firm but kindly prison chaplain to the embittered lifer. The film was gloriously lampooned by Laurel & Hardy's Pardon Us, in which Walter Long played the Beery counterpart. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Robert Montgomery, Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Charles Boyer | Directed by: George Hill
BIG SHAKEDOWN, THE (1934) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
An idealistic but naive pharmacist believes the mobsters who claim they want him to manufacture illegal medicine to help out the poor. That the deal will pad his own pockets with much-needed cash only sweetens the arrangement. This melodrama chronicles the tragic results of his actions. He wants the extra money so he can get married. The scheme works and things are fine until his bride announces her pregnancy and insists that he get out of the racket. Unfortunately, the brutal mobsters refuse to let him out. Not long after, his bride miscarries the baby and nearly dies when a well-meaning doctor injects her with some of the druggist's own bad medicine. This causes the pharmacist to go berserk with rage and have a violent confrontation with the villainous mob boss. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: Charles Farrell, Bette Davis, Ricardo Cortez, Glenda Farrell | Directed by: John Francis Dillon
BISHOP MURDER CASE, THE (1930) (91 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Nine years before stepping into the role of Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone essayed the character of S. S. Van Dyne's dilettante detective Philo Vance in The Bishop Murder Case. The murderer this time is a mysterious figure known only as "The Bishop." Plotting his killings in the systematic manner of a chess game, the Bishop tips off each of his crimes by sending the police cryptic messages in the form of nursery rhymes (his first victim, felled by an arrow, is referred to as "Cock Robin"). Heroine Belle Dillard (Leila Hyams) fears that the Bishop may be her own sweetheart Sigurd Arnesson (Roland Young) — indeed, that's what the police think as well — but Philo Vance carefully puts the clues together to finger the actual culprit. With surprising foresightedness, several of the characters remark upon Vance's deductive skills by referring to him as "Sherlock." Well directed, and with an imaginative use of "natural" sound in the exterior scenes, The Bishop Murder Case is ultimately laid low by its molasses-slow pacing, though things become moderately exciting when the heroine is kidnapped in the last reel. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young, Alec B. Francis | Directed by: David Burton, Nick Grinde
BLACK DOLL, THE (1938) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The Black Doll is one of the better entries in Universal's "Crime Club" series. Most of the action takes place on a dark and very stormy night, as the survivors of a long-ago mining expedition gather together in fear and trembling. It seems that a man whom the miners left for dead is very much alive and out for revenge. The killer warns each victim of impending doom by leaving behind a black voodoo doll, of which he has a seemingly endless supply. Into this highly charged situation stumbles heroine Marian Rood (Nan Grey), who may very well be linked to the murders that follow. Trying to sort out the clues are amateur sleuths Nick (Donald Woods) and Rex (William Lundigan), while the irascible Sheriff Renick (Edgar Kennedy) simmers and scowls. Originally released at 66 minutes, The Black Doll plays rather well in its 48-minute TV version.
Starring: Nan Grey, Donald Woods, Edgar Kennedy, William Lundigan | Directed by: Otis M. Garrett
BLACK MOON (1934) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this bizarre drama, a young wife and mother begins dabbling in voodoo and soon finds herself hopelessly entangled in practicing black arts. Meanwhile her poor husband finds himself powerless to stop her. The matter comes to a terrifying head when she begins participating in human sacrifices and decides to offer up her own baby. Fortunately her husband shows up and puts a permanent hold on her evil activities.
Starring: Jack Holt, Fay Wray, Dorothy Burgess, Cora Sue Collins | Directed by: Roy William Neill
BLACK SHEEP (1935) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The Black Sheep is professional gambler John Dugan (Edmund Lowe), who gets his kicks out of fleecing wealthy suckers during a Transatlantic ocean voyage. But when Dugan sees innocent young Fred Curtis (Tom Brown) being made the fall guy for a jewel robbery, he decides to help the poor boy out. What Fred doesn't know is that Dugan is his own father, desperate to make amends for his past indiscretions. Never revealing his true identity, Dugan rescues Fred from the clutches of beautiful predator Millicent Bath (Adrienne Ames). The musical score is by Oscar Levant, whose legendary dislike for thick-eared Hollywood executives never prohibited him from picking up his paycheck. Black Sheep represented director Allan Dwan's first effort for the newly former 20th Century-Fox Corporation.
Starring: Edmund Lowe, Claire Trevor, Tom Brown, Eugene Pallette, Adrienne Ames | Directed by: Allan Dwan / Allan Swan
BLACKWELL'S ISLAND (1939) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This gangster film is based upon fact as it tells the tale of a determined reporter who has decided to make sure a certain notorious gangster gets his just desserts. It takes a long time, but eventually the reporter succeeds and the gangster is sent up river. Unfortunately, once there, he becomes the leader of the prisoners and, though incarcerated, is soon up to his old tricks of trying to corrupt local politicians and the warden. The obsessed journalist is infuriated and so gets himself sent to prison to stop the gangster once and for all.
Starring: John Garfield, Rosemary Lane, Dick Purcell, Victor Jory | Directed by: William McGann
BLIND ADVENTURE (1933) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
After saving RKO Radio from receivership with King Kong, producer-director Ernest B.. Schoedsack relaxed a bit with the comparatively sedate crime caper Blind Adventure. King Kong co-star Robert Armstrong plays Richard Bruce, an American in London who stumbles into the lair of a kidnap-blackmail gang. Playing his cards close to his vest, Bruce manages to get his hands on the "secret papers" that are so important to everyone in the story. He also wins the heroine, the aptly named Rose Thorne (Helen Mack, Armstrong's vis-a-vis in Son of Kong). Of the supporting players, Roland Young is terrific as a dry-witted burglar.
Starring: Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, Roland Young, Ralph Bellamy | Directed by: Ernest B. Schoedsack
BLIND ALIBI (1938) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A French sculptor travels to LA and, with the help of Ace the Wonder Dog, pretends to be blind so he can sneak into a museum and reclaim some missing love letters. The amorous missives were written by his sister and could destroy her reputation. Someone has been using them to blackmail her, so her brother steals them. Unfortunately, they get mixed up in some shipping crates and get sent to California with a bunch of his latest creations. When the crooks learn that the letters are there, they too head for LA making the bulk of this crime drama a race to find those letters.
Starring: Richard Dix, Whitney Bourne, Eduardo Ciannelli, Frances Mercer | Directed by: Lew Landers
BLIND ALLEY (1939) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Blind Alley, directed by Charles Vidor is a chilling psychological drama in the film-noir tradition reminiscent of the fine melodrama The Desperate Hours. Hal Wilson (Chester Morris) is an escaped killer who hides out in the home of noted psychologist Dr. Shelby (Ralph Bellamy). While Wilson's gang holds Shelby's family and servants hostage, the pipe-smoking mental doctor calmly tries to discover the reasons for Wilson's murderous proclivities. As gun moll Mary (Ann Dvorak) covers Shelby, Wilson willingly allows the doctor to psychoanalyze him, using hypnosis to trace the killer's childhood. Once Shelby forces Wilson to confront his inner demons, the lifelong criminal is never able to kill again. Rather simplistic in its psychological approach, Blind Alley still works as a "film noir," complete with surrealistic dream sequences. A taut story and moody cinematography by Lucien Ballard — with sharp direction from Vidor, and superlative acting by Morris and Bellamy — earn this film noir entry a top spot in the genre. The film was remade scene-for-scene in 1949 as The Dark Past, with William Holden as the killer and Lee J. Cobb as the unflappable head shrinker.
Starring: Chester Morris, Ralph Bellamy, Ann Dvorak, Joan Perry | Directed by: Charles Vidor
BLOOD MONEY (1933) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The passage of seven decades has not dimmed the impact of the powerhouse melodrama Blood Money. Written and directed by Rowland Brown, an aficionado of underworld fact and fiction, the film star Frances Dee as Elaine Talbert, a decadent young heiress who will do anything for a quick thrill. Her ongoing search for a man who will "take charge" of her, Talbert goes on a shoplifting spree and gets mixed up with crooked bail-bondsman Bill Bailey, who is nothing more than a legal extortionist. She is also sucked into the netherworld of penny-ante crook Drury Darling (Chick Chandler) and his wife, black-widow nightclub queen Ruby Darling (Judith Anderson, in her film debut) The climax, involving a booby-trapped billiard ball, is a tenser variation of a famous sequence from Keaton's Sherlock Jr.. And the film's now-legendary final scene, which proves beyond a doubt that Talbert has learned nothing from her perilous experiences, is really one for the books! Hard to find nowadays, Blood Money has justifiably assumed "cult film" status.
Starring: George Bancroft, Frances Dee, Chick Chandler, Judith Anderson | Directed by: Rowland Brown
BOMBAY MAIL (1934) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Universal's Bombay Mail adheres to the pattern established by Paramount's Shanghai Express, with a group of Calcutta-bound train passengers thrust into a life-or-death situation. In the course of the 36-hour journey, a high-ranking British official (Ferdinand Gottschalk) and an equally prominent Maharajah (Douglas Gerrard) are both murdered. Police inspector Dyke (Edmund Lowe) would like to make an arrest, but is stymied by a lack of evidence — or even a murder weapon. Complicating matters is a scheme hatched by a couple of other passengers to steal a valuable ruby. It turns out that a poisonous cobra is the instrument of death, and that the murderer is...well, no fair giving it away here. Future gossip queen Hedda Hopper appears as one of the most suspicious-looking suspects.
Starring: Edmund Lowe, Shirley Grey, Onslow Stevens, Hedda Hopper | Directed by: Edwin L. Marin
BORN RECKLESS (1937) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this actioner, an auto racer becomes a cab driver for a company that is being strong-armed by avaricious gangsters trying to gain control of all of the city's taxi companies. Anyone opposing them is framed, but the brave racer isn't so easily intimidated and he decides to take on the crooks himself. He is assisted by the head gangster's moll.
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Rochelle Hudson, Barton MacLane, Chick Chandler | Directed by: Malcolm St. Clair
BULLDOG DRUMMOND AT BAY (1937) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
After making his first appearance as the title character in Paramount's "Bulldog Drummond" series, John Lodge was rushed to England to star in the quota quickie Bulldog Drummond at Bay. Though lacking the polish of Hollywood's Drummond pictures, this one is closer to the original concept of series creator H. C. Neile (aka "Sapper") than any other film. The plot is motivated by the nefarious activities of a gang of munitions smugglers, disguised as a pacifist organization. The leader of the gang is Gregoroff (Victor Jory), justifiably nicknamed "The Mystery Man of Europe." Gregoroff masterminds the kidnapping of the inventor of a revolutionary new robot airplane. Adopting strong-arm tactics that border on the fascistic, soldier-of-fortune Bulldog Drummond (Lodge) tackles the villains, while Scotland Yard remains in the background, presumably twiddling its collective thumbs.
Starring: Dorothy Mackaill, Victor Jory, John Lodge, Claud Allister, Richard Bird | Directed by: Norman Lee
BULLDOG DRUMMOND COMES BACK (1937) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In the second of Paramount's "Bulldog Drummond" thrillers, Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (John Howard) is finally about to marry longtime fiancée Phyllis Clavering (Louise Campbell) when the girl is kidnapped. The hijackers, Mikhail Valdin (J. Carroll Naish) and his sister, Erena Soldanis (Helen Freeman), are wanted for the murder of an American millionaire, and Scotland Yard Inspector Neilson (John Barrymore) warns Bulldog that he may be next. But the intrepid hero pays no heed and is soon off on a dangerous journey that culminates at the Mere, a supposed haunted house. Bulldog Drummond Comes Back was based on H.C. "Sapper" McNeile's 1928 novel The Female of the Species, who, an opening credit warns, is "more deadly than the male."
Starring: John Barrymore, John Howard, Louise Campbell, Reginald Denny, J. Carrol Naish | Directed by: Louis King
BULLDOG DRUMMOND ESCAPES (1937) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Paramount's "Bulldog Drummond" series got off to a start with 1937's Bulldog Drummond Escapes. Up-and-coming Ray Milland stars as soldier-of-fortune Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, who on this occasion comes to the aid of pretty heiress Phyllis Clavering (Heather Angel). The heroine is being held against her will by scheming "family friend" Merridew (Porter Hall), who hopes to get his mitts on her inheritance. With the help of his silly friend Algy (Reginald Denny) and Scotland Yard inspector Nielsen (Sir Guy Standing), Drummond manages to rescue Phyllis several times -- and, reciprocally, is rescued by her on one occasion.
Starring: Ray Milland, Guy Standing, Heather Angel, Porter Hall, Reginald Denny, E.E. Clive | Directed by: James Hogan
BULLDOG DRUMMOND'S REVENGE (1937) (55 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In the fourth of Paramount's "Bulldog Drummond" action-thrillers, the intrepid adventurer (John Howard) makes the grizzly discovery of a severed hand. Even more startling, attached to the wayward limb is a case filled with hextonite, a new and highly explosive substance desired by the enemy in general and one Draven Nogais (Frank Puglia) in particular. With his faithful servant, Tenny (E.E. Clive), fiancée Phyllis Clavering (Louise Campbell), and friend Algy Longworth (Reginald Denny) along for the ride, Captain Drummond trails the villain on board a train leaving Victoria Station for Paris. At first, the wily Nogais manages to elude his pursuers by disguising himself as a woman, but his plans to escape with the explosives are halted on the ferryboat to France. Despite the relative brevity of his role as Scotland Yard inspector Neilson, John Barrymore earned star billing in this series entry, which was based on H.C. "Sapper" McNeile's 1932 novel The Return of Bulldog Drummond.
Starring: John Barrymore, John Howard, Louise Campbell, E.E. Clive, Reginald Denny, Frank Puglia | Directed by: Louis King
BULLETS OR BALLOTS (1936) (81 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Two-fisted New York police detective Edward G. Robinson is so volatile that he manages to get himself thrown off the force in disgrace. The local gangsters are delighted, in that Robinson had been breathing down their necks. When Robinson goes to crime boss Barton MacLaine insisting that he's through with law enforcement and wants to switch to the other side, MacLaine's chief henchmen Humphrey Bogart doesn't buy the story, but has to go along since he doesn't want to incur the wrath of MacLaine. Robinson offers to show his former enemies how to circumvent the law, making him an invaluable participant in gang activities. Actually, Robinson hasn't gone crooked at all; he's operating undercover, with the full knowledge of the city police inspector, in hopes of locating the "big boys" who've been financing the mob. His diligence costs him his life, but Robinson, with the help of bad-girl-gone-good Joan Blondell, busts the rackets wide open. Former crime reporter Martin Mooney was responsible for the story upon which Bullets or Ballots was based. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Barton MacLane, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh | Directed by: William Keighley
BURIED ALIVE (1939) (74 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A man is wrongfully convicted of a crime and sent to prison. Realizing that he is the victim of political shenanigans, he dutifully does his time. Eventually he comes up for parole, but the crooked official behind his incarceration, fearing that the prisoner will expose him, makes sure that parole is denied. The innocent inmate has only one consolation— the prison nurse believes him.
Starring: Beverly Roberts, Robert Wilcox, George Pembroke, Ted Osborn | Directed by: Victor Halperin
CAR 99 (1935) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In his first starring role (after being second-billed to Claudette Colbert in The Gilded Lily), Fred MacMurray plays officer Ross Martin of the Michigan State Police. After completing his training, Martin is pitted against dignified Professor Anthony (Sir Guy Standing), who uses his academic status as a cover for his bank-robbery activities. Keeping himself abreast of police maneuvers by listening to car radios and unobtrusively hanging around headquarters, Anthony ultimately uses his technological know-how to paralyze the police communications systems. But with the cooperation of the Massachusetts police department, whose radios are in full working order, rookie Martin and rustic sheriff Pete Arnot (Frank Craven) combine forces for a final assault upon Anthony's hideout. Its sometimes illogical plot twists notwithstanding, the screenplay is based on a series of factual articles, first published in Saturday Evening Post. Also given a career boost in Car 99 is another new Paramount contractee, Ann Sheridan.
Starring: Fred MacMurray, Guy Standing, Ann Sheridan, Frank Craven | Directed by: Charles Barton
CASINO MURDER CASE, THE (1935) (82 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
S. S. Van Dine's intelligent, insufferable amateur sleuth Philo Vance is the protagonist of The Casino Murder Case. Paul Lukas plays Vance, who is brought to the mansion of a wealthy, eccentric widow (Alison Skipworth) by a mysterious unsigned letter. Several murders are committed in the elderly woman's home, with the evidence pointing to various red herrings before the truth is revealed. Rosalind Russell plays the old lady's secretary (and Vance's object of affections); Eric Blore is Vance's droll valet; and Ted Healy is the obnoxious Sgt. Heath, ever willing to slap the cuffs on the wrong person. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook, Rosalind Russell | Directed by: Edwin L. Marin
CHANNEL CROSSING (1933) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this drama a rich banker loses his fortune in the stock market. His secretary's lover finds out that the banker has been using fake bonds to make a deal. The opportunistic young lout then begins threatening to blackmail the financier. In a panic, the banker tosses the extortionist overboard. When he learns that his secretary loved the creep, the boat captain launches a search party and the man is all wet, but saved. The repentant banker then kills himself.
Starring: Matheson Lang, Constance Cummings, Anthony Bushell, Dorothy Dickson | Directed by: Milton Rosmer
CHARLIE CHAN AT THE CIRCUS (1936) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Enjoying a break from crime-solving, oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) takes his 12 children to the circus. It isn't long, however, before he's sucked into yet another murder case, with a more colorful array of suspects than usual. Meanwhile, Number One Son Lee Chan (Keye Luke) tries to make time with pretty Chinese lass Su Toy (Shia Jung), a task made difficult by his morbid fear of the circus animals. One of the secondary villains, sinister lion tamer Tom Holt, is played by J. Carroll Naish, who later portrayed Charlie Chan on a late-1950s TV series. Some of the best moments in Charlie Chan at the Circus are contributed by brother-and-sister midget performers George and Olive Brasno.
Starring: Warner Oland, Keye Luke, J. Carrol Naish, Francis Ford | Directed by: Harry Lachman
CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OLYMPICS (1937) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Actual footage of the 1936 Berlin Olympics is rabbeted into the action of this superior Charlie Chan entry. Assigned by the U.S. Navy to track down a gang of international spies, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) heads to Berlin, where as luck would have it his son Lee (Keye Luke) is representing the United States as a member of the Olympic swimming team. Among Lee's teammates is Richard Masters (Allan Lane), who has unfortunately fallen under the spell of the alluring Yvonne Roland (Katherine De Mille), much to the dismay of his sweetheart Betty Adams (Pauline Moore). What no one knows (but Chan suspects) is that Yvonne is one of the spies, in league with the mysterious Arthur Hughes (C. Henry Gordon). Yvonne hides a stolen secret weapon in Betty's luggage, leading to a not-so-merry chase through Berlin, and the ultimate kidnapping of Lee Chan by the villains. Plus, there's a murder to be solved, and Berlin police chief Strasset (Fredrick Vogeding) isn't about to let Charlie Chan get the credit. Ironically, Charlie travels from New York to Berlin via the dirigible Hindenburg — which crashed into flames the same week that Charlie Chan at the Olympics was released (PS: The Nazi swastika on the tail of the airship was matted out by the special-effects crew).
Starring: Warner Oland, Katherine de Mille, Pauline Moore, Keye Luke | Directed by: H. Bruce Humberstone
CHARLIE CHAN AT THE OPERA (1936) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
"Warner Oland vs. Boris Karloff" read the billing on the opening credits of Charlie Chan at the Opera. Karloff plays a once-famous opera star who has long been confined to an insane asylum. He escapes, ostensibly to seek revenge on the diva wife (Nedda Harrigan) who'd betrayed him years earlier. Karloff shows up during the performance of a new opera, and within minutes the murders start. Detective William Demarest figures the case is open and shut, but oriental sleuth Charlie Chan (Oland) is not thoroughly convinced of Karloff's guilt—nor is he certain that Boris is genuinely insane. To give away the ending would be churlish, but we can note that Charlotte Henry plays Karloff's daughter, who has been raised to believe that her father was dead. Considered by some Charlie Chan fans to be the best of the Warner Oland efforts, Charlie Chan at the Opera is distinguished by excellent production values, and by an original opera composed by Oscar Levant—who allegedly agreed to this assignment provided he could include the word "Silencio!" in his lyrics.
Starring: Warner Oland, Boris Karloff, Keye Luke, Charlotte Henry | Directed by: H. Bruce Humberstone
CHARLIE CHAN AT THE RACE TRACK (1936) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
En route from Honolulu to Los Angeles by steamship, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) is pressed into action when a fellow passenger is killed. The dead man was a prominent horse breeder, whose favorite stallion has been entered in the Santa Anita handicap. At first glance, it appears as though the victim has been kicked to death by his own horse, but further investigation reveals the complicity of a crooked gambling ring. The excitement of the "photo finish" climax is amplified when Charlie and Number One Son Lee (Keye Luke) are kidnapped by the gamblers — and the murderer still hasn't been revealed! The best line in Charlie Chan at the Race Track occurs at the end, when Lee excitedly bursts into a room with a vital clue that Charlie has already revealed, whereupon Mr. Chan murmurs: "Please — save clue for next case."
Starring: Warner Oland, Gavin Muir, Jack Mulhall, Keye Luke | Directed by: H. Bruce Humberstone
CHARLIE CHAN AT TREASURE ISLAND (1939) (75 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Movie buffs are nearly unanimous in agreement: Charlie Chan at Treasure Island is the best of the Sidney Toler "Charlie Chan" entries. The film wastes no time getting started, with Chan (Toler) and his son Jimmy (Sen Yung) on hand when Charlie's writer friend Paul Essex (Louis Jean Heydt) dies on the Honolulu Clipper while en route to San Francisco. The police rule Essex' death a suicide, but Chan believes differently. He follows the trail of clues to the mysterious Zodiac, a crooked spiritualist. The oriental detective is aided in his investigation by Rhadini (Cesar Romero), a charming stage magician who hopes to expose Zodiac as a phony and blackmailer. After several plot twists and a couple of additional murders, all the likely suspects are gathered together during one of Rhadini's performances at Treasure Island, the San Francisco branch of the 1939 World's Fair. In a truly eerie climax, mystic Eve (Pauline Moore) who really does have psychic powers, prepares to name the killer. The revelation of the culprit is a genuine surprise, staged with topnotch showmanship by director Norman Foster, whose wife Sally Blane (Loretta Young's sister) appears in a small role as Essex's widow. Many of the magicians' props utilized in Charlie Chan at Treasure Island would do service again in 1942 in the Laurel & Hardy vehicle A-Haunting We Will Go. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Sidney Toler, Cesar Romero, Pauline Moore, Victor Sen Yung | Directed by: Norman Foster
CHARLIE CHAN IN EGYPT (1935) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
As much a horror film as a murder mystery, Charlie Chan in Egypt is one of the best entries in the "Chan" series. The story is motivated by a King Tut-like curse, which has apparently befallen the members of an archeological expedition. Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) is brought into the case when a French museum wants to find out how several valuable Egyptian artifacts, originally slated for museum exhibition, have ended up for sale to the highest bidder. Arriving in Egypt, Chan must first figure out the modus operandi for two murders in which neither a weapon nor a wound was found. The solution to the killings involves a certain musical pitch played on a violin (a familiar mystery-movie device of the period).
Starring: Warner Oland, Pat Peterson, Thomas Beck, Rita Cansino (Hayworth) | Directed by: Louis King
CHARLIE CHAN IN HONOLULU (1938) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Sidney Toler made his first appearance as aphorism-spouting oriental sleuth Charlie Chan in 1938's Charlie Chan in Honolulu, while Victor Sen Yung likewise makes his series debut as Charlie's Number Two Son Jimmy. While awaiting the birth of his first grandchild, Chan endeavors to solve a shipboard murder on a Hawaiian freighter. Hint: the most likely suspect is played by George Zucco, so it's safe bet that he's not the guilty party. Hampering Chan's investigation is the well-meaning assistance of overeager Charlie Chan Jr. (Layne Tom), as well as the dangerous menagerie of animal trainer Al Hogan (Eddie Collins). Audiences immediately warmed to Sidney Toler as the new Charlie Chan, encouraging 20th Century-Fox to keep the series going as long as possible.
Starring: Sidney Toler, Phyllis Brooks, Sen Yung, Eddie Collins, Marc Lawrence, Claire Dodd, George Zucco | Directed by: H. Bruce Humberstone
CHARLIE CHAN IN RENO (1939) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Sidney Toler made his second appearance as oriental sleuth Charlie Chan in the above-average Charlie Chan in Reno. It all begins when nervous young Mary Whitman (Pauline Moore) shows up in Reno to seek a divorce from husband Curtis Whitman (Kane Richmond). Before long, Jeanne Bentley (Louise Henry), another divorce-seeker, is found slain, and the police are certain that Mary, or her estranged husband, is responsible. It so happens that the Whitmans are from Honolulu, the stamping grounds of Charlie Chan, which is why our wily hero shows up in Nevada with son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) in tow. Every so often, the mystery slows down long enough for an amusing battle of wits between Chan and local sheriff Fletcher (Slim Summerville), who admittedly has only half the necessary ammunition. The billing order of the supporting cast is as usual a giveaway of the true killer's identity, but this doesn't lessen the enjoyment of this well-crafted programmer. Charlie Chan in Reno was based on Death Makes a Decree, a story by Philip Wylie. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Sidney Toler, Ricardo Cortez, Phyllis Brooks, George "Slim" Summerville | Directed by: Norman Foster
CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI (1935) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
After wrapping up his last case in Egypt, Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) heads to Shanghai for a well-deserved rest. It isn't long, however, before Chan has been summoned by the local constabulary to help smash an international dope ring. He is aided by erudite American intelligence agent James Andrews (Russell Hicks) and to a lesser extent by his overeager Number-One-Son Lee Chan (Keye Luke). The film is structured more like a serial than a mystery, with Chan and his friends escaping death and/or abduction at every turn. Only after rounding up the smugglers does Charlie reveal the well-concealed identity of the criminal mastermind behind it all. The nominal romantic lead is played by Charles Locher, who went on to greater fame as Jon Hall.
Starring: Warner Oland, Irene Hervey, Charles Locher, Jon Hall, Keye Luke | Directed by: James Tinling
CHARLIE CHAN IN THE CITY OF DARKNESS (1939) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This timely entry in Fox's Charlie Chan series is set in Paris during the Munich Crisis of 1938. Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) arrives in the City of Light for a reunion with his war buddies, only to find those lights dimmed by a city-wide blackout. The murder victim this time out is munitions manufacturer Douglas Dumbrille, who sells out his country by selling arms to an unnamed enemy. Harold Huber shamelessly overacts as the Parisian inspector assigned to the case. Charlie Chan in City of Darkness ends on a prescient note, with Chan expressing trepidation over the "Peace in Our Time" solution to the Munich affair. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Sidney Toler, Richard Clarke, Harold Huber, Pedro de Cordoba | Directed by: Herbert I. Leeds
CHARLIE CHAN: BLACK CAMEL, THE (1931) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Actress Shelah Fane (Dorothy Revier) is in Honolulu to shoot a movie, but her chaotic personal life is keeping her from concentrating on work. She's supposed to marry millionaire playboy Alan Jaynes (William Post Jr.), but she's also got an ex lurking around and a possible skeleton in her closet in the form of her one-time lover, actor Danny Mayo, who was murdered in Hollywood three years earlier in a case that's still officially unsolved. Fane seems to have resolved some of her problems and is prepared to move forward with her life — with help from phony mystic Tarnevarro (Bela Lugosi) — when she turns up murdered. Inspector Chan (Warner Oland) is up to his neck in possible suspects, including Tarnevarro, who was getting inside information on Fane and working some kind of scam; Fane's assistant, Julie O'Neil (Sally Eilers), who felt compelled to tamper with evidence; her would-be fiance, Jimmy Bradshaw (Robert Young), who tried to keep Julie from finding the body; Fane's oily ex (Victor Varconi); Smith (Murray Kinnell), a painter and beachcomber who was lurking around the murder scene; and two servants, Jessup (Dwight Frye) and Anna (Violet Dunn), one of whom seems very nervous. Several of these people had motive and opportunity, and the plot thickens considerably when some seemingly innocuous witnesses admit to hiding evidence, others start turning up dead, and yet others seem to be destroying evidence. Chan, juggling this list of suspects (and the thinly veiled racism of some of them) and the presence of his well-meaning but inept assistant Kashimo (Otto Yamaoka), as well as his family life, maintains his cool, cerebral demeanor throughout, despite attempts on his own life and the slang-laden yammering of his children, which the detective scarcely understands.
Starring: Warner Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, Dorothy Revier | Directed by: Hamilton MacFadden
CHARLIE CHAN'S SECRET (1935) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A serial-like pace and some stylish directorial choices by Gordon Wiles distinguish this "Charlie Chan" entry. The reading of a will is delayed until young Fred Gage (Edward Trevor), one of the principal heirs to the fortune, can be located. Gage shows up at the family mansion, only to be promptly murdered. It is now up to detective Charlie Chan (Warner Oland), an old friend of the family, to protect dowager Henrietta Lowell (Henrietta Crossman), from harm. Alas, Chan apparently fails, and Henrietta falls victim to the mysterious killer — or does she? The suspect roster includes a pair of phony mystics, an ill-tempered caretaker and a stock swindler — but it's the least-likely suspect who proves to be the guilty party, one of several of the many surprises packed into the final reel. The appealing heroine in Charlie Chan's Secret is played by Rosina Lawrence, who later gained lasting fame as the schoolteacher in Hal Roach's Our Gang one-reelers.
Starring: Warner Oland, Rosina Lawrence, Charles Quigley, Henrietta Crosman | Directed by: Gordon Wiles
CHARLIE MCCARTHY, DETECTIVE (1939) (77 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Having proven their box-office value in such films as A Letter of Introduction, Goldwyn Follies and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his wise-lipped dummy Charlie McCarthy were awarded with a starring vehicle of their own. While entertaining at the home of magazine publisher Court Aldrich (Samuel S. Hinds), Bergen and his "friends" Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd get mixed up in their host's murder. It seems that Aldrich was working hand in glove with gangster Tony Garcia (Harold Huber), who has kept himself busy knocking off the publisher's enemies. Could Garcia be the murderer this time as well, or was it someone else at the party? Inspector Dailey (Edgar Kennedy) wants to find out-but he doesn't want the unsolicited assistance of Charlie McCarthy, who insists upon playing Sherlock Holmes, replete with deerstalker and magnifying glass. Though essentially a "stunt" film, Charlie McCarthy, Detective pleases the crowd with an abundance of hilarious dialogue and a reasonably good mystery subplot.
Starring: Edgar Bergen, Robert Cummings, Constance Moore, John Sutton | Directed by: Frank Tuttle
CHINATOWN SQUAD (1935) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Dore Schary, several years removed from his tenure as head of MGM, was screenwriter for the modest Universal actioner Chinatown Squad. Lyle Talbot plays Ted Lacey, a disgruntled ex-cop reduced to driving a sightseeing bus in Chinatown. When a man who has been collecting funds for the Chinese communist cause is murdered, Lacey leaps at the opportunity to solve the case in hopes of getting his badge back. The killing is tied in with some stolen airplanes — and, this being Hollywood's version of Chinatown, there's an abundance of sinister-looking suspects. Eighteen-year-old Valerie Hobson is the pretty if antiseptic heroine. For reasons best known to the folks at Universal, Chinatown Squad was included in TV's "Shock Theatre" package, lumped together with the studio's Frankenstein and Dracula pictures!
Starring: Lyle Talbot, Valerie Hobson, Hugh O'Connell, Andy Devine | Directed by: Murray Roth
CIRCUS QUEEN MURDER, THE (1933) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A vicious spiral of revenge in a traveling circus is the basis for this fast-paced thriller. The circus has stopped to perform in a small town when the trouble begins. During the course of the film, much of the cast is killed, planning to kill, or killing each other.
Starring: Adolphe Menjou, Greta Nissen, Dwight Frye, Donald Cook | Directed by: Roy William Neill
CITY STREETS (1931) (82 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Never one to hide his talent under a bushel basket, director Rouben Mamoulien proudly proclaimed that, while there were ten killings in his 1931 gangster drama City Streets, the audience never sees any of them. This was not the only innovation in this fascinating early talkie, in which straight-arrow movie hero Gary Cooper is cast as a racketeer known only as The Kid. He has chosen a life of crime out of love for Nan (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of mob henchman Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee). Eventually railroaded into prison by her crooked cohorts, Nan implores The Kid to give up the rackets, but he refuses. Things go downhill very rapidly after that, culminating with The Kid and Nan being taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. Cast in a role originally intended for Clara Bow, Sylvia Sidney does a magnificent job and was soon typecast as a downtrodden Depression victim, born with two strikes against her. Conversely, Gary Cooper never again played anything quite like "The Kid."
Starring: Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas, Guy Kibbee, Stanley Fields, William "Stage" Boyd | Directed by: Rouben Mamoulian
CLAIRVOYANT, THE (1935) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Claude Rains is a phony psychic who makes a good living fleecing the suckers with his wild prognostications. But after Rains is plagued by severe headaches, he discovers that he truly does have "visions". Suddenly his predictions begin to come true, and Rains is elevated to a position of prominence in European social and political circles. Despite the protestations of his loving wife (Fay Wray), Rains becomes intoxicated by his own power, which leads to disaster. Also known as The Evil Mind, The Clairvoyant is an elaborate British-made cautionary fable, with an excellent performance by Claude Rains and a remarkably good one from Fay Wray. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Claude Rains, Fay Wray, Jane Baxter, Ben Field | Directed by: Maurice Elvey
COLLEGE SCANDAL, THE (1935) (79 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Never mind the title and the musical content: College Scandal is at heart a murder mystery, and a pretty suspenseful one at that. Several mysterious killings have taken place at a co-ed college, and it looks as though there won't be anyone left alive to appear in the annual campus musical. The police, headed by the irascible Chief Magoun (William Frawley) are at a loss to solve the murders, so the students take it upon themselves to play detective. It is college cutie Sally Dunlap (Arline Judge) who discovers that the killing spree is related to the accidental death of a student during a long-ago fraternity hazing. The film's most startling moment occurs when music student Paul Gedney (Johnny Downs) is knocked off while singing his latest composition, ironically titled "In the Middle of a Kiss." College Scandal was remade in 1942 as Sweater Girl.
Starring: Arline Judge, Kent Taylor, Wendy Barrie, William Frawley, William Benedict | Directed by: Elliott Nugent
CONVICT'S CODE (1939) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Monogram's seemingly endless series of inexpensive crime mellers continued with Convict's Code. Robert Kent plays a star football player who is framed by gamblers on a robbery charge and sentenced to prison. Serving three years behind bars, Kent is paroled in the custody of the same gambling boss (Sidney Blackmer) who engineered the frame. Unaware that his benefactor is also the guy who sent him up, Kent falls in love with the gambler's innocent sister Anne Nagel. Ten points to anyone who can figure out the relevance of the film's title.
Starring: Robert Kent, Anne Nagel, Victor Kilian, Norman Willis, Maude Eburne | Directed by: Lambert Hillyer
CORSAIR (1931) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Of interest mainly because of the talent involved, this film remains a tepid bootleg melodrama about a small-town football hero attempting to prove that he is as ruthless as his rich girlfriend's father. Spoiled Alison Corning (Alison Loyd) persuades her Wall Street banker father (Emmett Corrigan) to hire her newest beau, gridiron star John Hawkes (Chester Morris). Hawkes, however, does not approve of the banker's heartless business practices and is fired for refusing to sell questionable stock. To get back at Corning, John and his tipsy sidekick Chub Hopping (Frank McHugh), go into business together, hijacking the bootleg cargo of gangster Big John (Fred Kohler) and selling the contraband to Corning. Big John, as it turns out, is employed by the banker, who is thus made to pay for his own liquor twice. A couple of gang members, Slim (Ned Sparks) and Sophie (Mayo Methot), conspire with Hawkes to doublecross Big John and are killed for their efforts. Despite the ruthlessness of the gangster and his henchman Fish Face (Frank Rice), Hawkes manages to get the upper hand, proving once and for all that he is the banker's equal and worthy of Alison's love. Corsair (which was the name of Chester Morris' pirate vessel) was produced at Catalina Island by silent screen director Roland West as a showcase for for his girlfriend Thelma Todd. A gifted comedienne, Todd was made to change her name to Alison Loyd for the occasion, but producer-director West gave her very little to work with, and she quickly returned to her former employer, comedy king Hal Roach. West, who had helmed a couple of interesting silent melodramas, ended his screen career with Corsair, opening instead a restaurant with Todd as his partner. The Thelma Todd Sidewalk Café on Pacific Coast Highway just north of Santa Monica remained a popular industry hangout until Todd's mysterious death in 1935 from carbon monoxide poisoning in a garage belonging to Roland West's estranged wife, silent screen actress Jewel Carmen.
Starring: Chester Morris, William Austin, Frank McHugh, Emmett Corrigan | Directed by: Roland West
COUNSEL FOR CRIME (1937) (61 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Otto Kruger once again plays a dynamic, bombastic attorney in Columbia's Counsel for Crime. Kruger plays William Mellon, a shifty shyster whose underhanded methods loses him the love of his sweetheart Anne (Nana Bryant), who subsequently marries a powerful senator (Thurston Hall). What Mellon doesn't know is that Anne has borne him a son, whom the senator has adopted. Reaching adulthood, Paul (Douglass Montgomery) opts for a legal career himself, taking a clerical job with his own father's firm. In typical "B"-picture, Mellon is charged with murdering one of his more odious clients — and Paul is appointed prosecuting attorney in the case.
Starring: Otto Kruger, Douglass Montgomery, Jacqueline Wells, Thurston Hall | Directed by: John Brahm
CRACK-UP, THE (1937) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Test pilot Brian Donlevy works for a major aircraft plant where a hush-hush project is in progress. Peter Lorre is a deceptively shy plant technician who is actually the head of a foreign spy ring. Eager to get his hands on the plans of a new, secret aircraft, Lorre bribes Donlevy to help him steal the blueprints. Donlevy agrees, and the theft is carried out. But while the conspirators are making their escape by airplane, the plane develops motor trouble and crashes—exactly the intention of Donlevy, who isn't as dishonest as he seems. Crack-Up isn't very deep, but Peter Lorre plays his limited role with a refreshing sense of sardonic humor.
Starring: Peter Lorre, Brian Donlevy, Helen Wood, Ralph Morgan, J. Carrol Naish | Directed by: Malcolm St. Clair
CRIME NOBODY SAW, THE (1937) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this comical murder mystery, three playwrights use $500 in advance money to get an apartment in which to write a mystery. A drunken neighbor staggers in and interrupts their brainstorming before passing out on the floor. The three playwrights then pretend that he is really dead and begin trying to figure out how it might have happened. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the drunk ends up dead for real and now the writers have some real work to do.
Starring: Lew Ayres, Ruth Coleman, Ben Baker, Eugene Pallette | Directed by: Charles Barton
CRIME OF THE CENTURY, THE (1933) (74 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This unique thriller chronicles the exploits of a doctor who will do almost anything to please his young, second wife. She wants more money. He arranges to get it by hypnotizing a bank official and making him extract $100,000 from the vault. The doctor then plans to murder him and then rob him. Before he acts, the physician comes to his senses and confesses his scheme to the police. He then swears he will have the bank officer return the cash. Unfortunately, the bank official is killed and robbed. The doctor, who had come to hypnotize him, is found unconscious. Someone chloroformed him. At this point the movie grinds to a halt and an intermission is inserted. It's purpose is to allow the viewer one minute to look back upon the clues and try to solve the murder. A clock ticks off the seconds, and the characters and clues quickly flash across the screen. It is still very difficult to determine "whodunit" until the very end of the picture.
Starring: Jean Hersholt, Wynne Gibson, Stuart Erwin, Frances Dee | Directed by: William Beaudine
CRIME OVER LONDON (1936) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
In this British gangster movie, a Chicago gang goes to cool their heels in London. There they try to overtake the town. Meanwhile the mob boss searches for the perfect job. He convinces a millionaire, the owner of a department store, to help his gang rob the store blind. The plot fails and the gangsters battle it out with the bobbies.
Starring: Joseph Cawthorn, Basil Sydney, Margot Grahame, Paul Cavanagh | Directed by: Alfred Zeisler
CRIME WITHOUT PASSION (1934) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Crime Without Passion is an odd, almost existential murder yarn. Famed attorney Claude Rains, incensed that his mistress (Margo) has been seeing other men, kills the girl—or at least thinks he does. Rains believes he is "above" such irritations as conscience and morality, and calmly arranges to cover his crime, using his knowledge of the law to escape detection. But Rains cannot truly escape from himself, and is cajoled by a surprising turn of events to break down and confess. Crime without Passion was ostensibly directed by Ben Hecht, who cowrote the screenplay with his longtime partner Charles McArthur, but most of the actual direction was the responsibility of cameraman Lee Garmes. Watch for cameo appearances by Fanny Brice, by MacArthur's wife Helen Hayes, and by Hecht and MacArthur themselves.
Starring: Claude Rains, Margo, Whitney Bourne, Stanley Ridges | Directed by: Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur
CRIMINAL CODE, THE (1931) (98 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Howard Hawks' early sound prison melodrama, based on a play by Martin Flavin, already contains his stylistic signature of over-lapping dialogue — a technique he would greatly expand upon in the next ten years. Walter Huston is district attorney Brady, who quickly convicts Robert Graham (Phillips Holmes) of murdering a man who was harassing his girlfriend. Brady is later made the warden of the prison where Robert is held. Brady tries to make friends with Robert, but Robert will have no dealings with the new warden. Nevertheless, Brady, who thinks Robert is a decent man who became embroiled in extraordinary circumstances, gives Robert a job as his chauffeur. As he drives with Brady's daughter Mary (Constance Cummings), the two fall in love. Meanwhile, things heat up back at the prison, where crazed killer Ned Galloway (Boris Karloff) kills the squealer Runch (Clark Marshall). Robert knows Ned killed Runch, but refuses to tell Brady. Brady reluctantly sends Robert to solitary confinement to get him to give up the murderer's name, but Robert holds out on him. — Paul Brenner
Starring: Walter Huston, Phillips Holmes, Constance Cummings, Mary Doran | Directed by: Howard Hawks
CROWN VS. STEVENS (1936) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Having a great deal in common with the plots of later film noir classics, Crown Vs. Stevens was one of five films that Michael Powell directed for producer Irving Asher. Ex-dancer and femme fatale Doris Stevens, in need of money to pay off a loan shark, has married wealthy Arthur Stevens only to discover that he refuses to part with any of his money. Meanwhile, Chris Jensen, an employee of Mr. Stevens', finds himself in some financial difficulties involving an unpaid-for ring. When he visits a pawnbroker, he sees Doris leaving the premises — and finds the pawnbroker dead. She denies any wrong-doing and uses her wiles to convince him that it would be in both their interests if he did not tell anyone about this. He goes along with her, but when he later learns that Mr. Stevens has suddenly taken ill, he suspects that she may be trying to kill her husband to collect on his insurance. Jensen hurries to his employer's house, hoping to avert another murder. Crown's screenplay was by the prolific Brock Williams, who had earlier worked with Powell on three earlier "quota quickies."
Starring: Davina Craig, Morris Harvey, Allan Jeayes, Patric Knowles | Directed by: Michael Powell
DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE (1931) (82 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Joan Crawford and William Bakewell play the spoiled-rotten grown children of stockbroker William Holden. When Wall Street lays its famous egg in 1929, Crawford and Bakewell find that they can no longer pursue their flamboyant lifestyle (for example, they'll have to put a moratorium on the sort of "lingerie parties" with which this film opens). Crawford gets a newspaper job, while Bakewell ties up with vicious bootlegger Clark Gable. When Gable is implicated in the murder of seven gangsters (a transparent reenactment of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre), Crawford's fellow reporter Cliff Edwards gets proof of Gable's complicity. Bakewell is ordered to kill Edwards; Crawford, not knowing of her brother's actions, takes Edwards' place, wooing Gable in hopes of getting a scoop. When Gable finds out that Crawford's working undercover (so to speak), he prepares to rub her out, but her life is saved by Bakewell at the cost of his own. Compared to the rest of the stick-figure leading men in Dance Fools Dance, Clark Gable stood out like a testosterone-soaked thumb, and it wouldn't be long before he'd be promoted from villains to heroes. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Joan Crawford, Cliff Edwards, Clark Gable, William Bakewell, William Holden | Directed by: Harry Beaumont
DANGER ON THE AIR (1938) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This murder mystery is set behind-the-scenes of a radio station. the trouble begins when a hated cad of a sponsor is found murdered during the climax of a live radio show. The sponsor had a reputation for using women. A clever radio engineer solves the mystery.
Starring: Donald Woods, Nan Grey, Berton Churchill, Jed Prouty | Directed by: Otis M. Garrett
DANGEROUS CORNER (1935) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Adapted from a typically tricky J. B. Priestley stage play, Dangerous Corner is a cautionary fable about the damage caused by telling the unvarnished truth. A burned-out radio tube is the catalyst for a series of painful and potentially dangerous revelations during a weekend party. The upshot of all this is the suicide of party guest Ian Keith and the mysterious theft of a large sum of money. Through an ingenious last-act plot twist (of the kind so beloved by Priestley and his ilk), the audience is treated to both a happy and a tragic denouement. Long ignored by film historians, Dangerous Corner was rediscovered when it popped up repeatedly on the American Movie Classics cable service in the mid-1980s. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Virginia Bruce, Conrad Nagel, Melvyn Douglas, Erin O'Brien-Moore | Directed by: Phil Rosen
DANGEROUS FEMALE (1931) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon (1941) consistently ranks among the greatest American films ever made, but two other adaptations of Dashiell Hammett's novel preceded it. Unlike the 1936 version — Satan Met a Lady, starring Bette Davis — 1931's The Maltese Falcon (1931) stays close to the source material, aside from a tacked-on ending that relieves some of the book's cynical severity. The film had a standard feel for a studio production of the early sound period; it arrived in theaters right before the surge of detective movies, as horror and gangster films were falling out of favor. Journeyman director Roy Del Ruth helms adequately enough, and the prolific but lightly regarded bit actor Ricardo Cortez does well with his interpretation of Sam Spade as a saucy womanizer. To avoid confusion with the later John Huston production, this film has often been renamed The Dangerous Female. — Brendon Hanley
Starring: Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel | Directed by: Roy Del Ruth
DANGEROUS TO KNOW (1938) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this drama, a gangster finds the woman of his dreams, but before he can have her he must frame her fiance. Meanwhile the Asian lover he dumped plots her revenge.
Starring: Anna May Wong, Gail Patrick, Akim Tamiroff, Lloyd Nolan, Anthony Quinn, Evelyn Keyes | Directed by: Robert Florey
DARK JOURNEY (1937) (82 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The unorthodox teaming of Vivien Leigh and Conrad Veidt is but one of the many pleasures of the 1937 spy yarn Dark Journey. Leigh plays a Stockholm dress-shop owner during World War I, who, being a neutral, is permitted to travel unmolested to and from France. Veidt plays a supposedly disgraced German officer who is actually head of his country's secret service. The two fall in love, despite the fact that Leigh has a secret as well: she is a double agent, sympathetic towards the Allied cause. During one of Leigh's voyages to France, her ship is captured by a German U-boat. Veidt swaggers on board, threatening to sink the ship if Leigh is not turned over to him. But the circumstances reverse themselves, and Veidt finds himself Leigh's prisoner--a circumstance that is not altogether unpleasant for him. When originally released in England, Dark Journey bore the title The Anxious Years.
Starring: Conrad Veidt, Vivien Leigh, Anthony Bushell, Margery Pickard, Eliot Makeham | Directed by: Victor Saville
DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI (1937) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Anna May Wong, who cornered the 1930s market in Eurasian heroines, stars in Daughter of Shanghai. Wong is on the trail of the criminals who murdered her father. The villains are running an illegal-alien operation, smuggling cheap Chinese and Mexican labor into San Francisco and killing those unlucky souls who prove "inconvenient". Wong takes a job as an exotic dancer in a Central American nitery, hoping to trap the murderers in the act. Though J. Carroll Naish and Buster Crabbe are top-billed, the actual hero of Daughter of Shanghai is Chinese actor Philip Ahn, playing an FBI agent protecting Wong from the bad guys. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Anna May Wong, Philip Ahn, Charles Bickford, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, J. Carrol Naish | Directed by: Robert Florey
DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON (1931) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this entry in the mystery series, the Chinese criminal mastermind exacts revenge upon his enemy Fletcher, the man responsible for slaughtering Manchu's wife and son during an uprising. To get even, he sends out his daughter to kill Fletcher, but en route, she meets up with a Scotland Yard detective and her plans are waylaid.
Starring: Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Sessue Hayakawa, Bramwell Fletcher | Directed by: Lloyd Corrigan
DAY OF RECKONING (1933) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this brutal prison drama a hen-pecked husband is sentenced to prison after getting caught with his hand in the company till. He is sent to a high-rise facility in LA. It seems the fellow was only following the instructions of his domineering, constantly nagging wife who, as soon as he is put away, takes up with a more successful businessman. This causes her new lover's ex-lover to get insanely jealous and kill the conniving wife. The businessman decides to take the blame for the death and he is sent to the same jail as the dead woman's husband. One of the two meets a violent end. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: Richard Dix, Madge Evans, Conway Tearle, Una Merkel | Directed by: Wilfred Lucas, Charles J. Brabin
DEATH KISS, THE (1933) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
While Tonart Studios is filming a gangster movie, one of the actors is killed in a shooting accident. After several other incidents occur, police begin to think of sabotage. Their list of suspects includes the studio chief (Alexander Carr), his manager (Bela Lugosi), the director of the film (Edward Van Sloan) and an actress (Adrienne Ames).
Starring: Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Adrienne Ames, John Wray | Directed by: Edwin L. Marin
DEATH ON THE DIAMOND (1934) (69 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Based on a novel by Cortland Fitzsimmons, the storyline of this "gimmick" mystery follows the St. Louis Cardinals during a championship season. The arrival of hotshot pitcher Larry Kelly (Robert Young) coincides with an apparent plot to sabotage the Cards' chances of making it to the World Series. A failed attempt to poison all the pitcher's mitts is followed by a series of murders: catcher Dunk Spencer (Joe Sauers) is shot while sprinting to third base, pitcher Frank Higgins (Robert Livingston) is strangled in the locker room, and lovable catcher Truck Hogan (Nat Pendleton) is killed with an arsenic-laden hot dog. Finding himself one of the many suspects, Kelly nearly becomes a victim as well when he is slipped a booby-trapped baseball. With the help of sportscaster Jimmy Downey (Paul Kelly), Kelly exposes the murderer, surviving to win the pennant and the heroine, team secretary daughter Frances Clark (Madge Evans). Partly filmed on location at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs' minor-league LA farm team), Death on the Diamond offers a fresh slant to the standard whodunit format, with some particularly good work by Ted Healy as an exasperated umpire. That MGM produced the film is tipped off by two of the studio's trademarks: The killer's last-minute confession, wherein the guilty party transforms from a mild-mannered soul into a raving lunatic, and the shoddy process-screen work in the ballgame scenes. Future stars Mickey Rooney, Walter Brennan and Bruce Bennett show up in bit roles.
Starring: Robert Young, Madge Evans, Nat Pendleton, Ted Healy | Directed by: Edward Sedgwick
DEVIL PLAYS, THE (1930) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The Devil Pays is a heavily plotted tale of blackmail, purloined letters and murder. Jameson Thomas plays a writer who, for a lark, gets mixed up with a murder investigation, much to the consternation of the cops. Midway through the film there is an attempt at social commentary, as the wealthy suspects are permitted to move about freely by the police, while the poorer suspects are summarily locked up. This is eventually forgotten as Thomas pieces together the clues and reveals the guilty party. Thomas Jackson, perennial investigating detective in films of this nature, goes through his customary paces in The Devil Pays.
Starring: Jameson Thomas, Florence Britton, Thomas Jackson, Dorothy Christy | Directed by: Richard Thorpe
DISBARRED (1939) (59 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C-
Gail Patrick plays a brilliant but naive country lawyer brought to the city to defend gangster Sidney Toler. She is subsidized by pillar of society Otto Kruger, who is actually the "big boy" behind the city's rackets. Ms. Patrick must prove that Toler didn't own a weapon that he is accused of pointing at a terrified states' witness. She believes in her client's innocence, but honest district attorney Robert Preston steers her to the side of Right. Patrick is exonerated of a complicity charge, and bad guys Toler and Kruger are carted off to prison. Ironically, Gail Patrick was later the executive producer of the TV series Perry Mason.
Starring: Gail Patrick, Robert Preston, Otto Kruger, Sidney Toler | Directed by: Robert Florey
DISHONORED (1931) (91 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Contemporary viewers who go into Dishonored expecting a musty, dated espionage melodrama will be in for a surprise. Marlene Dietrich delivers a subtle and witty performance as a Viennese prostitute who offers her services as a spy during WWI. As "Agent X-27" our heroine proves invaluable to her superiors, seducing and betraying enemy officers with the greatest of ease. But when she falls in love with Russian spy Lt. Kranau (Victor McLaglen), she permits him to escape her clutches, and as a consequence is sentenced to be executed. Ever the mistress of her own fate, "X-27" stands proud and tall before the firing squad, even comforting the officer in charge (Barry Norton) who can't bring himself to shoot a woman. The scenes between Dietrich and bemedalled general Warner Oland are in themselves worthy of the admission price; equally as entertaining is the brief sequence in which the jaded heroine disguises herself as a zaftig peasant girl.
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Warner Oland | Directed by: Josef von Sternberg
DON'T TURN 'EM LOOSE (1936) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this crime drama a high-school principal's principles are put to the test when he, also a member of a parole board, is given the ultimate power to decide whether his son, a brutal criminal is to be paroled. The others do not know about the inmate's relationship to their colleague and the son tries to use this to his advantage. Sure enough his blackmail works and the heartless crook is freed to go on an unparalleled crime spree with his moll until his father comes forth and gives him final justice. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: James Gleason, Bruce Cabot, Louise Latimer, Betty Grable | Directed by: Benjamin Stoloff
DOORWAY TO HELL, THE (1930) (78 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this early talkie, a vicious crime lord (played by Lew Ayres in a rare villainous role) decides that he has had enough and much to the shock of his colleagues decides to give the business to his second in command (James Cagney in hi second film role) and retire to Florida after marrying his moll. Unfortunately, he has no idea that she and Cagney are lovers. Part of the reason the don wants to leave is to keep his young brother, who idolizes him, from learning the awful truth about his avocation. Soon after moving down to Florida, former rivals kidnap the brother and kill him, causing the reformed gangster to come back for deadly revenge. This was an innovative film and featured a lot of elements that would become standards in the gangster genre including tommy guns carried in violin cases, terrible shoot-outs, and lots of rum-running rivalry. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: Lew Ayres, Charles Judels, Dorothy Mathews, Leon Janney, James Cagney | Directed by: Archie Mayo
DOUBLE DANGER (1938) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
It's Double Danger for detective-story writer Robert Crane (Preston Foster) whenever he pursues his "secret life" as a suave jewel thief. Eluding police commissioner David Theron (Samuel S. Hinds) at every turn, Crane intends to snatch the famed Konjer diamonds from under the nose of jeweler Gordon Ainsley (Donald Meek). Things take a sinister turn when a humorless professional crook (Paul Guilfoyle) tries to cut himself in for a piece of the action. RKO Radio starlet Whitney Bourne delivers perhaps her best performance as giddy female thief Carolyn Morgan. Had Preston S. Foster been so inclined, RKO could have built a profitable series around the adventures of devil-may-care Robert Crane.
Starring: Preston S. Foster, Whitney Bourne, Samuel S. Hinds, Donald Meek, Cecil Kellaway | Directed by: Lew Landers
DR. SOCRATES (1935) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Paul Muni is a prominent physician who is kidnapped by gangsters and forced to tend the needs of head crook Barton MacLaine. MacLaine takes a liking to the intellectual doctor and allows him to go home after his job is done. Muni finds himself the reluctant "staff physician" for the gangster, thus is periodically spirited away from his practice to look after the criminal. He has given his word not to "rat" on the crooks, but he can't sit idly by while the gangsters loot the city. Muni foils the crooks by injecting them with a drug which induces temporary blindness. Dr. Socrates was remade in 1939 as King of the Underworld, with Humphrey Bogart as the gangster boss and actress Kay Francis in Paul Muni's role (with surprisingly few dialogue alterations to accommodate the gender switch!)
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Barton MacLane, Raymond Brown | Directed by: William Dieterle
DRAGON MURDER CASE, THE (1934) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Warren William delivers a curiously subdued performance as dilettante sleuth Philo Vance in The Dragon Murder Case. The plot centers around a mysterious "dragon pool" on the Stamm estate, which figures prominently in the deaths of several unsympathetic society types. As usual, Inspector Markham (Robert McWade) and Sergeant Heath (Eugene Pallette) are all for snapping the cuffs on the most obvious suspect, but Philo Vance knows full well that appearances are deceiving. The all-suspect cast includes Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot, Helen Lowell, Dorothy Tree, Robert Barrat and George Meeker, many of whom thoughtfully remove themselves from suspicion by getting killed themselves. Not a particularly mysterious mystery, The Dragon Murder Case works better on a melodramatic level, with some genuinely spooky camerawork courtesy of the ever-reliable Tony Gaudio. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot, Eugene Pallette | Directed by: H. Bruce Humberstone
EAST END CHANT (1934) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
It's "Never the twain shall meet" time again, this time in London's Limehouse district. George Raft stars as Harry Young, a half-caste saloonkeeper who shelters beleaguered white girl Toni (Jean Parker) from her tormentors (shades of Broken Blossoms). Harry falls in love with the girl, but mixing of the races was still a Hollywood no-no in 1934, so tragedy results — except for Toni, who finds happiness in the arms of Eric Benton (Kent Taylor), a man of "her own kind." The highly eclectic cast includes Anna May Wong as Raft's obligatory cast-off sweetheart Tu Tuan, former 2-reel comic Billy Bevan, and in a tiny uncredited role, Ann Sheridan. To avoid confusion with another Limehouse Blues, this one was retitled East End Chant for television.
Starring: George Raft, Jean Parker, Anna May Wong, Kent Taylor | Directed by: Alexander Hall
ESCAPE BY NIGHT (1937) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this pastoral drama, a ruthless gang of fugitives, hide from the law on a remote farm. There they find themselves profoundly affected by the old blind man and his loyal dog that lives there. They also gradually begin to respect the honest toil and simple rewards of country life. When the gang leader finally asks them to come out of hiding, the former criminals turn him in.
Starring: William Hall, Anne Nagel, Dean Jagger, Steffi Duna | Directed by: Hamilton MacFadden
ESPIONAGE AGENT (1939) (83 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Unlike many another pre-WW II spy melodramas, Espionage Agent clearly identifies the villains as Germans. Joel McCrea plays Barry Corvall, the son of a recently deceased US diplomat. Boarding a Berlin-bound train, Corvall attempts to swipe a briefcase stuffed with documents which will prove that the Nazis have been infiltrating vital industrial centers in the United States. He is helped along by Brenda Ballard (Brenda Marshall), whose behavior suggests at times that she might not be all that trustworthy. According to the Warner Bros. publicity machine, Warren Duff's screenplay was based on actual events. Coming on the heels of the studio's Confessions of a Nazi Spy, Espionage Agent was indication enough that Warners had declared war on Germany long before President Roosevelt made it official. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Joel McCrea, Brenda Marshall, Jeffrey Lynn, George Bancroft | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
EX-MRS. BRADFORD, THE (1936) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The "ex" of the title is daffy mystery-writer Jean Arthur, former wife of urbane doctor William Powell. When Powell becomes the prime suspect in a murder case, Arthur endeavors to solve the case herself — and to reclaim her ex-hubby in the process. After a well-directed semiclimax at a race track, the killer is revealed during one of those expository scenes in which all the suspects are gathered together in one room. The murderer attempts to escape, and Powell is knocked cold in the process. When he awakens, he discovers that Arthur has set up some projection equipment, and is running a film of a minister reciting the wedding vows. Curses! Trapped again! Like William Powell's previous RKO effort Star of Midnight, The Ex-Mrs. Bradford was an attempt to cash in on the popularity of Powell's Thin Man films.
Starring: William Powell, Jean Arthur, James Gleason, Eric Blore | Directed by: Stephen R. Roberts
FAMOUS FERGUSON CASE, THE (1932) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Inspired in part by the sensational Snyder-Gray murder case (which was also the source of The Postman Always Rings Twice), The Famous Ferguson Case casts an unflattering light on the journalist "feeding frenzy" attending such crimes. A wealthy banker named Ferguson is found murdered, and his bound-and-gagged wife (Vivienne Osborne) is rescued by the police. It appears at first that the murderer was an unknown burglar, but the cops think otherwise, hypothesizing that Mrs. Ferguson actually conspired with her lover Judd Brooks (Leon Waycoff, aka Leon Ames) to murder her husband. The small town where the murder occurred suddenly becomes the center of a media circus, with reporters from all over the country grasping and clawing for a "hot scoop." At first, hard-boiled girl reporter Maizie Dickson (Joan Blondell) is no better than the rest of the journalist jackals, but she soon becomes disillusioned at the manner in which the truth has been crushed to earth by her insensitive brethren. She also has her heart broken when her husband, likewise a reporter, uses his assignment as an excuse to sleep around. The relentless media blitz eventually drives Mrs. Ferguson (whose guilt or innocence is never completely established) to kill herself and also ruins the lives of everyone around her. Once considered a relic of its period, The Famous Ferguson Case grows more timely with each passing year.
Starring: Joan Blondell, Tom Brown, Adrienne Dore, Walter Miller | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
FAST AND LOOSE (1939) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Fast and Loose was the second of MGM's brief "B" series based on Harry Kurnitz' husband-wife team of bookdealing sleuths, Joel and Garda Sloane. In Fast Company, the first of the series, Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice played the Sloanes; in this second entry, the characters are portrayed by Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell. The murder victim this time is a celebrated rare book collector, and the motive is a missing first edition of Paradise Lost. The supporting cast included several likely suspects, including old reliable Ralph "Anything I Can Do to Help?" Morgan. Fast and Loose might have been faster and looser had it been shorter than 80 minutes. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Reginald Owen, Ralph Morgan | Directed by: Edwin L. Marin
FATHER BROWN, DETECTIVE (1935) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
G.K. Chesterton's crime-solving cleric Father Brown was first brought to the screen in 1934, in the corpulent form of Walter Connolly. The good father spends most of the film trying to retrieve a valuable diamond cross from elusive thief Flambeau (Paul Lukas). Father Brown is convinced that Flambeau is eminently redeemable, but the double-crossing thief hardly proves to be a prime candidate for salvation. Amazingly, Father Brown's faith in Flambeau's essential decency proves well-founded, but it's certainly touch-and-go for a while. Long unavailable for reappraisal, 1934's Father Brown, Detective has been eclipsed by the popularity of the 1954 Alec Guinness remake.
Starring: Walter Connolly, Paul Lukas, Gertrude Michael, Robert Loraine | Directed by: Edward Sedgwick
FINGER POINTS, THE (1931) (90 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The names have all been changed, but this hard-hitting gangster tale is based on an actual newspaper headline story involving the brutal slaying of corrupt crime reporter Alfred "Jake" Lingle, who had been suspected of betraying his boss Al Capone. Naive Southern boy Breckinridge Lee comes to the big city for fame and fortune. He starts out honest, but is unable to the resist hefty payoffs offered by crime lord Louis Blanco to suppress certain stories. Time passes and Lee does a great job for Blanco. Lee's girl friend tries to get him to go straight, but he has become too accustomed to the money and besides is too deeply mired in corruption to ever escape. In the end, he loses his life when a story about Blanco's latest shenanigans escapes his watchful eye and gets printed. Believing Lee was behind the double-cross, Blanco orders him executed and tragedy ensues.
Starring: Richard Barthelmess, Fay Wray, Clark Gable, Regis Toomey, J. Carrol Naish | Directed by: John Francis Dillon
FOG OVER FRISCO (1934) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Cited by film historian William K. Everson as one of the fastest-moving crime melodramas of the 1930s (if not the fastest) Fog Over Frisco still manages to leave viewers breathless. Top-billed Bette Davis plays giddy heiress Arlene Bradford, whose perverse fascination with gangsters gets her mixed up in a stolen-securities scheme. Arlene's more sensible sister Val (Margaret Lindsay) tries to keep her out of trouble, but this proves impossible. Entering into the fray are hotshot society reporter Tony (Donald Woods) and goofy photojournalist Izzy (Hugh Herbert), who like Val get in over their heads when they stumble upon the body of the murdered Arlene. The identity of the killer remains a well-concealed secret until Izzy, of all people, stumbles across a vital clue. Things really begin to accelerate when Val is kidnapped by Arlene's gangster cohorts (who, interestingly enough, are very reluctant to take her prisoner and do so only when there's no other option!), leading to a mile-a-minute rescue and hasty plot wrap-up. Among the many good guys, bad guys and red herrings are Alan Hale as an Irish cop, Robert H. Barrat as a butler who isn't a butler, and Henry O'Neill as a gosh-knows-what who may be the murderer. Though physical action is at a minimum, Fog Over Frisco is kept constantly on the move by director William Dieterle, using every cinematic trick and optical effect (wipe dissolves, iris-outs, swish-pans etc.) at his disposal. The film was less effectively remade as Spy Ship in 1942. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Bette Davis, Donald Woods, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot | Directed by: William Dieterle, Daniel Reed
FOR THE DEFENSE (1930) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
William Powell stars in this drama as William Foster, a gifted defense attorney with a gift for making cases go his way. Foster's winning record in the courtroom has earned him a colorful clientele, including several notorious criminals, but he doubts his abilities when his girlfriend Irene Manners (Kay Francis) is charged with manslaughter after a violent incident which occurred while she was drinking. Wanting to protect Irene, Foster tries to pull a few strings, but the results find Foster facing a five year sentence for jury tampering. While Foster certainly doesn't want to be separated from the woman he loves, he also knows that in prison he'll have to face several former clients whose defense didn't pan out. For The Defense was based in part on the true story of William Fallon, a well-known attorney of the day.
Starring: William Powell, Kay Francis, George "Gabby" Hayes, Scott Kolk, William B. Davidson | Directed by: John Cromwell
FROM HEADQUARTERS (1933) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In the tradition of Bureau of Missing Persons, Warner Bros's From Headquarters offers a methodical, semi-documentary look at modern law-enforcement methods. The story concentrates on the investigation of a single murder. The victim, seemingly respectable, was actually a vicious blackmailer, a fact that brings several shady supporting characters into the story. Chief detective Stevens (George Brent) divides half his time to the tedium of police procedure and forensic work, and the other half to his romance with Lou Ann Winton (Margaret Lindsay), who may or may not be mixed up in the murder. Dorothy Burgess delivers a chillingly convincing performance as a cocaine addict, while comedian (and home-movie enthusiast) Ken Murray is equally effective as a snide reporter.
Starring: George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Eugene Pallette, Hugh Herbert | Directed by: William Dieterle
FUGITIVES FOR A NIGHT (1938) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The RKO Radio backlot gets quite a workout in the peppy "B" comedy-mystery Fugitives for a Night. When movie executive Maurice Tenwright (Russell Hicks) is murdered, the prime suspect is would-be actor Matt Ryan (Frank Albertson). As stooge and "gopher" for arrogant rising star Poole (Bradley Page), Matt is a ready-made fall guy, much to the chagrin of the only person who truly cares for him, studio publicist Ann Wray (Eleanor Lynn). With the cops hot on their trail, Matt and Ann run off into the night, spending the rest of the film as the titular fugitives. Only when Ann convinces Matt to stop living in Poole's shadow and to stand on his own two feet does he gather up the gumption to solve the murder. Fugitives for a Night was the first of many RKO Radio assignments for celebrated screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.
Starring: Frank Albertson, Eleanor Lynn, Allan Lane, Bradley Page | Directed by: Leslie Goodwins
FULL CONFESSION (1939) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this thriller, a man is brutally murdered and an innocent man takes the rap. The real murderer later confesses his crime to his priest. The priest strongly urges the killer to tell the police, but he steadfastly refuses. At the end, the killer attacks and mortally wounds the priest. The murderer feels guilty for his deed and gives the priest a lifesaving blood transfusion. He then admits his crime and saves the innocent man from execution.
Starring: Victor McLaglen, Sally Eilers, Joseph Calleia, Barry Fitzgerald | Directed by: John Farrow
GANGS OF NEW YORK (1938) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this crime drama, an undercover cop infiltrates a crime syndicate being run by an incarcerated mob boss who conducts his business via a short-wave radio concealed in his cell. The boss is caught and placed in solitary confinement. The cop, the boss's physical double, takes his place. Soon changes in the gang's activities are subtly made. The "boss" orders his mob to keep careful records of their activities. Ostensibly, this is to make the organization more businesslike, but of course, it is really to gather enough evidence to convict them all. Trouble ensues when the real boss escapes from jail. A shoot-out ensues.
Starring: Charles Bickford, Ann Dvorak, Alan Baxter, Wynne Gibson | Directed by: James Cruze
GARDEN MURDER CASE, THE (1936) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Edmund Lowe made his only screen appearance as S. S. Van Dine's dilettante sleuth Philo Vance in The Garden Murder Case. The story wastes no time getting started, with Floyd Garden (Douglas Walton) being killed in the first reel from a fall in a steeplechase. It looks like an accident — but then, so do the subsequent deaths of Lowe Hammle (Gene Lockhart) and Mrs. Fenwick-Ralston (Frieda Inescourt). The police are baffled, but Philo Vance (Lowe) deduces that the victims were done in by a very clever — and very deadly — hypnotist. The revelation of the killer's identity won't be surprising to longtime mystery buffs, but it proved quite a shock to audiences in 1936. The tense final scene, in which the murder attempts to mesmerize Vance into committing suicide, was effective enough to be "borrowed" for the 1946 Sherlock Holmes film The Woman in Green. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Edmund Lowe, Virginia Bruce, Gene Lockhart, Benita Hume | Directed by: Edwin L. Marin
GASLIGHT (1939) (88 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The 1939 British production of Gaslight was the first of two cinema adaptations of Patrick Hamilton's play Angel Street. Oozing faux continental charm, Anton Walbrook inveigles his way into the confidence of the young mistress (Diana Wynyard) of a large Victorian mansion. Walbrook is searching for the rubies that he'd stolen from the previous owner of the house—whom he'd also murdered. Suspecting that Wynyard is about to catch on to his secret, Walbrook enlists the aid of a sluttish maidservant to drive his loving bride crazy. The ploy almost works, but Wynyard is rescued by an unexpected ally. Gaslight was released in the US as Murder in Thornton Square, then withdrawn entirely on the occasion of MGM's expensive 1944 remake of Gaslight, which starred Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. Partly to eliminate confusion, and partly to avoid unfavorable comparison to the shorter and far superior British film, MGM allegedly ordered that all prints of the original Gaslight be destroyed. Evidently that order was not honored to the letter, since the 1939 Gaslight is still safely available for both theatrical and TV exhibition.
Starring: Anton Wallbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank Pettingell, Robert Newton | Directed by: Thorold Dickinson
GIRL FROM SCOTLAND YARD, THE (1937) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The Girl from Scotland Yard has a dynamite opening sequence, as villain Franz Borg (Eduardo Cianelli) demonstrates his futuristic "death ray" on a helpless London. Threatening to destroy all of Europe if his demands aren't met, Borg hasn't reckoned with the resourcefulness of gorgeous secret service agent Viola Beech (Karen Morley) and American reporter Derrick Holt (Robert Baldwin). Things move apace until a serial-like climax in a runaway airplane. It's giving away nothing of the outcome to reveal that Viola and Derrick fall in love along the way. The Girl from Scotland Yard makes no pretence at believability, though it's slightly more credible than Karen Morley's tacked-on British accent.
Starring: Karen Morley, Katherine Alexander, Eduardo Ciannelli, Milli Monti | Directed by: Robert Vignola
GIRL IN 419, THE (1933) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
A large urban hospital provides the setting for this drama. The staff there has seen it all and this is reflected in their hard-bitten demeanor, their cynicism, and the cruel jokes they play. One of them, an excellent surgeon gains a new outlook on life after he gets involved with investigating the death of a mobster, fatally shot in his hotel suite during a card game. The police call him to the scene to look at the corpse. There he discovers a lipstick-stained cigarette butt. He begins to search for the woman who smoked it. Later that day, the woman, severely beaten, shows up in the hospital emergency room. The surgeon miraculously saves her, and then falls for her. As she lays healing, she is seen by a mobster who had come to pay his respects to the cop who killed two members of his rival gang. The mobster later sends one of his thugs to make sure that the woman stays eternally quiet. The thug's attempt to kill her is thwarted by a young intern who is wounded in the ensuing scuffle. The gangster then gets himself admitted into the hospital where he plans to kill the woman himself. This proves to be a fatal mistake as the vengeful intern "accidently" injects the gangster with a deadly poison and then claims that the mobster was D.O.A. The woman is now safe.
Starring: James Dunn, Gloria Stuart, David Manners, William Harrigan | Directed by: George Somnes, Alexander Hall
GLASS KEY, THE (1935) (77 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Adapted from one of Dashiell Hammett's best novels, The Glass Key is a lively and straightforward melodrama of political corruption and urban intrigue. George Raft plays Ed Beaumont, the right-hand man to genial ward heeler Paul Madvig (Edward Arnold), who wants to clean up his political act. On the eve of a major election, Madvig is implicated in a murder, and it's up to Beaumont to help him out. Intimately involved in the case is Janet Henry (Claire Dodd), the sister of the murdered man and the daughter of "above reproach" Senator Henry (Charles Richman). Though no babe-in-the-woods, Beaumont is in for quite a few disillusionments as he pursues his investigation, though he does rather better romantically than the redoubtable Madvig. The Glass Key was remade (and improved) in 1942, with Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and Brian Donlevy; neither version, however, has as much bite and vitriol as the Hammett original. — Hal Erickson
Starring: George Raft, Edward Arnold, Claire Dodd, Ray Milland, Ann Sheridan | Directed by: Frank Tuttle
G-MEN (1935) (86 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
G Men planted Warner Bros' "bad boy" James Cagney firmly on the side of the law, where he remained until a full-scale return to villainy in White Heat. Cagney plays a young lawyer whose education has been financed by soft-hearted racketeer William Harrigan. When Cagney's best pal, detective Regis Toomey, is killed in a gangland shooting, Jimmy decides to become a G-Man. Though scrupulously honest, Cagney is looked upon with suspicion by his fellow agents because of his association with the crooked Harrigan. He proves he's a "good guy" when his former girl friend Ann Dvorak, now the wife of mobster Barton MacLane, tips him off to a "Little Bohemia"-style gangster hideaway. Dvorak later sacrifices her own life to help Cagney rescue his new girl, nurse Margaret Lindsay, from the vengeful MacLane. Based on Gregory Miller's book Public Enemy No. 1, G Men was reissued in 1949, with an added prologue featuring David Brian as a FBI trainer who advises his students not to laugh at the old-fashioned costumes and slang in the 1935 film; seen today, it is Brian's superfluous opening comments that seem hopelessly dated, while the film itself is as exciting and entertaining as ever.
Starring: James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Lloyd Nolan, Ann Dvorak | Directed by: William Keighley
GOOD BAD GIRL, THE (1931) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this crime drama, a moll tells her imprisoned gangster lover that she is leaving him for another whom she really loves. He is a wealthy boy who marries her without knowledge of her past life. The happy couple soon has a baby. Their happiness is destroyed when the gangster escapes from prison and goes out looking for revenge on his ex-moll. When her hubby's parents discover the truth about her they are appalled and enraged. They strongly pressure her to give up the baby and leave her husband forever. Her husband goes to Paris for a divorce and the woman becomes a nightclub singer. Trouble ensues when the gun-toting gangster shows up to shoot her down. Fortunately a fast-shooting detective is there and kills the gangster first. Later her husband comes back from Paris and decides that he doesn't care about her past. The little family is happily reunited.
Starring: Mae Clarke, James Hall, Marie Prevost, Robert Ellis | Directed by: Roy William Neill
GUILTY AS HELL (1932) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe carry their pugnacious Quirt-and-Flagg relationship into the murder mystery genre in Paramount's Guilty as Hell. Actually, there's very little mystery involved, since the audience is informed at the outset that dignified Dr. Tindall (Henry Stephenson) is responsible for the death of his faithless wife (Claire Dodd). Carefully arranging the evidence, Tindall manages to convince the authorities that Mrs. Tindall's lover Frank Marsh (Richard Arlen) is the criminal. Detective McKinley (McLaglen) is ready to declare the case closed, but reporter Russell Kirk (Lowe), who's sweet on Marsh's sister Vera (Adrienne Ames), suspects there's more to the story than meets the eye. Likewise falling for Vera, McKinley grudgingly joins his friendly enemy Kirk in proving Frank's innocence and Tindall's guilt. Released in England as Guilty as Charged, this lightweight thriller was remade, with its delightful surprise ending intact, as Night Club Scandal (1937), with John Barrymore hamming his way through the Henry Stephenson part.
Starring: Edmund Lowe, Victor McLaglen, Richard Arlen, Ralph Ince, Claire Dodd | Directed by: Erle C. Kenton
GUILTY HANDS (1931) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The titular hands belong to Lionel Barrymore, who plays a prominent defense attorney. To save his daughter (Madge Evans) from a cad (Alan Mobray), Barrymore murders the man and arranges to make the deed look like suicide. The victim's mistress (Kay Francis) suspects foul play, but the lawyer has done his cover-up job too well. Barrymore very nearly pulls off his ruse—until the corpse itself has the "last word." The central gimmick of Guilty Hands, in which Barrymore establishes an alibi by positioning a revolving cardboard silhouette to create a continually moving shadow, was later appropriated for comic purposes in the Astaire-Rogers musical Gay Divorcee (34). — Hal Erickson
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Kay Francis, Madge Evans, William Bakewell | Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke
HATCHET MAN, THE (1932) (74 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Hatchet Man is a dated but fascinating film set amidst the "tong wars" in San Francisco's Chinatown. Tong hatchet man Wong Low Get (Edward G. Robinson) is required to kill his boyhood friend Sun Yet Sen (J. Carroll Naish). Sen is resigned to his fate, but extracts a promise that Wong will look after Sen's daughter Toya San, and marry the girl when she grows up. Played as an adult by Loretta Young, Toya San weds Wong, now an influential Chinatown figure. But the girl is secretly in love with Harry En Hai (Leslie Fenton), a disreputable young half-caste. When Wong learns of the affair, he sends Toya and Harry packing, and is ostracized by the community for not fighting for his honor. Harry is deported to China for drug-dealing, taking Toya with him and ultimately deserting her. Wong trails the pair to China, where he finds that Toya has been sold into prostitution. He intends to use his hatchet to kill Harry, but is talked out of the murder by Toya. But before Wong and Toya leave for America, Harry En Hai accidentally receives his comeuppance from the one-time "hatchet man." Well acted and powerfully directed, Hatchet Man would hardly qualify as "politically correct" these days, since virtually every Asian character is portrayed by a Caucasian. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Loretta Young, Edward G. Robinson, Leslie Fenton, J. Carrol Naish | Directed by: William Wellman
HE WAS HER MAN (1934) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this crime drama, Flicker Hayes (James Cagney) is a safecracker who has just been released following a stretch in prison; after his last job, his partners Dan Curley (Bradley Page) and Red Deering (Ralf Harolde) set him up, and now Hayes is determined to get revenge. Fooling them into believing that there's no hard feelings, Hayes sets up another robbery with Curley and Deering, but after it goes off without a hitch, Hayes turns the tables on his so-called friends and squeals on them to the cops, keeping all the money for himself. Hayes makes tracks for San Francisco, unaware that Curley has escaped from the police and is hot on his trail. Once he settles in San Francisco, Hayes meets Rose Lawrence (Joan Blondell), a former streetwalker who has reformed and settled down with fisherman Nick Gardella (Victor Jory). Even though she's married, Hayes falls head over heels for Rose, and she finds that she's quite attracted to him as well. Rose is torn between Hayes and Gardella, but Hayes' decision about the relationship is made for him when Curley and his goons arrive in San Francisco, and Hayes has to flee for his own safety. He Was Her Man was the last of seven pictures James Cagney and Joan Blondell would make together. — Mark Deming
Starring: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Victor Jory, Frank Craven | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
HEAT LIGHTING (1934) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
An interesting precursor to such films as The Petrified Forest and Bus Stop, Heat Lightning takes place in a remote California-desert gas station-café. Several strange characters pass through the establishment's portals during one fateful 24-hour period, including cad-and-bounder George (Preston S. Foster). Resourceful proprietress Olga (Aline MacMahon) tries to remain detached throughout but is forced to take drastic action when George threatens to seduce and abandon her own sister Myra (Ann Dvorak). Glenda Farrell, one of Warners' most reliable players, is surprisingly wasted in a glorified bit role; even further down the cast list as "Husband and Wife" are 2-reel comedy star Edgar Kennedy and future Oscar winner Jane Darwell (talk about an odd couple!) Heat Lightning was based on a stage play co-scripted by George Abbott.
Starring: Aline MacMahon, Ann Dvorak, Preston S. Foster, Lyle Talbot, Glenda Farrell | Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
HELD FOR RANSOM (1938) (59 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Cheap-looking even by the standards of Grand National Pictures, Held for Ransom appears to have been completed several years before its official 1938 release date. The charmingly untalented Blanche Mehaffey heads the cast as FBI agent Betty Mason. At the risk of her own neck, Betty pursues the kidnappers of a wealthy businessman. She also juggles the affection of her partner Morrison (Jack Mulhall) and the victim's son Scott (Grant Withers). After five yarn-provoking reels, the film finally roars into life with a truly exciting climactic shootout. Though Blanche Mehaffey had been in films since the silent days, she never quite attained stardom, and was still being referred to as an "unknown" by the 1938 trade papers.
Starring: Blanche Mehaffey, Grant Withers, Bruce Warren | Directed by: Clarence Bricker / Barry Barringer
HELL'S KITCHEN (1939) (81 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
n this entry in the long-running series, the Dead End Kids are freshly out of reform school when they find themselves victimized by the tough, corrupt head of the Hell's Kitchen Shelter. A reformed racketeer tries to help out, but he winds up violating his parole and getting sent back to prison. As he goes, he gets some satisfaction out of seeing the crooked superintendent sent up the river too.
Starring: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Lindsay, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall | Directed by: Ewald André Dupont / Lewis Seiler
HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD (1936) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Hollywood Boulevard is a trenchant look at the underside of Tinseltown. Though the nominal hero is a disillusioned screenwriter played by Robert Cummings (whose dialogue anticipates the lines spoken by William Holden in 1950's Sunset Boulevard), the focus of the story is John Halliday as a washed-up film star. Desperately, Halliday accepts the offer from a sleazy "tell all" magazine to write his memoirs. The actor's estranged family is devastated by the resultant scandal, and out love for his daughter (Marsha Hunt), Halliday tries to break his contract. But the publisher (C. Henry Gordon) threatens to ruin Halliday's comeback attempt if he refuses to write the rest of his memoirs. In a scuffle, the publisher kills Halliday, and the blame falls on the actor's daughter. But wise guy screenwriter Cummings gets to the truth of the mystery. A slick B-plus crime melodrama, Hollywood Boulevard has the added bonus of several well-known silent film personalities (Charles Ray, Francis X. Bushman, Maurice Costello, Mae Marsh etc.) in cameo roles, as well as a guest appearance by Gary Cooper.
Starring: John Halliday, Marsha Hunt, Robert Cummings, C. Henry Gordon | Directed by: Robert Florey
HOUSE OF SECRETS (1937) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A young man is in danger of losing his inheritance in this muddled thriller from the waning Chesterfield Motion Picture Corp., a remake of the company's first talkie. After rescuing a pretty girl from a brute while crossing the English channel, Barry Wilding (Leslie Fenton) learns that he has inherited the large Hawk's Nest estate on the condition that he never sell the place. He also discovers that the girl, Julie Kenmore (Muriel Evans), lives on the estate along with her father (Morgan Wallace), a noted scientist. After agreeing that Julie and her father may remain on the estate for at least six months, Barry is dumbfounded when the girl prohibits him from visiting her. He does so anyway and is promptly confronted by nasty American gangster Dan Wharton (Noel Madison). What exactly is the gang lord doing at Hawk's Nest and why are the British authorities so reluctant to help the troubled heir? The answer, as Barry discovers soon enough, has something to do with a treasure hidden on the estate.
Starring: Leslie Fenton, Muriel Evans, Noel Madison, Morgan Wallace, Holmes Herbert, Ian MacLaren | Directed by: Roland D. Reed
I AM A THIEF (1935) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The Istanbul Express provides the setting for this crime drama that centers around a courier carrying the priceless Karenina diamonds to Paris. While aboard the speeding train, the courier finds himself beleagured by different jewel thieves attempting to steal his gems. A murder occurs and one of the thieves gets arrested. The courier ends up marrying the female thief. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: Mary Astor, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges, Robert H. Barrat | Directed by: Robert Florey
I MET A MURDERER (1939) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
James Mason stars in this nerve-wracking British suspenser. Mason plays a henpecked farmer, driven over the edge by his spiteful wife. He kills her and buries her in their garden. Convinced that he'll be caught someday, Mason becomes a fugitive. He briefly enjoys a romantic relationship with authoress Pamela Kellino until he realizes that Pamela's interest is purely professional: she plans to use Mason as "material" for her upcoming novel "I Met a Murderer." But that's not the end of the story, which contains more twists and surprises than are dreamt of by the relatively unimaginative Pamela. Unlike her character in the film, Pamela Kellino was able to concoct the screenplay of I Met a Murderer without any first-hand experience; she also coproduced the film with her husband, director Roy Kellino. As for Roy, he may very well have had second thoughts about teaming Pamela with James Mason; Pamela divorced Roy in 1941, and went on to marry...you guessed it. — Hal Erickson
Starring: James Mason, Pamela Kellino, Sylvia Coleridge, William Devlin | Directed by: Roy Kellino
I PROMISE TO PAY (1937) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Chester Morris plays a working stiff unable to provide for his family on his meager salary. He arranges a loan with the seemingly benign Leo Carrillo, but soon learns that he can't keep up with the usurious interest payments. Carrillo's loan company is actually a racket in league with the local crime organization; Morris gets in so deep that he can't get out, and before long his wife and daughter are in dire jeopardy. As was customary at Columbia Pictures, the screenwriters were handed the title I Promise to Pay and then told to fashion a story from it. In this instance, inspiration came from a recent government crackdown on loan sharks.
Starring: Chester Morris, Leo Carrillo, Helen Mack, Thomas Mitchell | Directed by: David Ross Lederman
I STOLE A MILLION (1939) (76 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this crime drama, a grizzled cabbie is scammed out of his life savings by a fake finance company. He tries to no avail to get police assistance. Finally he becomes a wanted criminal and escapes to California where he meets the girl who will become his wife. She helps him go straight by helping him set up a garage. When she gets pregnant, she talks him into to confessing his crimes to the police. He agrees, but before he goes, he decides to commit one last crime to ensure that his wife and child will not starve while he serves his prison sentence. He then steals a million dollars only to learn that the money is worthless. He is subsequently killed in a police shoot-out. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: George Raft, Claire Trevor, Dick Foran, Henry Armetta | Directed by: Frank Tuttle
ILLEGAL TRAFFIC (1938) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
J. Carroll Naish positively oozes immigrant gangster charm in this fairly entertaining thriller from Paramount. He plays Louis Zonta, an immigrant gangster running a racket that transports wanted criminals. At their wits end, the authorities send in undercover agent Bent Martin (Robert Preston) to infiltrate the gang and the young G-Man concocts a plan to trap Zonta by using the gangster's mistress, Marie Arden (Judith Barrett). The scheme nearly backfires, but Martin finally manages to gun down the gang leader from his airplane.
Starring: J. Carrol Naish, Mary Carlisle, Robert Preston, Larry "Buster" Crabbe | Directed by: Louis King
INTERNATIONAL CRIME (1938) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
International Crime is the second of two Grand National programmers inspired by the popular "Shadow" pulp novels by Maxwell Grant. Rod La Rocque plays Lamont Cranston, famed criminologist and (in this film at least) radio crime reporter. This time around Cranston does not "cloud men's minds" hypnotically to become the invisible Shadow: he remains fully visible from beginning to end, with nary a clouded mind in sight. In attempting to solve the murder of a wealthy financier, Cranston exposes a gang of foreign saboteurs. Based on the story "The Fox Hound" by Ted Tinsley (not Maxwell Grant, as the credits claim), International Crime includes several of the supporting characters from the "Shadow" pulps. However, the heroine (Astrid Allwyn) is Phoebe Lane, not Margot.
Starring: Rod La Rocque, Astrid Allwyn, Thomas Jackson, Oscar O'Shea | Directed by: Charles Lamont
INVISIBLE MENACE, THE (1938) (55 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Boris Karloff starred in this rather static whodunit from the Warner Bros. B-unit as Jeffries, a civilian employee at a military outpost who is accused of killing an ordnance expert, Reilly (Harlan Tucker). The murdered man is discovered by Pvt. Eddie Pratt (Eddie Craven) and his dumbbell bride Sally (Marie Wilson), whom he has managed to smuggle into the otherwise tightly secured military camp. Suspects at first, the couple prove too stupid to have killed anyone and the finger of suspicion instead points to Jeffries, a man with a past. As Colonel Bob Rogers (Cy Kendall) of the Intelligence Department explains, Jeffries has served time for embezzling government funds, a crime he has always maintained was actually committed by Reilly, the murder victim. And Jeffries is indeed innocent, a fact that becomes clear when Sally stumbles over the real killer. Jeffries is wounded in a heroic effort to prevent the culprit from fleeing, and Eddie and Sally are finally able to enjoy their honeymoon. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Boris Karloff, Marie Wilson, Eddie Craven, Eddie Acuff, Regis Toomey | Directed by: John Farrow
INVISIBLE STRIPES (1939) (82 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Invisible Stripes is a cookie-cutter Warners prison drama which rounds up the usual suspects. George Raft and Humphrey Bogart are top-billed, and as is often the case in such a circumstance, it is Raft who is given the larger (albeit less interesting) role. Raft plays Cliff Taylor, an ex-convict who finds that his "invisible stripes" prevent him from getting a decent job. Cliff's younger brother (William Holden) shows unfortunate signs of following his older sibling's footsteps when he is pressured into crime to support himself and his girl friend (Jane Bryan). To save his brother, Cliff joins Humphrey Bogart's gang and earns enough dishonest money to set his brother up in business. But movie censorship prevails, and all of the miscreants in Invisible Stripes—even those motivated by good intentions—must pay the penalty. Side note: The prankish Humphrey Bogart spent so much time needling newcomer William Holden that Holden nearly came to blows with the older actor; the animosity persisted into the Bogart-Holden costarring feature Sabrina, made fourteen years later. — Hal Erickson
Starring: George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, Flora Robson | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
ISLAND OF LOST MEN (1939) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Anna May Wong and J. Carroll Naish, so memorably teamed in Paramount's Dangerous to Know, are costarred once more in Island of Lost Men. Naish plays ruthless jungle plantation owner Gregory Prin, who runs his domain like a dictatorship and treats his workers little better than slaves. Into Prin's world comes Kim Ling (Wong), daughter of a disgraced Chinese general. Kim Ling hopes to clear her father's name by bringing his primary accuser, Prin, to justice. The native-uprising finale is rendered in gloriously gruesome detail. A remake of the 1931 Charles Laughton-Carole Lombard starrer White Woman, Island of Lost Men also offers early but well-rounded performances by Anthony Quinn (as a Chinese patriot!) and Broderick Crawford.
Starring: Anna May Wong, J. Carrol Naish, Eric Blore, Ernest Truex | Directed by: Kurt Neumann
IT HAD TO HAPPEN (1936) (79 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Italian immigrant George Raft uses his wits and his fists to rise to prominence in a local political machine. He falls in love with Rosalind Russell, the wife of a prominent banker, but discreetly hides his feelings even as he and Russell are thrust together by social circumstances. The banker turns out to be an embezzler, but Raft comes to the rescue by replacing the stolen funds. Accused of conspiring with the banker because he'd failed to make the original embezzlement public, Raft is grilled by a grand jury. Once cleared, Raft is finally able to wed the divorced banker's wife, who it turns out had always had a crush on him. It Had to Happen is most entertaining in its early scenes wherein we see George Raft strongarming his way to success.
Starring: George Raft, Rosalind Russell, Leo Carrillo, Arline Judge | Directed by: Roy Del Ruth
JOURNAL OF A CRIME (1934) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A Hollywood version of Jacques Deval's 1933 French drama Un Vie Perdue, Journal of a Crime stars Ruth Chatterton as Françoise Moliet, a proud Parisian who refuses to divorce her playwright husband Paul (Adolphe Menjou), even though he is rather publicly dallying with the star of his latest success, Odette (Claire Dodd). Françoise instead sneaks into the girl's dressing room and kills her, a crime for which gangster Costelli (Noel Madison) confesses. Having already one murder on his conscience, Costelli gallantly covers for the much-suffering Françoise, but she, in turn, is overcome with guilt and decides to turn herself in. En route to the police station, however, Françoise is struck by a car and loses her memory. Realizing that his wife has regained her lost innocence, Paul purchases a secluded villa by the sea where Françoise may recuperate. Costelli, meanwhile, is lead to the guillotine.
Starring: Ruth Chatterton, Adolphe Menjou, Claire Dodd, George Barbier | Directed by: William Keighley
JURY'S SECRET, THE (1938) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Universal ran into censorship problems with this farfetched but well-acted courtroom drama directed by silent screen veteran Edward Sloman. When corrupt tycoon Brandon Williams (Samuel S. Hinds) is found murdered, the obvious suspect is young William Sheldon (Larry Blake), who had publicly feuded with the victim. The real killer, however, is Williams' ghostwriter Walter Russell (Kent Taylor), an embittered newspaperman who finds himself on the jury hearing Sheldon's case. Confident at first that Walter will vote for an acquittal, New York reporter Linda Ware (Fay Wray) is not so sure after stumbling over the truth of the killing. Using a bit of subterfuge, the girl manages to convince Walter to confess in the proverbial nick of time, thus saving Sheldon from the gas chamber.
Starring: Kent Taylor, Fay Wray, Jane Darwell, Nan Grey | Directed by: Edward H. Sloman, Ted Sloman
KENNEL MURDER CASE, THE (1933) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Often (and accurately) described as a model of the whodunit genre, The Kennel Murder Case stars William Powell, making his fourth screen appearance as S. S. Van Dine's dilettante detective Philo Vance. This time the story involves intrigue at the Long Island kennel club. The murder victim is Robert H. Barrat, who works overtime making himself a much-hated target in the first ten minutes. With the aid of a Doberman, Vance solves not only Barrat's murder but a follow-up killing designed to deflect attention from the killer. The suspects include Mary Astor, Ralph Morgan, Jack LaRue, Helen Vinson, Paul Cavanaugh and Arthur Hohl, all of whom have "done it" from time to time in other murder mysteries (movie buffs, however, will have little trouble spotting the killer; the person in question has probably been the hidden murderer in more films than any other member of the Screen Actor's Guild). Kennel Murder Case was William Powell's last "Philo Vance" film; it would be remade in 1940 as Calling Philo Vance, with James Stephenson as Vance and a new World War II angle added to the plot. — Hal Erickson
Starring: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan | Directed by: Michael Curtiz
KILLERS ON THE LOOSE (1936) (54 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A small community is terrorized by an unknown serial killer, one "Mr. Zero," who has held the populace in thrall for several weeks. The mysterious murderer takes refuge in the storage area of a department store, where Linda Allen (Mary Brian) works as a store detective. When jewelry-department manager Tommy Braddock (Russell Hardie) is suspected of being Mr. Zero, Linda endeavors to clear his name, and in so doing follows the trail of clues to the real killer. Inasmuch as Zero has already murdered a snoopy shoplifter, he has no qualms about putting his fingers 'round Linda's lovely throat..To give away the killer's identity would be unfair; suffice to say that the actor will be quite familiar to western and serial buffs.
Starring: Mary Brian, Russell Hardie, Betty Compson, George McKay | Directed by: David Selman
KING FOR A NIGHT (1933) (78 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this boxing drama/murder mystery, an aspiring small-town prizefighter ignores the objections of his pacifistic father, a paraplegic minister, and decides to go for the championship middleweight title in New York city. There the young lad begins experimenting with a variety of vices as he rises to the top of the ranks. The cocky fellow has no idea that he has become so successful because his sister Lillian has been allowing prominent promoter Walter Douglas to share her bed. When the truth is revealed, the angry lad decides to kill Douglas; unfortunately, his sister does it first. The boxer then decides to sacrifice his life to save hers: he takes the rap for the murder.
Starring: Chester Morris, Alice White, Helen Twelvetrees, John Miljan | Directed by: Kurt Neumann
KING OF ALCATRAZ (1938) (56 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C-
We never actually see J. Carroll Naish in Alcatraz, but there's no doubt he's the "king" of the title. Most of the action takes place aboard a passenger ship, which Naish has boarded incognito in hopes of escaping prosecution. Naish and his gunmen take over the ship, complicating the lives of passengers and crew alike (in one scene, nurse Gail Patrick is obliged to perform an operation while being guided by an on-shore surgeon via wireless). Seamen Lloyd Nolan and Robert Preston bide their time, then turn the tables on Naish and his henchmen. Packing more action into its 57 minutes than most "A" pictures, King of Alcatraz is a film buff's dream, with a cast filled to the brim with familiar faces, from up-and-coming Anthony Quinn to silent movie vets Monte Blue, Tom Tyler and Gustav von Seyfertitz. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Gail Patrick, Lloyd Nolan, J. Carrol Naish, Harry Carey | Directed by: Robert Florey
KING OF CHINATOWN (1939) (58 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Akim Tamiroff plays the title role, an underworld leader who controls all illicit operations in Chinatown. Tamiroff is toppled from power by two members of his own mob (Anthony Quinn and J.Carroll Naish). He is left for dead, but is saved by a dedicated Chinese-American doctor (Anna May Wong). In gratitude, Tamiroff turns over his fortune to a Chinese war relief fund. King of Gamblers was directed with flair by the otherwise unimaginative Nick Grinde, who seems to have borrowed several artistic touches from fellow Paramount contractee Robert Florey.
Starring: Anna May Wong, Akim Tamiroff, J. Carrol Naish, Sidney Toler | Directed by: Nick Grinde
KING OF THE UNDERWORLD (1939) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A remake of Dr. Socrates (1935), this middling melodrama features Kay Francis as Carol Nelson, a medical doctor blaming gangster Joe Gurney (Humphrey Bogart) for the death of her husband (John Eldredge) during a police raid. Determined to get even, Dr. Nelson sets up practice in a small town where a couple of Gurney's henchmen are serving time. And sure enough, Gurney is soon in dire need of Carol's help after being wounded in a jailhouse break. Convincing the gang boss and his men that they all suffer from eye infections, the good doctor proceeds to blind the mobsters with adrenaline eye drops and then calls the cops. Warner Bros. used the general idea a third time in Bullet Scars (1942), yet another B-movie. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Kay Francis, Humphrey Bogart, James Stephenson, John Eldredge | Directed by: Lewis Seiler
KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR, THE (1933) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Horror film icon James Whale directed this well-detailed thriller about a man questioning his wife's honesty after a friend begins to doubt his own. Dr. Paul Held (Frank Morgan) is an attorney who has been asked to come to the aid of his old friend Walter Bernsdorf (Paul Lukas); Bernsdorf has been accused of killing his wife, and he wants Held to defend him in court. Bernsdorf admits to shooting his spouse, but he tells Held that he lost control when he found out his wife was having an affair. Held takes on his friend's case, but as he pours over the facts in the Bernsdorf slaying, he finds himself wondering about the fidelity of his own wife, Maria (Nancy Carroll) -- and begins to seethe with jealousy when he find that she has indeed been sleeping with another man. A Kiss Before The Mirror also features actress Gloria Stuart; James Whale would remake the same story six years later, under the title Wives Under Suspicioun.
Starring: Nancy Carroll, Frank Morgan, Paul Lukas, Gloria Stuart, Jean Dixon, Walter Pidgeon, Charles Grapewin, Donald Cook, Walter Brennan | Directed by: James Whale
LADY IN THE MORGUE, THE (1938) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Preston S. Foster and Frank Jenks play Bill Crane and Doc Williams, the pulp-novel detectives created by mystery writer Jonathan Latimer. Crane and Williams tackle the case of a morgue robbery; the missing body is that of a young woman who died mysteriously. As the detectives follow the clues, they uncover a deeper mystery, seemingly unconnected with the stolen corpse. Ultimately they discover that the person or persons unknown who swiped the lady in the morgue has a great deal to hide, and won't stop at thievery to hide it. Lady in the Morgue was the third film in Universal's Crime Club series. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Preston S. Foster, Patricia Ellis, Frank Jenks, Barbara Pepper | Directed by: Otis M. Garrett
LADY VANISHES, THE (1938) (99 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The Lady Vanishes, Alfred Hitchcock's comedy-thriller, came at the end of his British period; this film's success brought Hitchcock to the attention of Hollywood. He would complete only one other British production, Jamaica Inn, before crossing the Atlantic to working for David O. Selznick on Rebecca. The film concerns the young Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood), heading home on a train after spending the holidays in the Balkans. Iris becomes friends with a kindly old lady, Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty) after Iris gets hit in the head with a flowerpot meant for Miss Froy. On the train, recovering from the blow, Iris falls asleep. When she awakens, Miss Froy has vanished, replaced by someone else in Miss Froy's clothing. Iris talks to the other passengers, a bizarre collection of eccentrics who think that Iris is crazy for insisting on there even being a Miss Froy — everyone denies having ever seen the old woman. Finally, Iris finds a young musician, Gilbert (Michael Redgrave), who believes her and the two proceed to search the train for clues to Miss Froy's disappearance. — Paul Brenner
Starring: Margaret Lockwood, Paul Lukas, Michael Redgrave, Dame May Whitty | Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
LAST GANGSTER, THE (1937) (81 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Edward G. Robinson offers an excellent turn as a crime lord obsessed with the welfare of his son in this melodramatic crime story. The lad is born while the notorious Robinson serves 10 years. Unfortunately, the press hound the babies mother and constantly derider her until a kinder reporter takes pity and begins writing stories to support her. This angers his editor who fires him. One day Robinson's wife goes to visit him and he behaves like a brute. She is so shocked that she ends her marriage and hooks up with the reporter. Together, they move far away to start successful new lives. A decade later, Robinson gets out and begins searching for his boy. Unfortunately, he also gets talked into his gangster activities by an old cohort. The gang, however turns on him and forces him to reveal the location of a large cache of loot that he hid before entering the slammer. Tough old Robinson won't tell them, so they kidnap his son.Fortunately, Robinson and the lad escape. The gangster tries to get to know his boy, but the child wants nothing to do with him. Angered, Robinson swears vengeance upon his ex and her new spouse. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, James Stewart, Rosa Strander, Lionel Stander | Directed by: Edward Ludwig
LAW OF THE UNDERWORLD (1938) (58 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
When two lovers are framed for a jewelry store robbery in which the clerk was killed, the only person capable of saving them from the death penalty is the gangster who actually committed the crime. A remake of the 1930 thriller The Pay Off, Law of the Underworld tells the tale of Shirley and Bond, two young lovers who are about to be swept up in circumstances beyond their control. On the surface Morris is a respectable citizen, the perfect cover for a career criminal. When Morris frames Shirley and Bond for a violent jewelry store robbery, the lovebirds are arrested and sentenced to death. Morris may be a criminal, but is he really willing to let two innocent people die for his crime, or will his conscience finally get the best of him at the last minute?
Starring: Chester Morris, Anne Shirley, Eduardo Ciannelli, Walter Abel, Lee Patrick | Directed by: Lew Landers
LITTLE CAESAR (1930) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Mervyn LeRoy directed this seminal gangster film, featuring a galvanizing and star-making performance by Edward G. Robinson as Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello, first seen robbing a gas station with his jumpy friend Joe Massara (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.). Over spaghetti and coffee at a local hash-house, Rico tells Joe that one day he will be the czar of the rackets and "not just another mug." Joe, on the other hand, wants to be a dancer. They travel to the big city, where Rico proves his fearlessness and rises to second-in-command in the gang of Sam Vettori (Stanley Fields). Meanwhile, Joe falls in love with hoofer Olga Strassoff (Glenda Farrell) and becomes her dancing partner. The cops start putting the heat on Sam and he begins losing his nerve. Sam's mob then backs Rico and he becomes the new head of the gang. To make his presence felt, Rico guns down police commissioner McClure (Landers Stevens) and as a result gets to meet the boss of bosses, Big Boy (Sidney Blackmer), a high society tycoon. Rico is impressed and emulates Big Boy's lifestyle, but he wants more, and so he plans to eliminate Big Boy with Joe's help. But Joe wants out of the mob and refuses. Along with William Wellman's The Public Enemy (1931) and Howard Hawks' Scarface (1932), Little Caesar marked the heyday of the gangster movie before the enforcement of Hollywood's restrictive Production Code. Even in this era of laxer restrictions, the gangster's potentially seductive glamor had to be offset by his subjugation to the forces of law and order, a principle that the Production Code called "compensating moral value." Even more than 30 years later, in the brutally revisionist gangster movie Bonnie and Clyde (1967), these requirements were scorned yet still upheld. — Paul Brenner
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, Sidney Blackmer | Directed by: Mervyn LeRoy
LITTLE GIANT, THE (1933) (75 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The end of prohibition spells the end of business as usual for Chicago gangster Bugs Ahearn (Edward G. Robinson in this delightful spoof of mob melodramas from Warner Bros. Paying off their latest moll, Edith (Shirley Grey, Bugs and chief lieutenant Al Daniels (Russell Hopton) grab their ill-gotten gains and go west, hoping to crash polo playing Santa Barbara society. Bugs acquires a rental mansion and a high class girlfriend, Polly Cass (Helen Vinson), but the estate actually belongs to kind but down-on-her-luck socialite Ruth Wayburn (Mary Astor) — whom the former mobster retains as his social secretary — while Polly and her relatives prove to be bigger crooks than he ever was. The Little Giant was reportedly filmed in 18 days on a budget of $197,000.
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Helen Vinson, Ken Thomson | Directed by: Roy Del Ruth
LONDON BY NIGHT (1937) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
London by Night was filmed entirely on the MGM back lot, which admittedly looked more like England than England. Adapted from Will Scott's play The Umbrella Man, this atmospheric thriller concerns the a series of murders committed in foggy Sundial Square by an elusive gentleman known variously as The Umbrella and Mr. Rabbit. Irish reporter Michael Dennis (George Murphy) joins forces with Scotland Yard inspector Jefferson (George Zucco) to trap the killer and determine his (or her) motives. Adding to the confusion is the fact that two of the "victims" are still alive -- and that those "two" are actually one! Among those bumped off by the villain are Eddie Quillan and Virginia Field, both cast against type as cockney pub-crawlers. If there was any doubt as to the identity of The Umbrella, the closing credits wipe them away by billing the actor in question under all his screen aliases.
Starring: George Murphy, Rita Johnson, Leo G. Carroll, George Zucco, Montagu Love, Eddie Quillan | Directed by: William Thiele
LONE WOLF SPY HUNT, THE (1939) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Regarded as the best of Columbia's "Lone Wolf" B-picture series, The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt stars Warren William as Michael Lanyard, a onetime criminal known as the Lone Wolf. He is determined to remain reformed for the sake of his daughter (Virginia Weidler), but a gang of foreign spies abducts Lanyard and force him to steal the blueprints for a secret anti-aircraft gun. Ever the ladies' man, Lanyard has two lovelies to contend with here: dizzy heiress Ida Lupino and seductive spy Rita Hayworth (just prior to her superstardom). Lone Wolf Spy Hunt is a remake of 1929's The Lone Wolf's Daughter, and like the earlier film is based on the character created by Louis Joseph Vance. Incidentally, the character of the daughter would never be seen or heard from after this 1939 film, though Warren William would make seven more appearances as the Lone Wolf.
Starring: Warren William, Ida Lupino, Rita Hayworth, Robert Wilcox | Directed by: Peter Godfrey
LOVE IS A RACKET (1932) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
James Cagney was originally pegged to play brash Broadway columnist Jimmy Russell in this pleasant if somewhat lightweight newspaper yarn, but when director William Wellman called "action," Douglas Fairbanks Jr. had replaced him. In love with pretty actress Mary Wodehouse (Frances Dee), Jimmy can only watch as gangster Eddie Shaw (Lyle Talbot) takes on the girl's mounting debt. Sending Jimmy on a wild goose chase to Atlantic City, Shaw then attempts to lure Mary to his penthouse but is instead confronted with the girl's gun-toting Aunt Hattie (Cecil Cunningham). Jimmy manages to escape Shaw's goons and arrives at Shaw's apartment just in time to watch Aunt Hattie hide the murder weapon. There is an attempt at a coverup, and the eventual ruling of the court reads suicide. The ambitious Mary, meanwhile, marries theatrical entrepreneur Max Boncour (André Luguet) and Jimmy vows to stay away from the "love racket" for good. Or at least until gal-pal Sally (Ann Dvorak) can convince him otherwise. Although George Raft is listed in most credits for Love is a Racket, he is not in the surviving print. The drama was retitled Such Things Happen for release in Great Britain, where the word "racket" meant something entirely different. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, Ann Dvorak, Frances Dee, Lee Tracy | Directed by: William Wellman
M (1931) (111 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Fritz Lang's classic early talkie crime melodrama is set in 1931 Berlin. The police are anxious to capture an elusive child murderer (Peter Lorre) and begin rounding up every criminal in town. The Underworld leaders decide to take the heat off their activities by catching the child killer themselves. Once the killer is fingered, he is marked with the letter "M" chalked on his back. He is tracked down and captured by the combined forces of the Berlin criminal community, who put him on trial for his life in a kangaroo court. The killer pleads for mercy, whining that he can't control his homicidal instincts. The police close in and rescue the killer from the Underworld, so that he can stand trial again in "respectable" circumstances. Some prints of the film end with a caution to the audience to watch after their children more carefully. Filmed in Germany, M was the film that solidified Fritz Lang's reputation with American audiences, and also made a star out of Peter Lorre (previously a specialist in comedy roles!) M was remade by Hollywood in 1951, with David Wayne giving a serviceable performance as the killer. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Gustaf Gründgens | Directed by: Fritz Lang
MAD MISS MANTON, THE (1938) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Wealthy socialite Melsa Manton (Barbara Stanwyck) is taking her pooches for a walk in the dead of the night when she stumbles upon a dead body and a car fleeing the scene of the crime. She alerts the police but the corpse has disappeared by the time they arrive, and the lieutenant, knowing of her madcap reputation, believes she was playing a practical joke. After newspaper editor Peter Ames (Henry Fonda) takes her to task in print, she sues him for libel and enlists the aid of her society friends in tracking down the body and finding the killer. Eventually, Ames comes around to believing Melsa's story and aids her in her search. It isn't long before the two antagonists find they're attracted to each other — but they have to catch the murderer before they can settle down and live happily ever after. Fonda and Stanwyck would team up again in You Belong to Me and The Lady Eve. — Craig Butler
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Sam Levene, Frances Mercer | Directed by: Leigh Jason
(80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This first of three film adaptations of Dashiel Hammett's The Maltese Falcon plays at times like the road-company version of the more famous 1941 John Huston/Humphrey Bogart adaptation. Ricardo Cortez stars as a slick, rogueish edition of Sam Spade, using his office as a trysting place for his various amours. Bebe Daniels plays the Brigid O'Shaughnessy character, here rechristened Ruth Wonderly. Ruth hires Spade and his partner Miles Archer (Walter Long) to locate her missing sister. Archer is killed while on duty, confirming Spade's suspicion that Ruth's lost-sister story was a subterfuge. In fact, Ruth is one of several disreputable types in search of a valuable falcon statuette encrusted with jewels. Others mixed up in the quest for the "black bird" are portly Casper Gutman (Dudley Digges), Gutman's neurotic gunsel Wilmer (Dwight Frye, better known as Renfield from Dracula) and effeminate Joel Cairo (Otto Matiesen). It is giving nothing away at this stage of the game to note that, after all the various intrigues concerning the falcon have come and gone, Spade turns Ruth over to the cops as the murderer of Archer. As would be the case with the 1941 version, the 1931 Maltese Falcon does not use Hammett's original ending, in which Spade callously resumes his affair with Archer's widow (Thelma Todd). Instead, we are offered a jailhouse coda, where a suddenly compassionate Spade asks the matron to treat the incarcerated Ruth gently during her 20-year stay. When Maltese Falcon was due for a reissue in 1936, it was denied a Production Code approval on the basis of one single line: Archer's widow, spotting Ruth Wonderly in Spade's bedroom, exclaims "Who's that dame in my kimono?" In between the 1931 and 1941 versions of Maltese Falcon, there would be a heavily disguised reworking of the Hammett novel, Satan Met a Lady (1936), starring Warren William and Bette Davis. To avoid confusion with the 1941 remake, the 1931 Maltese Falcon has been retitled Dangerous Female for television.
Starring: Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels, Dudley Digges, Una Merkel | Directed by: Roy Del Ruth
MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, THE (1934) (75 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The first film version of The Man Who Knew too Much proved to be the international "breakthrough" film for British director Alfred Hitchcock, transforming him from merely a talented domestic filmmaker to a worldwide household name. While vacationing in Switzerland, Britons Leslie Banks and Edna Best befriend jovial Frenchman Pierre Fresnay. Not long afterward, Fresnay is murdered. He whispers a secret in Banks' ear before expiring. This is witnessed by several sinister foreign agents, who kidnap Banks' daughter Nova Pilbeam to keep him from revealing what he knows: That a diplomat will be assassinated during a concert at London's Albert Hall. Unable to turn to the police, Banks desperately attempts to rescue his child himself, still hoping to prevent the assassination. The film's now-famous setpieces include the "Siege of Sidney Street" re-creation and the climactic clash of cymbals at Albert Hall, followed by the crucial scream of Edna Best. German film star Peter Lorre made his English-speaking debut in The Man Who Knew Too Much, though he was still monolingual in 1934 and had to learn his lines phonetically. Written by A. R. Rawlinson, Charles Bennett, D.B. Wyndham Lewis, Emlyn Williams and Edwin Greenwood (an impressive lineup for a 75-minute film!), Man Who Knew Too Much was remade by Hitchcock himself in 1956. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper | Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
MAN WHO LIVED TWICE, THE (1936) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this interesting drama, a disfigured fugitive killer gets a second chance at life when he hides out in a hospital and overhears a doctor discussing his innovative scientific theories. The murderer accosts the doctor and forces him to perform a radical surgery that will change the criminal's face and brain and make him into a better person. Using a new name, the crook becomes a top doctor. Unfortunately, he could change his face, but he could not flee his past and he finds himself standing trial and getting convicted. He is later pardoned by the governor.
Starring: Marian Marsh, Thurston Hall, Isabel Jewell, Nana Bryant | Directed by: Harry Lachman
MAN WITH TWO FACES, THE (1934) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The Man with Two Faces is based on The Dark Tower, a stage comedy-mystery by Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman. Edward G. Robinson is at his hammy best as flamboyant, temperamental, but withal endearing theatrical actor-manager Dawson Wells. Mary Astor co-stars as Damon's beloved actress sister Jessica, making a stage comeback after a disastrously unhappy marriage. Alas, Jessica's caddish husband Stanley Vance (Louis Calhern) soon returns, exerting a Svengali-like hold on the poor girl and setting her back on the road to ruin. Unable to buy off Vance, Wells plots a clever revenge, and shortly afterward, Vance is visited by one Monsieur Chautard, an effusive European producer with murder on his mind. The central "gimmick" in Man With Two Faces, which was adroitly concealed in the original Dark Tower, is a bit more obvious on screen due to the dynamic personalities involved. Also, the play's ending, in which Vance's murderer is allowed to escape scot-free by a sympathetic detective, was obviously altered at the very last minute to appease the new Production Code. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Mary Astor, Ricardo Cortez, Mae Clarke, Louis Calhern | Directed by: Archie Mayo
MANHATTAN MELODRAMA (1934) (93 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Notorious as the movie that gangster John Dillinger attended on the night he was killed, Manhattan Melodrama has weathered the years as one of MGM's finest examples of pure storytelling. The pageant-like story begins in 1904, when the excursion steamer "General Slocum" blows up and burns in the East River. Two young boys are orphaned by the disaster. They are adopted by a kindly Jewish businessman (Harry Green), who has lost his own children. Years later, when he is killed during a anarchist rally, the boys are separated once more. They grow up to be straight-arrow attorney Jim Wade (William Powell) and big-time gambler Blackie Gallagher (Clark Gable). Though the two men still like and respect one another, they are now on opposite sides of the legal fence. The professional rivalry becomes personal when Jim marries Blackie's ex-mistress Eleanor (Myrna Loy). The typically stellar MGM supporting cast includes Nat Pendleton as Blackie's faithful stooge, Isabel Jewell as his addled girl friend, Mickey Rooney as the younger Blackie (a marvelous piece of mimicry here!), and blonde singer Shirley Ross, here appearing in blackface in a Harlem nightclub sequence, singing a new Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune that would later gain popularity (with different lyrics) as Blue Moon. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, Leo Carrillo | Directed by: Woody Van Dyke
MANSLAUGHTER (1930) (82 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Poor but honest district attorney Fredric March, sick of the "one law for rich, one law for poor" imbalance, sentences selfish society girl Claudette Colbert to ten years in prison for vehicular manslaughter. The sentence is reduced to two years due to political pressure; nonetheless, Claudette feels humiliated by March and vows revenge. While incarcerated, the girl learns a few lessons in humility, and by the time she has completed her sentence she has become most popular and kindhearted inmate in the joint. Upon her release, Claudette seeks out March and declares her love for him. Based on a story by Alice Duer Miller, Manslaughter had been previously filmed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1922; the great director used the plotline as an excuse for an extended (and gloriously pointless) flashback to Ancient Rome. This 1930 talkie remake is infinitely more tasteful and restrained than the DeMille version—but not quite as much fun to watch.
Starring: Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, Emma Dunn, Natalie Moorhead | Directed by: George Abbott
MARKED WOMAN (1937) (99 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Bette Davis' famous walk-out from her home studio of Warner Bros. may have hurt her financially, but in the long run it paid off with bigger parts in better films. Like many Warners films of the period, Marked Woman was "torn from today's headlines." Specifically, it was inspired by the recent downfall of gangster Lucky Luciano, who at one time controlled all prostitution activities in New York. The ladies herein are euphemistically characterized as "night club hostesses," but when Luciano look-alike Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Cianelli) shows up at a fancy clip-joint to give the girls their marching orders, the audience can tell exactly what's going on. Been-there-done-that hostess Mary (Davis) is no better than she ought to be, though she has a definite code of honor; she stands up to the dictatorial Vanning at every opportunity, fending of his amorous attentions and seeing to it that her "over the hill"colleague Estelle (Mayo Methot) is retained on the gangster's payroll. At the same time, Mary tries to shield her seedy profession from her virginal sister Betty (Jane Bryan), but the girl discovers the truth and becomes a "B"-girl herself, a rash move that results in her death. Previously frightened into silence by periodic beatings from Vanning's goons, Mary and four of her girlfriends become state's witnesses, providing testimony to crusading District Attorney David Graham (Humphrey Bogart, playing a character clearly patterned after Thomas E. Dewey). A last-ditch effort to permanently stifle Mary and her friends fails, and the ladies show up in court to put the noose around Vanning's neck. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Isabel Jewell, Eduardo Ciannelli | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
MASK OF FU MANCHU, THE (1932) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Boris Karloff stars as the fiendish Dr. Fu Manchu in M.G.M.'s film version the Sax Rohmer novel about the evil personification of "the yellow peril." Fu Manchu is out to lay waste to the white man's world and intends to steal the scimitar and golden mask of Genghis Khan. Once in possession of these artifacts, Fu Manchu can conquer the world. With the aid of his daughter Fah Lo See (Myrna Loy), the dastardly doctor manages to make off with Genghis Khan's legacy, much to the consternation of Nayland Smith (Lewis Stone). Fu Manchu and Fah Lo See torture various emissaries of Great Britain in imaginative ways, as if they're trying to rid the world of white people, one at a time. Prof. Von Berg (Jean Hersholt), a British museum functionary, is placed between enclosing spiked walls. Sheila Barton (Karen Morley) is cut to ribbons, and her fiancée, Terence Granville (Charles Starrett), is given an insect cocktail. The tortures seem to help Fu Manchu's plans, since he develops a death ray he plans to use to reduce the earth's population. But Prof. Von Berg escapes at the last second from his spiked wall and Nayland Smith, who is being lowered head first into a vat of crocodiles, exits from his doom. With the tables now turned, Nayland Smith must stop Fu Manchu before he puts the death ray to fatal use. — Paul Brenner
Starring: Boris Karloff, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Myrna Loy | Directed by: Charles J. Brabin, Charles Vidor, King Vidor
MAYOR OF HELL, THE (1933) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Gangster Cagney allows his powerful political connections to appoint him "deputy inspector" of a state reform school. There he finds the youths abused and battered by a brutal, heartless warden and his thuggish guards. It is a nurse who informs Cagney and pleads with him to clean things up. Something touches Cagney's normally hard heart and he commits himself to enacting more humane reforms. Soon, he gets the warden booted out and begins working closely with the inmates, who come to trust and respect him until Cagney's dark side emerges and he reveals himself for what he is—a ruthless mobster. This destroys the boys' trust and when the old warden is reinstated makes matters even worse until Cagney makes a difficult choice. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: James Cagney, Madge Evans, Allen Jenkins, Dudley Digges | Directed by: Archie Mayo
MEET NERO WOLFE (1936) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Rex Stout's overweight, under-exercised detective Nero Wolfe was first brought to the screen in 1936 in the portly person of Edward Arnold. As brusque and short-tempered as ever, Wolfe tackles the case of a college professor who met his doom while playing golf, a tragedy followed by the seemingly unrelated death of a young mechanic. Dispatched to do Wolfe's leg work is his acerbic aide Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander), who manages to discover that both deaths were tied in with a new weapon which silently shoots poisoned needles. Rex Stout wasn't too pleased with the expurgated screen treatment of his fictional sleuth, whose fondness for imported beers was changed by the censors to a predilection for hot chocolate! Well directed by Broadway vet Herbert Biberman, Meet Nero Wolfe was followed in 1937 by The League of Frightened Men, with Walter Connolly as Wolfe.
Starring: Edward Arnold, Lionel Stander, Joan Perry, Victor Jory | Directed by: Herbert Biberman
MEN IN EXILE (1937) (58 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Director John Farrow was always at his best when dealing with desperate men in desperate situations. One of Farrow's lesser but still fascinating 1930s assignments was the Warner Bros. actioner Men in Exile, starring Dick Purcell as American fugitive from justice Jimmy Carmody. Escaping across the Mexican border, Jimmy becomes inexorably involved in a noisy South American revolution, only with several other shifty-looking expatriates. For the sake of heroine Sally Haines (June Travis), Jimmy cleans up his act long enough to do the right thing at the right time. The "John Farrow touch" is especially evident during a tense climactic scene in which it appears that one of the protagonists is about to be executed by firing squad.
Starring: Dick Purcell, June Travis, Alan Baxter, Margaret Irving, Veda Ann Borg | Directed by: John Farrow
MENACE (1934) (57 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Not to be confused with Universal's 1932 The Menace, Paramount's 1934 Menace does however included a "revenge" motif similar to the plotline of the earlier film. A mental patient, who has sworn vengeance on the wealthy British family he holds responsible for his brother's death, escapes on a dark and stormy night. His intended victims are holding a party at the time of the escape. No one knows what the mental patient looks like, so each of the male guests falls under suspicion. For a while, it looks as though the butler (Halliwell Hobbes) is the murderer, but we can write him off under the category of "obvious red herring." The menace of Menace reveals himself in a finale rich with thunderclaps, lightning strokes, and hideous maniacal laughter.
Starring: Gertrude Michael, Paul Cavanagh, Henrietta Crosman, John Lodge | Directed by: Ralph Murphy
MIDNIGHT (1934) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
(AKA: "CALL IT MURDER") The old "If it were your own daughter" plot device forms the basis of the independently-produced crime melodrama Midnight. O.P. Heggie plays jury foreman Edward Weldon, who has no qualms about sentencing a woman to death for a crime of passion. His unpopular decision makes Weldon persona non grata even in his own home, but he sticks to his firm belief that all murderers must pay the supreme penalty, no matter what the provocation. He soon has cause to regret his intractability when his own daughter Stella (Sidney Fox) kills a former lover who betrayed her. In addition to Humphrey Bogart, who plays the small but memorable role of one of the murder victims, this New York-filmed oddity also features such Broadway-bred talent as Margaret Wycherly, Henry Hull, Granville Bates, Helen Flint, and, in their film debuts, Lynne Overman and Richard Whorf. Midnight was later reissued by Astor Films as Call it Murder to cash in on Bogart's latter-day popularity (Bogie was also "promoted" to top billing in the refilmed opening credits).
Starring: Sidney Fox, O.P. Heggie, Henry Hull, Margaret Wycherly, Humphrey Bogart, Cora Witherspoon | Directed by: Chester Erskine
MIDNIGHT ALIBI (1934) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this drama, a gambler must hide-out from the mob and ends up in a spinster's apartment. The old woman, is unused to company as she has spent her life in seclusion after a failed romance in her youth. When the crime lord is killed, the gambler, his younger brother, is arrested for the murder. To protect him, the spinster perjures herself in court by telling the judge that he was with her on the night the crime was committed.
Starring: Richard Barthelmess, Ann Dvorak, Helen Chandler, Henry O'Neill, Robert H. Barrat, Vincent Sherman | Directed by: Alan Crosland
(66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Largely filmed on location inside Madame Tussaud's Wax museum, this horror movie centers on a banker who bets that he can spend an entire night in the London attraction's notorious Chamber of Horrors. Unfortunately, once there, he discovers himself to be a potential murder victim.
Starring: Charles Oliver, Bernard Miles, Kim Peacock, Lydia Sherwood | Directed by: George Pearson
MIDNIGHT CLUB (1933) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Everybody in The Midnight Club is seeing double, and it's all the handiwork of slick London criminal mastermind Colin Grant (Clive Brook). Anyone who wants to commit a crime and get away with it had better get in touch with Grant, who obligingly provides exact doubles of the criminals so as to establish an alibi. At present, Grant and his minions are planning a big-time society jewel heist. Admittedly baffled by Grant's near-perfect racket, Scotland Yard commissioner Hope (Sir Guy Standing) calls in American sleuth Nick Mason (George Raft) to help out. Nick wastes no time going to work, not only insinuating himself into the "Midnight Club" gang but also wooing away Grant's sweetheart Iris Whitney (Helen Vinson).
Starring: Clive Brook, George Raft, Helen Vinson, Alison Skipworth, Guy Standing, Alan Mowbray | Directed by: Alexander Hall, George Somnes
MIDNIGHT MARY (1933) (74 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Loaned to MGM by her home studio of Warner Bros., Loretta Young suffers her way through the title role in Midnight Mary. A good girl led astray, Mary (Young) endeavors to save the life of her boyfriend Tom (Franchot Tone) by killing the aptly named Leo the Rat (Ricardo Cortez). As her case is heard in court, the clerk goes over Mary's record, and at this point the flashbacks begin, stretching all the way back to her days as an unwanted orphan. One bad break leads to another, and by the time she reaches adulthood Mary is mixed up with a gang of crooked gamblers. For the sake of Tom, a well-connected socialite who loves her unquestioningly, Mary tries to go straight, but her past, and the ill-fated Leo the Rat, catch up with her. No matter what disaster befalls her in Midnight Mary, Loretta Young always manages to look as though she's just stepped out of a beauty salon. - Hal Erickson *** At one point near the beginning of William Wellman's Midnight Mary, a down-and-out Loretta Young passes by a marquee advertising a Joan Crawford movie. An apt reminder indeed that this kind of romantic gangster melodrama masquerading as social commentary was in many ways pioneered by Crawford. Joan must have been otherwise engaged, however, and MGM instead borrowed Loretta Young from Fox. It didn't much matter; Mary Martin of Midnight Mary is yet another unfortunate victim of circumstances, a little more vulnerable, perhaps, due to Young's kinder, gentler interpretation, but it is still more or less the same Mary that had appeared on countless screens in the early '30s. Franchot Tone (soon to be the husband of Joan Crawford, incidentally) played the inevitable rich boy in his usual insouciant manner, while Ricardo Cortez, borrowed from Warner Bros., remains his tough-talking self. Also borrowed from Warner was cinematographer James Van Trees, but somehow the gutsy attitude of that studio is absent. - Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone, Andy Devine | Directed by: William Wellman
MIDNIGHT TAXI (1937) (69 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Sometimes it seemed as if Brian Donlevy played nothing but G-men during his years at 20th Century-Fox. In Midnight Taxi, Donlevy is cast as Chick Gardner, a federal agent who poses as a New York cab driver. His plan is to use his cover to expose a gang of counterfeiters, who've been using taxis as their means of distribution. Befriending a cabbie who's in the employ of the crooks, our hero is able to join the gang, though a few of the bad guys remain suspicious of his motives. Before Gardner is able to break the back of the operation, he is forced to extricate his sweetheart Gilda Lee (Frances Drake) from a very perilous predicament. For reasons best known to local television programmers, Midnight Taxi was seen over and over again during the 1950s and 1960s heyday of TV's "Late Late Shows."
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Frances Drake, Alan Dinehart, Sig Rumann | Directed by: Eugene J. Forde
MIRACLE MAN (1932) (85 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A San Francisco gangster hot foots it out of town to cool down after his crime boss is suddenly killed. He ends up in a little coastal town where he begins devising one of the nastiest little con games around. It seems there is a faith healer in town with the ability to help the crippled walk again. The crook's plan is to use a contortionist pretending to be a cripple to convince people that the healer is for real. He will then further exploit the healer by having him broadcast live over the radio. Unfortunately, the gangster and his men didn't count on the fact that the healer is the real deal. As they all get to know him, real miracles occur, and the gangsters suddenly find themselves using their loot to build the town a brand new chapel.
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Chester Morris, Irving Pichel, Boris Karloff | Directed by: Norman Z. McLeod
MISS PINKERTON (1932) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Scion of the once-rich Mitchell family, Herbert Wynn is found shot to death. Nurse Adams, bored by hospital routine, is recruited by the police to ferret out clues as she tends to Wynn's elderly aunt Julia. Jokingly given the 'rank' of Miss Pinkerson, after the famous detective agency, Adams probes into the mystery, but not before a second death.
Starring: Joan Blondell, George Brent, Mae Madison, Ruth Hall | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
MISSING GIRLS (1936) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A couple of naïve girls get themselves unwittingly involved in the gambling racket in this Poverty Row production directed by the redoubtable Phil Rosen. Runaway Ann Jason (Ann Doran) finds shelter in big, bad New York City with the Traveler's Aid Society, one of those organizations run by bored socialites. The socialite in question is Dorothy Benson (Muriel Evans), the daughter of a state senator (Wallis Clark) who is advocating a bill that would legalize gambling and make the profits taxable. But the senator is murdered by gangster Ben Davis (Noel Madison), who is confident that the blame will fall on racketeer Dan Collins (Sidney Blackmer), the senator's foe. Investigating newspaper reporter Jimmie Dugan (Roger Pryor), meanwhile, would rather go to prison than divulge his sources but changes his mind when Davis kidnaps Ann and Dorothy. Disguised as a hobo, Jimmie locates both the girls and the gangsters and after the inevitable showdown reveals that he is an undercover G-Man.
Starring: Roger Pryor, Muriel Evans, Sidney Blackmer, Noel Madison | Directed by: Phil Rosen
MISSING WITNESSES (1937) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The racket-busting activities of New York DA Thomas E. Dewey was the inspiration for several late-1930s crime films, including Warner Bros.' Missing Witnesses. The Dewey counterpart this time out is Inspector Lane (John Litel), assigned to drive all organized crime out of his community. But Lane needs good, strong evidence -- and gangland witnesses have a nasty habit of refusing to testify in court, or disappearing altogether from the face of the earth. When Mary Norton (Jean Dale) courageously comes forth with evidence against protection racketeer Ward Turgis (Harland Tucker), detective Bull Regan (Richard Purcell) is ordered to keep Mary from ending up sleeping with the fishes. Is it any surprise that Mary and Bull fall in love halfway through the picture? Missing Witnesses was written by Kenneth Gamet and Don Ryan, two ex-reporters who were intimately familiar with the doings of Dewey and his enemies.
Starring: John Litel, Dick Purcell, Jean Dale, William Haade, Ben Welden, Raymond Hatton | Directed by: William B. Clemens
MOONLIGHT MURDER (1936) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Moonlight Murder takes place virtually in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl. Despite dire warnings by a sinister mystic (Pedro de Cordoba), opera-star Gino D'Acosta (Leo Carrillo) insists that he will sing in the Bowl's current production of Il Trovatore. He gets no farther than the "Anvil Chorus" before he drops dead in full view of the audience. It turns out that D'Acosta was murdered, placing everyone in the cast under suspicion. As night segues into morning, detective Steve Farrell (Chester Morris) -- whose past mistakes have put him in hot water with his boss -- teams up with lady-scientist Toni Adams (Madge Evans) to piece the clues together. The hot-potato issue of euthanasia is raised during the course of Moonlight Murder, and as a result the film turns out to have one of the most sympathetic and reasonable culprits in "B"-picture history. Trivia alert: One of the suspects is played by Duncan Renaldo, who later co-starred with "victim" Leo Carrillo on TV's The Cisco Kid.
Starring: Chester Morris, Leo Carrillo, Frank McHugh, Benita Hume | Directed by: Edwin L. Marin
MOST DANGEROUS GAME, THE (1932) (78 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The first of many official and unofficial screen versions of Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game was put together by producer Willis O'Brien and directors Ernest B. Schoedsack and Irving Pichel in 1932. Leslie Banks stars as loony Russian count Zaroff, a renowned big-game hunter who tires of stalking animals and begins hunting down the "most dangerous game"-human beings. Luring unwary victims to his remote island, Zaroff wines and dines them, gives them a few hours' head start to run into the jungle, then hunts them down with rifle and bow and arrow. As his grisly trophy room demonstrates, Zaroff hasn't missed yet. Shipwreck survivors Joel McCrea and Fay Wray are Zaroff's latest quarry. "First the hunt, then the revels!" declares Zaroff, casting a lecherous eye towards the wide-eyed Ms. Wray. The original Connell story had no heroine, but who wants to watch Joel McCrea lose most of his clothing while scurrying through the jungle? The Most Dangerous Game was filmed on RKO's standing King Kong sets during a lull in the production of that classic film, utilizing most of the Kong personnel (actors Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Noble Johnson, Steve Clemente and Dutch Hendrian; producer O'Brien; director Schoedsack; composer Max Steiner). While the plot has been reshaped and recycled many times since 1932, RKO's only official remake of Most Dangerous Game was 1945's A Game of Death.
Starring: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, Robert Armstrong, Steve Clemente | Directed by: Irving Pichel / Ernest B. Schoedsack
MOUTHPIECE, THE (1932) (90 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this crime drama, an assistant DA must scramble to save the life of an innocent man he mistakenly sent to the chair. Unfortunately, he is too late and turns to alcoholism to soothe his throbbing conscience. It is only down from there and soon the attorney begins working for the mob until he falls in love. Some of the story was based on the life of William J. Fallon, a New York City attorney.
Starring: Warren William, Aline MacMahon, William Janney, John Wray, J.Carrol Naish | Directed by: James Flood, Elliott Nugent
MR. MOTO IN DANGER ISLAND (1939) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Peter Lorre stars as the famous Asian detective Mr. Moto in this remake of Murder in Trinidad, in which Moto is asked to help the United States government crack a smuggling ring bringing in stolen diamonds from Puerto Rico. Moto's deductive powers quickly prove impressive as he matches wits with the slow-minded gangster "Twister" McGurk (Warren B. Hymer). This was Lorre's seventh film as Mr. Moto; he would make one more before the series was retired at the end of 1939. Originally shown as Mr. Moto on Danger Island.
Starring: Peter Lorre, Jean Hersholt, Amanda Duff, Ward Bond, Robert Lowery, Douglas Dumbrille | Directed by: Herbert I. Leeds
MR. MOTO TAKES A CHANCE (1938) (63 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this fourth of 20th Century-Fox's "Mr. Moto" series, a beautiful young aviatrix (Rochelle Hudson) on a secret diplomatic mission crash-lands in a remote Indochinese jungle province ruled by a despotic potentate (J. Edward Bromberg). Japanese adventurer Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre) is in the vicinity on an archeological expedition, while two hotshot American newsreel cameramen (Robert Kent, Chick Chandler) also stumble upon the scene. The aviatrix tries to get the potentate to help quell an insurrection led by a maniacal high priest (George Regas), but it turns out that the duplicitous ruler is in on the rebellion as a means of increasing his own wealth and power. Moto takes charge by posing as the high priest; he rescues the aviatrix and the newsreel men, vanquishes the villains and destroys a munitions site. And all this in 63 minutes!
Starring: Peter Lorre, Rochelle Hudson, Robert Kent, J. Edward Bromberg, Chick Chandler | Directed by: Norman Foster
MR. MOTO'S GAMBLE (1938) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this mystery programmer, a prizefighter dies in the midst of a match, but evidence suggests that it was a dose of poison that killed him rather than the violence of the bout. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), a detective who also teaches sleuthing to others, is called in to find out who killed the boxer and why. Assisting Mr. Moto is Lee Chan (Keye Luke), the "number one son" from the Charlie Chan series. Mr. Moto's Gamble began as Charlie Chan at Ringside, but after Warner Oland became seriously ill during filming, it was rewritten for the screen's other well-known Asian detective in order to make use of the footage that had already been shot.
Starring: Peter Lorre, Keye Luke, Dick Baldwin, Lynn Bari, Douglas Fowley, George E. Stone | Directed by: James Tinling
MR. MOTO'S LAST WARNING (1939) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Japanese detective Mr. Moto finds himself hip-deep in international espionage in this adventure tale. In Port Said, a pair of rogues — French-born Fabian (Ricardo Cortez) and Englishman Norvel (George Sanders) — are working for a nameless foreign government and devise a scheme to sabotage French ships passing through the Suez Canal. The criminals plan to leave false clues implicating British agents in hopes of sparking a war between the two nations. Mr. Moto (Peter Lorre), posing as a local shopkeeper after faking his own death to avoid suspicion, is assigned to stop them before any lives (or vessels) can be lost. John Carradine and Virginia Field also appear in this, the sixth of eight films that would feature Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto. — Mark Deming
Starring: Peter Lorre, Ricardo Cortez, Virginia Field, John Carradine, George Sanders | Directed by: Norman Foster
MR. WONG IN CHINATOWN (1939) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A mysterious visitor is found murdered in Mr. Wong's study in this, the third of Monogram's low-budget thrillers, featuring Hugh Wiley's Chinese detective. A startled Wong (Boris Karloff) learns from enterprising girl reporter Bobby Logan (Marjorie Reynolds) that the murder victim is Princess Lin Hwa (Lotus Long), in San Francisco to buy airplanes for her brother's army. Both the princess' traveling companion (Bessie Loo) and a mysterious dwarf (Angelo Rossitto) become victims of a mystery killer, who uses an ancient Chinese dart as his weapon of choice. The trail leads to a steamer in the San Francisco harbor, whose captain, Jalme (William Royle), is highly suspicious. Also among the would-be murderers are a phony airplane manufacturer (Peter George Lynn) and a local banker (Huntly Gordon). Although kidnapped by Jalme, Mr. Wong manages to unmask the real culprit. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Marjorie Reynolds, Peter George Lynn | Directed by: William Nigh
MR. WONG, DETECTIVE (1938) (69 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The first of six Mr. Wong whodunits, Mr. Wong Detective presented Boris Karloff as pulp writer Hugh Wiley's Oxford-educated Oriental sleuth. Wong is visited by Simon Dayton (John Hamilton), an industrialist fearing for his life. Dayton and his partners Meisle (William Gould) and Wilk (Hooper Atchley) have been selling a poison gas invented by Roemer (John St. Polis), who, feeling cheated out of the deal, shows up in Dayton's office waving a gun. Minutes later, Dayton is found murdered by his secretary, Myra Ross (Maxine Jennings). Police Captain Sam Street (Grant Withers), Myra's boyfriend, immediately puts Roemer under arrest. Wong is not convinced of the man's guilt, especially after discovering a broken piece of glass near the body. During the ongoing investigation, the two remaining partners are also slain, but who done it? Are the killers foreign-accented Baron Anton Mohl (Lucien Prival) and his beautiful Brooklyn-born associate who calls herself Countess Dubois (Evelyn Brent)? Or did Roemer do the dirty deed? Could the dead man's nosy office manager (Wilbur Mack) have committed the crime and does Mrs. Roemer (Grace Wood) know more than she is telling? As Mr. Wong discovers, the answer is to be found in the origin and purpose of the mysterious pieces of glass found near each victim. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Maxine Jennings, Evelyn Brent | Directed by: William Nigh
MURDER BY THE CLOCK (1931) (75 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
An eerie early-talkie mystery, Murder by the Clock spends most of its time in a cemetery. The matriarch (Blanche Frederici) of a wealthy family is haunted by the notion that she'll be buried alive. To avoid this contingency, she has a horn installed in the family mausoleum, to be activated in case she arises from her casket. The lady is murdered, and shortly after her internment the horn blows at regular intervals. Each time the horn is heard, the dead woman is seen wandering the cemetery, and each time one of her relatives winds up dead. These "supernatural" events are actually being orchestrated by a covetous family member (there's a large legacy involved of course), who uses the services of several homicidal confederates. Murder by the Clock was perhaps more frightening in 1931 than it is today, but a TV revival is long overdue.
Starring: William "Stage" Boyd, Lilyan Tashman, Irving Pichel, Regis Toomey | Directed by: Edward H. Sloman
MURDER IN THE FLEET (1935) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Having gained considerable audience attention for his appearance in the 1935 "Crime Does Not Pay" 2-reeler Buried Loot, new MGM contractee Robert Taylor was awarded with his first starring feature, the modestly budgeted Murder in the Fleet. Taylor is cast as Lt. Tom Randolph, one of several naval officers confined to his ship when a murder occurs. The victim was in the process of delivering the components for a new electrical flight-control device, thus everyone concerned is suspected of being a killer, or a foreign agent, or both. Several more murders occur before Lt. Randolph takes matters in his own hands and tracks down the culprit. The supporting cast is a film-buff's dream, including such favorites as Mischa Auer, Tom Dugan and Ward Bond in minor roles.
Starring: Robert Taylor, Jean Parker, Ted Healy, Una Merkel | Directed by: Edward Sedgwick
MURDER MAN, THE (1935) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Spencer Tracy plays a hard-driving newsman with a special instinct for solving sensational murders before the police can. This earns him the grudging respect of his peers, but his editor always puts him in his place. Tracy spends most of his time solving cases and almost never sleeps at home. This worries his lovely colleague Virginia Bruce who secretly loves him and wants him to settle down. Trouble comes after Tracy's estranged wife commits suicide and con-artists destroy the life of Tracy's dad. Vengefully, Tracy begins plotting the perfect murder of these larcenous crooks. This was Tracy's first film for MGM. He would remain with the studio for the next twenty years. Murder Man also marks the debut of Jimmy Stewart who appears as a cub reporter jokingly named "Shorty."
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Virginia Bruce, Lionel Atwill, Robert Barrat, James Stewart. | Directed by: Tim Whelan
MURDER OF DR. HARRIGAN, THE (1936) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan is based on a "Nurse Sarah Keats" mystery novel by Mignon Eberhardt. The middle-aged protagonist of the novel has been transformed into pretty, young nurse Sally Keating (Kay Linaker), in love with handsome doctor George Lambert (Ricardo Cortez). The founder of the hospital where Sally works disappears while en route to the operating room. Not long afterward, chief surgeon Dr Harrigan (John Eldredge) is mysteriously murdered by?whom? The key to the mystery is the formula for a revolutionary new anesthetic -- and there's plenty of suspects (including the perennial Mary Astor), motive and opportunity. Nurse Keating does a little mental "bypass surgery" on the police and figures out the mystery herself.
Starring: Kay Linaker, Ricardo Cortez, Mary Astor, John Eldredge, Joseph Crehan | Directed by: Frank McDonald
MURDER ON A HONEYMOON (1935) (74 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Though it wasn't RKO Radio's final "Hildegarde Withers" mystery, Murder on a Honeymoon represented the final appearance of Edna May Oliver as Stuart Palmer's spinsterish schoolmarm sleuth. This entry was wittily adapted by Seton I. Miller and Robert Benchley from Palmer's Puzzle of the Pepper Tree. Vacationing in Catalina (where much of the film was shot), Hildegarde Withers gets mixed up in three murders. Her old friend, New York detective Oscar Piper (James Gleason), flies out to help, but of course it's Hildegarde who cracks the case. The top-heavy list of suspects includes one disreputable character who overpowers the formidable Hildegarde and locks her in a closet — proving beyond all doubt that he's not the guilty party. After Murder on a Honeymoon, Oliver relinquished the role of Hildegarde to Helen Broderick and (of all people) ZaSu Pitts.
Starring: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Lola Lane, Chick Chandler | Directed by: Lloyd Corrigan
MURDER ON THE BLACKBOARD (1934) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Edna May Oliver makes the second of her three appearances as Stuart Palmer's crime-solving schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers in RKO Radio's Murder on the Blackboard. The plot begins to percolate when a young female music teacher is murdered in her classroom late at night. Also on the campus is Hildegarde Withers, staying after hours to punish an unruly student. Upon discovering the dead woman's body, Hildegarde tries to solve the mystery herself, much to the dismay of the eternally exasperated Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason). Clues essential to the action are a dead ant at the bottom of a liquor glass, a half-empty bottle of scotch, a blood-stained woman's slipper, and (per the title) a musical notation chalked on a blackboard, which when deciphered reveals the killer's identity.
Starring: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Bruce Cabot, Gertrude Michael | Directed by: George Archainbaud
MURDER WITH PICTURES (1936) (69 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Gail Patrick plays a young woman framed for murder. Luckily the newsman on the courtroom beat is ace photographer Lew Ayres. He senses Patrick is innocent (the fact that she's a knockout has something to do with this) and vows to track down the guilty party. The Least Likely Suspect spills the beans just as Ayres clicks his shutter. Paramount Pictures used to dash off two or three B mysteries like Murder with Pictures before breakfast, but they were never less than supremely entertaining.
Starring: Lew Ayres, Gail Patrick, Joyce Compton, Paul Kelly | Directed by: Charles Barton
MURDER! (1930) (100 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Alfred Hitchcock's second all-talkie thriller, Murder stars Herbert Marshall as pompous actor-manager Sir John Menier, a send-up of George DuMaurier. Summoned for jury duty, Sir John is one of 12 people who must decide the fate of Diana Baring (Norah Baring), a young actress on trial for murder. Though the girl is found guilty, Sir John believes that she's innocent and sets about to prove it on his own, exercising his actor's prerogative of adopting clever disguises in the course of his investigation. Along the way, he is obliged to entertain a pair of lower-class clods, Ted and Dulcie Markham (Edward Chapman and Phyllis Konstam), who help him stage an elaborate re-enactment of the crime. Based on Enter Sir John, a novel and play by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson, Murder was simultaneously filmed in a German version, with Alfred Abel replacing Herbert Marshall. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring, Phyllis Konstam, Edward Chapman | Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1932) (61 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Having missed the opportunity to direct Frankenstein for Universal, Robert Florey was offered Murders in the Rue Morgue as a consolation, whereupon he transformed a pedestrian property into a minor classic. Owing more to Cabinet of Dr. Caligari than to Edgar Allen Poe, the film stars Bela Lugosi as Doctor Mirakle (accent on the second syllable), a carnival sideshow entertainer who doubles as a mad scientist. Kidnapping prostitutes off the Paris streets, Mirakle endeavors to mix their blood with that of his pet gorilla. His experiments will forever be doomed to failure, however, until he is able to obtain the blood of a virgin — and that's where Camille L'Espanye (Sidney Fox) comes into the picture. When Mirakle's monkey kidnaps Camille and murders her mother, suspicion immediately falls upon the girl's sweetheart, starving artist Pierre Dupin (Leon Waycoff, later known as Leon Ames). But by using the deductive skills displayed in the original story by Poe's master detective C. Auguste Dupin, our hero not only proves his innocence, but rescues the helpless heroine from Mirakle's clutches. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Sydney Fox, Leon Ames, Bert Roach | Directed by: Robert Florey
MURDERS IN THE ZOO (1933) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: C
Insanely jealous of his wife, wealthy zoologist Lionel Atwill uses his knowledge of animals to dispose of any would-be rivals. Atwill brings his latest collection of wild animals to a major metropolitan zoo. Here he continues his homicidal ways, dispatching his wife's lover (John Lodge) with the severed head of a poisonous snake. When his wife (Kathleen Burke) gathers up enough evidence to go to the police, Atwill unceremoniously dumps her in the zoo's alligator pit. A young animal specialist (Randolph Scott) and the zoo owner's daughter (Gail Patrick) suspect foul play and get the goods on the villain. Attempting to escape, Atwill accidentally locks himself in the python cage, and.....Despite the drunken comedy relief of Charlie Ruggles, Murders in the Zoo is a genuine spine-tingler, from its first scene—in which Atwill sews a man's lips shut and leaves him to be devoured by jungle wildlife—to the last. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Charlie Ruggles, Lionel Atwill, Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott | Directed by: Edward Sutherland
MYSTERY MAN, THE (1935) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This peppy Monogram meller stars Robert Armstrong as a big-city newspaper reporter. After getting a bonus, Armstrong over-celebrates and wakes up in faraway St. Louis without a penny to his name. He finagles passing-stranger Maxine Doyle into posing as his wife so that he'll be able to get a hotel room. While thus occupied, Armstrong finds time to solve a local mystery and secure another bonus that will enable him to marry Doyle for real. Mystery Man was directed by Leo McCarey's kid brother Raymond, a veteran of the Hal Roach and Columbia 2-reel comedy factories.
Starring: Robert Armstrong, Maxine Doyle, James Burke, Henry Kolker | Directed by: Ray McCarey
MYSTERIOUS MR. MOTO (1938) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Peter Lorre makes his fifth appearance as J. P. Marquand's polite but deadly Japanese sleuth Mr. Moto. This time Moto is called in by Scotland Yard to thwart a vicious gang of international assassins. To infiltrate the gang, Moto poses as a Devil's Island inmate and escapes with one of the killers. The climax takes place at the British Museum, where the mysterious leader of the assassins (the least likely suspect, of course) overplays his hand. The gimmick of having Mr. Moto make his first appearance as an apparent villain works only when the "Moto" films aren't seen as a group. On its own merits, however, Mysterious Mr. Moto is one of the best of the series.
Starring: Peter Lorre, Mary Maguire, Henry Wilcoxon, Erik Rhodes, Leon Ames | Directed by: Norman Foster
MYSTERY HOUSE (1938) (57 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Mystery House is a perfunctory Warner Bros. programmer which coasts along on the appeal of its stars. When a prominent banker is murdered while on a hunting trip, the dead man's daughter, Gwen Kingery (Anne Nagel), calls in private eye Lance O'Leary (Dick Purcell) to investigate. No sooner has he started gathering clues than another murder is committed?and another?and another?.The culprit wants to cover up an embezzlement scheme, and there is certainly no shortage of suspects. Without revealing the ending, it can be noted that Mystery House offers at least one surprise when Lance O'Leary ends up falling in love not with Gwen Kingery but with wisecracking nurse Sarah Keate (Anne Sheridan). Sarah, in fact, is the leading character in the Mignon C. Eberhardt novel upon which Mystery House was based-except in the original, she's a middle-aged spinster rather than a Hollywood glamorpuss. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Dick Purcell, Ann Sheridan, Anne Nagel, William Hopper | Directed by: Noel Smith
MYSTERY LINER (1934) (62 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A rather nifty little science fiction-thriller/murder mystery from Poverty Row company Monogram, Mystery Liner was based on a Saturday Evening Post story by British pulp writer Edgar Wallace. Noah Beery starred as John Holling, the captain of an ocean liner equipped with a powerful scientific gadget, the S-505, capable of steering the vessel by remote control. The captain is taken unaccountably ill and replaced by First Mate Downey (Boothe Howard), who might or might not have poisoned him to get the job in the first place. But then the inventor of the S-505 (Ralph Lewis) is found strangled and all hell breaks loose. During the voyage, Downey suffers the same fate as the professor and foreign agents attempt to sabotage the steering device. The liner is virtually overrun with murder suspects — from a mysterious foreigner (Gustav von Seyffertitz) to a cantankerous elderly passenger (Zeffie Tilbury) — and the sudden reappearance of Captain Holling complicates matters to no end for the detective in charge (Edwin Maxwell). The culprit, needless to say, proves to be the least likely among the suspects although director William Nigh and screenwriter Wellyn Totman tip their hands a little too early. Typical low-budget fare, Mystery Liner is nevertheless well photographed by Archie Stout and for the most part capably acted.
Starring: Noah Beery, Cornelius Keefe, Gustav von Seyffertitz, | Directed by: William Nigh
MYSTERY OF MR. WONG, THE (1939) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The second film in the mystery series about a Chinese sleuth, this one concerns the theft of the "Eye of the Daughter of the Moon," the largest star sapphire in the world, which is stolen from China and turns up in the possession of an unscrupulous gem collector, who receives a death threat containing clues to the potential murderer's identity and calls in Mr. Wong. During a game of charades, the lights mysteriously go out and the collector is shot, and the chase is on. — Steve Huey
Starring: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Dorothy Tree, Lotus Long | Directed by: William Nigh
MYSTERY OF MR. X, THE (1934) (85 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
MGM was seldom content to just film a mystery; the story had to be dressed up in some elaborate, unorthodox fashion. Mystery of Mr. X is given an additional visual boost by setting the story in 19th century London, allowing for a full array of the costumes and plush backgrounds of the era and locale. Robert Montgomery is an elegant jewel thief who happens to be working the same territory where a mysterious murderer has struck. Montgomery deduces that the killer, whose victims are all constables, is operating in a pattern resembling the letter "X". To avoid being mistakenly arrested as the murderer, Montgomery endeavors to second-guess where the killer will strike next—and then lies in wait to trap Mister X himself. Adapted from a novel by Philip MacDonald, Mystery of Mr. X was remade in 1952 as The Hour of Thirteen. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth Allan, Lewis Stone, Ralph Forbes | Directed by: Edgar Selwyn
NANCY DREW - DETECTIVE (1938) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Nancy Drew-Detective was the first in a series of breezy B-pictures based on the teenaged sleuth created by Carolyn Keene. Bonita Granville is perfectly cast as Nancy, while John Litel and Frankie Thomas are equally effective as Nancy's attorney father Carson Drew and erstwhile boyfriend Ted Nickerson, respectively. Things get under way immediately when Mary Eldridge (Helen Phillips Evans), the wealthy benefactress of Nancy's high school, disappears under mysterious circumstances. In direct defiance of her father's orders, Nancy and Ted set off on their own investigation, which leads inexorably (and dangerously) to a highly suspicious rest home. The "ever popular" Mae Busch is her usual nasty self as a phony nurse. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Bonita Granville, John Litel, James Stephenson, Frankie Thomas | Directed by: William B. Clemens, John Langan
NANCY DREW AND THE HIDDEN STAIRCASE (1939) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This final entry in Warner Bros.' Nancy Drew series is the only one actually based on a novel by Nancy Drew creator Carolyn Keene. Bonita Granville returns as the ebullient titular teenaged sleuth, while Frankie Thomas portrays Nancy's best friend and fellow "gumshoe" Ted Nickerson. The plot concerns a bizarre codicil in a will, requiring two elderly sisters to spend every night in their family mansion over a period of 20 years in order to lay claim to the crumbling old house. The ladies plan to contribute their legacy to a local children's hospital, but certain sinister forces in town hope to erect a racetrack where the mansion presently stands. When the sisters' chauffeur is murdered, Nancy and Ted investigate, even though Nancy's attorney father, Carson Drew (John Litel), has expressly forbidden them to do so. Their tremulous journey through the cellar of the mansion leads to a surprising revelation — and, very nearly, to a watery grave. Arguably the best of the series, Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase moves along at so fast a clip that the audience is left nearly as breathless as the heroine. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel, Frank Orth | Directed by: William B. Clemens
NANCY DREW, REPORTER (1939) (68 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The second entry in Warner Bros.' popular detective series, Nancy Drew, Reporter presented young sleuth Bonita Granville at her busybody best. This time, the irrepressible Miss Drew has entered a junior newspaper-reporter contest and, determined to win, insinuates herself into the ongoing investigation of the Lambert murder. Despite overwhelming evidence, Nancy refuses to believe that the murder victim's young ward (Betty Amann) is the culprit and instead shadows a mysterious man (Jack Perry) sporting a cauliflower ear. The brutish stranger and his floozy of a girlfriend (Sheila Bromley) lead Nancy and her faithful sidekick, Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas Jr.), on a merry chase that, naturally, ends with the apprehension of the real murderer. Trapped in the Bledenburg Hotel along the way, Nancy and Ted ingeniously call attention to their plight by changing the hostelry's neon sign to "Bedbug Hotel." Juvenile stars Granville and Thomas are this time aided by teenage singer Mary Lee, of Gene Autry Western fame, and child actor Dickie Jones, the latter insisting on imitating Donald Duck. A highlight of the film has the four youngsters performing swing versions of nursery rhymes in order to pay for their Chinese dinner. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Mary Lee, Sheila Bromley | Directed by: William B. Clemens, John Langan
NANCY DREW, TROUBLE SHOOTER (1939) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The third of Warner Bros.' series based on the teenaged sleuth created by Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew, Trouble Shooter stars Bonita Granville as the plucky Nancy. Nancy's father Judge Drew (John Litel) is tormented by the fact that an old friend has been accused of murder. The Judge insists that Nancy not get involved in the case, but that warning has never stopped her in the past. With the help of her long-suffering boyfriend (Frank Thomas Jr.) Nancy sticks her nose where she shouldn't and solves the mystery. 16-year-old Bonita Granville was perfect as every schoolgirl's favorite detective; her Nancy Drew unflappable even when stumbling across a corpse in a cabbage field. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel, Aldrich Bowker | Directed by: William B. Clemens
NICK CARTER, MASTER DETECTIVE (1939) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Pulp-novel detective Nick Carter was created in the 1880s, but most film versions of the character have been updated to modern times. Such was the case with MGM's three-episode "Nick Carter" series, which got off to a good start with Nick Carter, Master Detective. Walter Pidgeon plays the title character, who in this episode gets mixed up with industrial espionage. Posing as one "Robert Chalmers", Nick gets the goods on a gang of foreign spies (no country names, please!), bringing them to heel during a serial-like waterfront chase. Rita Johnson essays a rare sympathetic role as stewardess Lou Farnsby, while Donald Meek steals the show as Bartholomew the beekeeper (a character who would grow increasingly annoying as the series went on). Nick Carter, Master Detective was coscripted by Bertram Millhauser, who also penned several of the Rathbone-Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" films. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson, Henry Hull, Stanley Ridges | Directed by: Jacques Tourneur
NIGHT COURT (1932) (92 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Night Court is one of those pictures that "hooks" the viewer with one audacious plot twist after another. Walter Huston is eminently hissable as Judge Moffett, a corrupt jurist who has managed to buy off practically everyone in town, all the while maintaining a facade of respectability. When evidence of Moffett's skullduggery accidentally falls into the hands of Mary Thomas (Anita Page), the wife of good-guy cabdriver Mike Thomas (Phillips Holmes) and the mother of a bouncing baby boy, the Judge contrives to frame Mary on a prostitution rap. Coercing Mary to plead guilty as her "only hope," Moffett railroads the poor girl into prison, while Mike can only stand helplessly by. Later on, Moffett is confronted with proof of his crimes by his reform-minded political opponent Osgood (Lewis Stone), whereupon Moffett kills Osgood and manages to plant the blame on Mike! As the last reel of Night Court tumbles across the spool, the audience is confronted with the unpleasant possibility that Moffett might actually get away with all his perfidy — but the scriptwriters still have one more ace up their sleeves. Those who have to get up early in the morning are advised not to start watching Night Court when it pops up on the Late Late Show. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Phillips Holmes, Walter Huston, Anita Page, Mary Carlisle | Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke
NIGHT KEY (1937) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this crime thriller, an old, ailing scientist has been robbed of the burglar alarm he invented by his partner, who owns a security company. The scientist invents a superior alarm to provide for his daughter and sells it to the company for royalties, but his partner refuses to sell it. The scientist then invents a device that nullifies his partner's alarms and breaks into stores to prove that it works. He is kidnapped by a gang, who force him to give them the device by kidnapping his daughter. They go on a crime spree, and the scientist escapes and convinces his partner to help him catch the crooks. They rescue his daughter, and the partner pays him in full for all his inventions.
Starring: Boris Karloff, Jean Rogers, Warren Hull, Hobart Cavanaugh | Directed by: Lloyd Corrigan
NIGHT MUST FALL (1937) (117 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Emlyn Williams' theatrical horror piece Night Must Fall was filmed by MGM without the usual studio-imposed happy ending. Robert Montgomery stars as Danny, a wickedly charming Irish bellhop who wins the confidence of an elderly invalid (Dame May Whitty). The old woman's niece (Rosalind Russell) is not so easily swayed by Danny's blarney, but she finds him strangely attractive, especially when he exhibits a streak of viciousness. Even when the possibility arises that Danny is a wanted murderer, Rosalind is hesitant to call the police. The film's final scene, in which Danny ambles around the house carrying a hatbox that may or may not contain Ms. Whitty's head, is unforgettable. Robert Montgomery fought long and hard with MGM for the right to play the murderous Danny; the studio heads finally gave in, hoping that the actor would fall on his face and cease to bother him. That Night Must Fall was a success is evidenced by the willingness of MGM to remake the property in 1964; the resultant film was a gore-encrusted opus that had not one tenth of the original's quality. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell, Dame May Whitty, Alan Marshal | Directed by: Richard Thorpe
NIGHT NURSE (1931) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
William Wellman's Night Nurse survives as a potentially interesting but ultimately unsatisfying melodrama about a nurse discovering evildoings in the household where she is caring for a couple of sick children. Based on a 1930 novel by Dora Macy, Wellman's probe into medical corruption is one of the director's more cynical looks on Depression-era America, but most of the characters are weakly drawn and the denouement a cheat, cinematically. Barbara Stanwyck plays Lora Hart, an ambitious student nurse whose first assignment after graduation is tending to a couple of deathly ill little girls, Nanny (Marcia Mae Jones) and Desney (Betty Jane Graham). Despite their posh surroundings, the girls are apparently suffering from malnutrition; their mother, Mrs. Ritchey (Charlotte Merriam), is hopped-up on bootleg booze ("I'm a dipsomaniac! A dipsomaniac I tell ya! And I like it!"), and the girls' physician (Ralf Harolde) is a society quack with a facial tick. Lora soon realizes that the good doctor is deliberately starving the children to death in order to gain access to their trust fund and that Mrs. Ritchey is kept in line by Nick (Clark Gable), a black-clad gangster posing as the family chauffeur. A desperate Lora proposes to contact the authorities, but her medical sponsor (Charles Winninger) deems that unethical and instead suggests that she find a solution from inside the family. Nearly at the end of her ropes — and having accepted one too many blows to the chin from Nick — Lora is saved by an admirer, good-natured bootlegger Mortie (Ben Lyon), whose "friends" take the evil chauffeur on a final "ride." None of this makes much sense, and the film appears to have been tampered with along the way. One of the children disappears without any explanation halfway through, and the hospital establishment's reticence is never properly explained. Instead of a coherent plot, Night Nurse, in typical pre-Production Code style, offers quite a few scenes of Barbara Stanwyck and fellow nurse Joan Blondell dressing and undressing and a rather brutal portrayal by a very young Clark Gable on the threshold to fame. Warner Bros. had borrowed Gable from MGM to play the despicable chauffeur when the original choice, James Cagney, suddenly proved too valuable a commodity for what was actually a supporting role. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Barbara Stanwick, Joan Blondell, Clark Gable, Ben Lyon | Directed by: William Wellman
NIGHT OF TERROR (1933) (61 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Top-billed Bela Lugosi has only a minor role in this routine variant on the Old Dark House scenario, playing a mysterious Indian mystic who is but one of numerous eccentric characters lingering about in an eerie mansion, stalked by an unseen murderer. Other potential victims/suspects include a reporter, a pair of exotic house servants, a fetching heroine, even an extra psychopath thrown in as a red herring. The real killer is eventually discovered and destroyed but, in an inventive and chilling twist, comes back to life to speak directly to the audience in the film's surprise coda -- the only real moment of interest in this otherwise humdrum who-done-it. Also known as He Lived to Kill.
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Wallace Ford, Sally Blane, Tully Marshall | Directed by: Benjamin Stoloff
NIGHT WAITRESS (1936) (57 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A woman framed for a bond theft gets out of prison and takes a job at a waterfront cafe, where she witnesses a murder. She is in love with the man the victim was going to meet and is reluctant to talk. He tells her that he was going to haul a load of gold bullion for the victim, and soon they are caught between cops and crooks after the gold. — Steve Huey
Starring: Margot Grahame, Gordon Jones, Vinton Haworth, Billy Gilbert | Directed by: Lew Landers
NIGHT WORLD (1932) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
For years believed to be a lost film, Night World suddenly resurfaced in the early 1980s, revealing itself to be an undiscovered gem, as well as a garden of delights for movie buffs. Clearly inspired by Grand Hotel, this 57-minute extravaganza takes place within the walls of the swank nightclub owned by affable racketeer Happy MacDonald (Boris Karloff). In the course of a single evening, MacDonald is set up for murder by his faithless wife (Doris Revier) and choreographer Ed Powell (George Raft); the philosophical black doorman (Clarence Muse) learns that his beloved wife has died in childbirth; alcoholic socialite Michael Rand (Lew Ayres), the son of an acquitted murderess (Hedda Hopper, playing one of the nastiest mothers in screen history), finds true love in the arms of hard-boiled chorus girl Ruth Taylor (Mae Clarke); and Michael and Ruth are saved from a pair of psychotic mob torpedoes by the timely arrival of beat cop Robert Emmet O'Connor. There are also a few marvelous pre-Code jibes at homosexuality and drug use, not to mention a full-blown musical number by Busby Berkeley (overhead camera angles and all). — Hal Erickson
Starring: Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, Dorothy Revier | Directed by: Hobart Henley
NINTH GUEST, THE (1934) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Eight people, many of them strangers to one another, are summoned to a ritzy Manhattan penthouse apartment by an unidentified host. Once everyone has arrived, the servants are dismissed and all the doors and windows are automatically locked. The unseen host's voice is then heard emanating from a radio loudspeaker, explaining that all of the guests are old enemies of his, and that all are doomed to die this very evening! A couple of foolhardy souls try to escape, only to be electrocuted by one or another of the mysterious host's booby traps. Who is the "hidden" murderer --- and whoooooo will survive? Remarkably similar to Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (which hadn't been written yet!), Columbia's The Ninth Guest was remade -- without acknowledgment -- as the 1939 Boris Karloff vehicle The Man They Could Not Hang.
Starring: Donald Cook, Genevieve Tobin, Hardie Albright, Edward Ellis, Edwin Maxwell, Helen Flint | Directed by: Roy William Neill
NON-STOP NEW YORK (1937) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
While W.C. Fields poked fun at the asinine notion of a high-speed airplane with an open observation deck in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941), the producers of the futuristic British melodrama Non-Stop New York (1937) take this notion quite seriously. The film's setpiece is a streamlined luxury plane designed for transatlantic passenger flight (something that would not become a common occurrence until 1940). Anna Lee plays a chorus girl whose has been targeted for extermination by the London underworld because she can provide an alibi for a murder suspect. The police won't believe her, but that doesn't dissuade the syndicated hit men. Seeking escape, Lee stows away on a plane bound for New York; the gangsters follow, overpower the pilots, and parachute from the plane, leaving Lee and the passengers helplessly hurtling through the clouds. The day is saved by detective John Loder, who'd also boarded the plane in search of Lee. The climax involves an aerial fistfight on the wing of the speeding plane. If you believe this sequence, chances are you'll swallow whole the rest of Non-Stop New York: if not, you'll have a grand old time all the same. The script by (among others) Curt Siodmak and Roland Pertwee was based on Sky Steward, a novel by Ken Attiwill.
Starring: Anna Lee, John Loder, Frank Cellier, Desmond Tester | Directed by: Robert Stevenson
ON SUCH A NIGHT (1937) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
A Mississippi flood saves the life of a petty crook who is about to be lynched for a murder he did not commit. After he escapes, he flees to a nearby plantation where he and a woman (claiming to be his wife) are taken in and treated with great kindness. They are happy until the killer that framed the crook shows up. Things look bleak until once again, the Mighty Mississippi roars in to save the day.
Starring: Grant Richards, Karen Morley, Roscoe Karns, Eduardo Ciannelli, Milli Monti, Alan Mowbray | Directed by: Ewald André Dupont / Smith
PAID (1930) (86 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Paid was the third film version of the Bayard Veiller stage play Within the Law. Joan Crawford is cast as a shopgirl falsely arrested for stealing and sent to jail for three years. She swears vengeance on the store owner (Purnell Pratt), and to that end sets up a shady but legal racket wherein she and partner Marie Prevost act as "matchmakers" for lonely old men. It's all part of a plan to fleece the store owner by placing him in a compromising position, but Joan is sidetracked when she meets the owner's son (Kent Douglas, aka Douglass Montgomery). Marrying him in order to exact revenge on his father, Crawford falls in love with the young man and abandons her scheme. But once more, Crawford is wrongly accused of a crime, this time of murder. Paid ends happily for all concerned—especially MGM, which remade this reliable property (again!) under its old title Within the Law (1939), with Ruth Hussey in the lead. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Joan Crawford, Robert Armstrong, Marie Prevost, Kent Douglas | Directed by: Tod Browning, Sam Wood
PANAMA FLO (1932) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Eternal movie trollop Helen Twelvetrees is more sinned against than necessary in Panama Flo. Stranded in Panama, honky-tonk entertainer Flo (Twelvetrees) picks up some quick change by divesting roughneck mining engineer Charles Bickford of his pocketbook. Rather than turn her over to the cops, Bickford demands that Flo accompany him to his jungle mining camp. The girl naturally assumes he's got a few carnal pleasures in mind, but this is not the case: Bickford merely wants Flo to work off her debt as his housekeeper. By the time the two have fallen in love, their lives are complicated by snake-in-the-grass Robert Armstrong, whose abrupt transformation from hero to heel is one of the most abrupt — and unbelievable — in movie history. Suitably cleaned up to conform to the tighter Production Code, Panama Flo was remade in 1939 as the Lucille Ball vehicle Panama Lady. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Armstrong, Charles Bickford, Marjorie Peterson | Directed by: Ralph Murphy
PARACHUTE JUMPER (1933) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Grounded daredevil pilot Douglas Fairbanks Jr. secures a job protecting shady Leo Carrillo from his many enemies. Carrillo takes a liking to the young man and promotes him to a flying job—smuggling narcotics into the United States. Fairbanks eventually redeems himself with the help of good girl Bette Davis. Frank McHugh is also around to do his "best buddy" specialty, as Fairbanks' pilot chum. Parachute Jumper was one of Bette Davis' least favorite pictures, a dislike which is all too evident in her substandard performance. In 1962, clips from Parachute Jumper were used in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which costarred Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, to illustrate that the character Davis was playing was a lousy actress! — Hal Erickson
Starring: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Leo Carrillo, Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Claire Dodd | Directed by: Alfred E. Green
PATIENT IN ROOM 18, THE (1938) (58 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Choreographer Bobby Connolly and prolific screenwriter Crane Wilbur teamed up on the direction of Warner Bros.' The Patient in Room 18. Patric Knowles delivers a delightfully comic performance as Lance, an outwardly normal young man obsessed with detective stories. When his obsession threatens to lapse over into lunacy, Lance is sent to the hospital for a nice long rest. It isn't long before he gets mixed up in a genuine murder mystery, using his second-hand knowhow to solve the case. Up-and-coming Ann Sheridan is quite amusing as Lance's nurse and confidante, while the murderer is played by a fellow who is usually cast as the murder victim. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Ann Sheridan, Patric Knowles, Eric Stanley, Rosella Towne | Directed by: Crane Wilbur, Bobby Connolly
PAYMENT DEFERRED (1932) (81 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this adaptation of Jeffrey Dell's play, Charles Laughton recreates his stage role as a seemingly meek bank clerk. To make good his debts, Laughton ingratiates himself with his wealthy Australian nephew (Ray Milland), then poisons the lad and buries the body in his garden. Using the money the nephew had on his person, Laughton invests wisely and becomes rich himself. He rapidly goes to seed, deserting his wife (Dorothy Peterson) for a "woman of the world" (Verree Teasdale) and drinking himself into unconsciousness. Laughton's distraught wife figures out the extent of her husband's crimes, and grimly arranges for Laughton to accidentally kill her—with enough circumstantial evidence planted to convict the husband of murder. Payment Deferred was a particularly vivid experience for supporting actor Ray Milland, who watched in amazement as Charles Laughton got away with some of the ripest "ham" ever seen on film.
Starring: Charles Laughton, Maureen O' Sullivan, Dorothy Peterson, Ray Milland | Directed by: Lothar Mendes
PENGUIN POOL MURDER, THE (1932) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Edna May Oliver makes the first of three appearances as Hildegarde Withers, the schoolteacher/sleuth created by mystery writer Stuart Palmer. While conducting her students on a tour of the Battery Park Aquarium, Hildegarde spots a dead body in the penguin pool. Police inspector Piper (James Gleason) believes it's an open-and-shut case when he collars the faithless wife (Mae Clarke) of the victim, but Hildegarde suspects there's more to the case than meets the eye. Detective and teacher mellow from antagonists to friends in the course of the investigation, the denouement of which isn't revealed until the suspect is put on trial, where she is defended by her attorney-lover (Robert Armstrong). The murderer's identity isn't too surprising, but Penguin Pool Murder takes several unexpected twists all the same, including a neat reversal on the old "reunited lovers" finale. At the end, Hildegarde and Piper are contemplating marriage, but in the subsequent Edna May Oliver/James Gleason "Hildegarde Withers" films (Murder on the Blackboard, Murder on a Honeymoon) they retain their single status. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Mae Clarke, Robert Armstrong, Donald Cook | Directed by: George Archainbaud
PEOPLE'S ENEMY, THE (1935) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
(a.k.a. RACKETEERS) Preston S. Foster is the "hero" of The People's Enemy only in the sense that his is the largest male role. Foster plays a detestable gangster who works his way up to millionaire status. To gain a veneer of respectability, he marries lovely Lila Lee. But when the going gets rough, he deserts both his wife and his young daughter (Sybil Elaine). Upon Foster's arrest, noble and upright Melvyn Douglas is on hand to comfort Lee and her child. The People's Enemy was independently financed by Select Productions and released through RKO Radio Pictures.
Starring: Preston S. Foster, Shirley Grey, Melvyn Douglas, Lila Lee, Charles Coburn | Directed by: Crane Wilbur
PERSONS IN HIDING (1939) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
In this crime drama, a young hood and a seductress team up and rob a gas station. As she requires an opulent, exciting existence, more robberies ensue until they get really greedy and attempt a kidnapping. Unfortunately, they chose an unusually perceptive victim who is able to recall the flight paths of the airplanes that flew over the hideout and the crooks are soon captured. The story is based on a nonfiction book from FBI leader J. Edgar Hoover and does not glorify the criminal's actions. The film also includes interesting glimpses into FBI procedures for solving such cases.
Starring: Helen Twelvetrees, J. Carrol Naish, Patricia Morison, Lynne Overman | Directed by: Louis King
PETRIFIED FOREST, THE (1936) (83 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Burned-out British intellectual Alan Squier (Leslie Howard) wanders into the desert service station/restaurant owned by Jason Maple (Porter Hall). Alan finds himself an object of fascination for Jason's starry-eyed daughter, Gabrielle Bette Davis, who dreams of going to Paris to write poetry. Boze Hertzlinger (Dick Foran), Gabrielle's gas-jockey boyfriend, grows jealous of Alan, but the penniless, dissipated Briton has no intention of settling down; in fact, as soon as he mooches a ride from wealthy tourists Mr. and Mrs. Chisholm (Paul Harvey and Genevieve Tobin), he's on his way out of Gabrielle's life...or so everyone thinks. Later that same day, Alan, Gabrielle, Jason, Boze, and Mr. and Mrs. Chisholm are huddled together in the selfsame restaurant, held at gunpoint by Dillinger-like desperado Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) and his gang. Alan seems indifferent to the danger, toasting Duke as "the last great apostle of rugged individualism." Sensing an opportunity to give his life meaning, Alan takes Duke aside, begging the outlaw to kill him so that Gabrielle can travel to Paris on the money provided by Alan's insurance policy. When the police converge on the restaurant, Duke announces that he intends to use Mr. and Mrs. Chisholm as a shield in order to make his escape. Alan tries to stop him, receiving a bullet in the belly for his troubles. "So long, pal," growls Duke fatalistically, moments before his own death. "I'll be seein' ya soon." Alan dies in Gabrielle's arms, secure in the knowledge that, alone among the film's principals, she will be able to escape the trap of her existence. When originally presented on Broadway, Robert E. Sherwood's The Petrified Forest starred Leslie Howard and Humphrey Bogart. Warner Bros. intended to cast Edward G. Robinson in Duke's role, only to be thwarted by Howard, who told the studio that he himself would drop out of the project if Bogart wasn't retained. The film proved to be just the break that Bogart needed; years later, he expressed his undying gratitude to Howard by naming his daughter Leslie Bogart. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Genevieve Tobin | Directed by: Archie Mayo
PHANTOM OF CRESTWOOD, THE (1932) (77 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Gary Curtis, aka Farnsbarns (Richardo Cortez), is really a former hoodlum hired to retrieve some compromising letters from gold digger Jenny Wren (Karen Morley). She, in turn, announces her retirement, but not before cajoling noted banker Priem Andes (H. B. Warner) into hosting a farewell party at his estate near Crestwood, "El Casa Andes." Also invited are three additional former "clients" of Jenny's: William Jones (Gavin Gordon), Senator Herbert Walcott (Robert McWade) and Eddie Mack (Richard "Skeets" Gallagher), all of whom are unaware of the purpose of the party and are therefore blithely bringing wives and girlfriends along. Also present at the Andes retreat are Jenny's kid sister Esther (Anita Louise),her boyfriend Frank (Matty Kemp, who just happens to be Andes' nephew, Jenny's wry maid Carter (Hilda Vaughn), and the banker's disdainful sister Faith (Pauline Frederick). The retiring gold digger's real purpose is revealed after she regales her former sugar-daddies with the tragic story of how her latest conquest, penniless, young Tom Herrick (Tom Douglas), threw himself off a cliff in the Adirondacks after she turned down his proposal of marriage. Victory, however, proves all too brief and the blackmailing gold digger is soon confronted with what appears to be the unfortunate young suitor's ghost. Soon, darts are flying everywhere, bodies fall, and trapdoors reveal hidden passageways. But Curtis, who arrives in the nick of time accompanied by assorted hoodlum friends, is never fooled by the fake Phantom of Crestwood and can reveal the real murderer shortly before the law arrives. The Phantom of Crestwood was based on the popular NBC "Hollywood-on-the-Air" radio program and the denouement of the film was the winning entry in a country-wide contest. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Karen Morley, Ricardo Cortez, H.B. Warner, Pauline Frederick | Directed by: J. Walter Rubin
PREVIEW MURDER MYSTERY, THE (1936) (60 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
It's a black night in Hollywood when matinee idol Neil DuBeck (Rod LaRoque) is murdered at the preview of his latest film. Director E. Gordon Smith (Ian Keith), who has long harbored a deep hatred for DuBeck, is the main suspect — until he too is killed, along with a movie-studio watchman (Spencer Charters). Closing down the studio and refusing to let anyone leave, police lieutenant McKane (Thomas Jackson) sifts through the clues, but it's up to actors Johnny Morgan (Reginald Denny) and Peggy Madison (Frances Drake) to solve the mystery, applying a few tricks they've learned at the movies. Director Robert Florey enlivens Preview Murder Mystery with scores of delightful inside jokes, ranging from an elaborate takeoff of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to a "television camera" which looks like a reconverted movie projector. Several Paramount contractees appear briefly in guest roles, while a host of silent screen favorites (Jack Mulhall, Bryant Washburn, Chester Conklin, Wilfrid Lucas et. al.) show up in nostalgic bit parts.
Starring: Reginald Denny, Frances Drake, Gail Patrick, Ian Keith | Directed by: Robert Florey
PRISON FARM (1938) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Shirley Ross plays an innocent young girl convicted for complicity in a crime committed by her boy friend (Lloyd Nolan). The male crook is sentence to six months on a prison farm populated by both men and women (segregated, of course). Ross is also incarcerated, suffering the cruelties of the sadistic male and female guards (including J. Carroll Naish and future "Ma Kettle" Marjorie Main!) Since this film leaves no cliche unturned, an escape attempt is inevitable, but Ross is ultimately rescued from her plight for the obligatory happy ending. Nowhere near as exploitive as the later Linda Blair films of the same ilk, Prison Farm was considered reasonably realistic in 1938, earning back its modest cost and then some.
Starring: Shirley Ross, Lloyd Nolan, J. Carrol Naish, Marjorie Main | Directed by: Louis King
PRISON TRAIN (1938) (64 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Also known as People's Enemy, this is a low-budget surprise movie which depicts a convicted racketeer on his way across country to Alcatraz, where he is to begin his sentence for murder. — Tana Hobart
Starring: Fred Keating, Clarence Muse, Faith Bacon, Alexander Leftwich | Directed by: Gordon Wiles
PRIVATE DETECTIVE (1939) (57 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Probably as a reward for her energetic performance in Torchy Plays with Dynamite, pert Jane Wyman was given another Glenda Farrell-like leading role in Private Detective. Wyman plays gorgeous P.I. Myrna Winslow, the principal rival of male gumshoe Jim Rickey (Dick Foran). The case at hand concerns the murder of a millionaire, with the dead man's wife and her boy friend as principal suspects. Also adding to the intrigue is an enormous trust fund, set up in the name of the millionaire's adopted son. A goodly portion of the film takes place in a deserted mansion at midnight, with Myrna snooping where she shouldn't. The finale finds Myrna and Jim joining forces to capture the real murderer in a well-staged donnybrook. Private Detective runs 57 minutes-and "runs" is the right word here. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Jane Wyman, Dick Foran, Gloria Dickson, "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom | Directed by: Noel Smith
PUBLIC ENEMY (1931) (84 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
William Wellman's landmark gangster movie traces the rise and fall of prohibition-era mobster Tom Powers. We are first shown various episodes of Tom's childhood, with the corrupting influences of the beer hall, pool parlor, and false friends like minor-league fence Putty Nose. As young adults, Tom (James Cagney) and his pal Matt Doyle (Edward Woods) are hired by ruthless but innately decent bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmet O'Connor). The boys quickly rise to the top of the heap, with all the accoutrements of success: custom-tailored tuxedoes, fancy cars, and gorgeous girls. All the while, Tom's loving (and somewhat addlepated) mother (Beryl Mercer) is kept in the dark, believing Tommy to be a good boy, a facade easily seen through by his older brother Mike (Donald Cook). Tommy's degeneration from brash kid to vicious lowlife is brought home in a famous scene in which he smashes a grapefruit in the face of his latest mistress (Mae Clarke). Some dated elements aside, The Public Enemy is as powerful as when it was first released, and it is far superior to the like-vintage Little Caesar. James Cagney is so dynamic in his first starring role that he practically bursts off the screen; he makes the audience "pull" for a character with no redeeming qualities. The film is blessed with a superior supporting cast: Joan Blondell is somewhat wasted as Matt's girl Mamie, Jean Harlow is better served as Tom's main squeeze Gwen (though some of her line readings are a bit awkward), and Murray Kinnell is slime personified as the deceitful Putty Nose, who "gets his" in unforgettable fashion. Despite a tacked-on opening disclaimer, most of the characters in The Public Enemy are based on actual people, a fact not lost on audiences of the period. Current prints are struck from the 1949 reissue, which was shortened from 92 to 83 minutes (among the deletions was the character of real-life hoodlum Bugs Moran). — Hal Erickson
Starring: James Cagney, Edward Woods, Donald Cook, Joan Blondell, Jean Harlow, | Directed by: William A. Wellman
PUBLIC ENEMY'S WIFE (1936) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Margaret Lindsay stars in the title role, playing a young woman imprisoned for a crime which she didn't commit. The real culprit is her jailbird husband (Cesar Romero), a smooth jewel thief with a jealous streak. Margaret hopes to put her past behind her by taking up with a society man (Dick Foran), keeping the affair secret lest her fugitive husband kill her lover. Released in England as G-Man's Wife (Lindsay ends up with government agent Pat O'Brien), Public Enemy's Wife was based on a story co-written by none other than David O. Selznick. The film was remade as a 50-minute "B," Bullets for O'Hara (41), with a young Anthony Quinn as the criminal and Joan Perry (later the wife of Columbia chieftain Harry Cohn) as his wife.
Starring: Pat O'Brien, Margaret Lindsay, Robert Armstrong, Cesar Romero | Directed by: Nick Grinde
PUBLIC HERO NO. 1 (1935) (91 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The stringent censorship imposed upon Hollywood of the mid-1930s dictated that gangsters could no longer be the "heroes" in any crime film. Public Hero No. 1 reflects this restriction. G-Man Chester Morris poses as a crook to infiltrate the notorious Purple Gang, a band of hoodlums which preys upon other hoodlums. Orchestrating the jailbreak of the Gang's leader (Joseph Calleia), Morris joins him in a Dillinger-like flight across the country. The bloody denouement, which occurs in a vaudeville theatre, is likewise drawn from the Dillinger saga (that particular gentleman was of course killed in front of a movie house). Also featured in Public Hero No. 1 is Jean Arthur as the heroine (a comic role) and Lionel Barrymore as a drunken gang doctor. The film was remade as The Getaway in 1942. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Jean Arthur, Chester Morris, Joseph Calleia, Paul Kelly, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan | Directed by: J. Walter Rubin
PURSUIT (1935) (61 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Cruelly separated from his mother (Dorothy Peterson), little Donald McCoy (Scotty Beckett) is being robbed of his childhood by greedy relatives. Taking pity on the boy, pilot Mitchell (Chester Morris) "kidnaps" the kid and sets out to return him to his mom. Detective Maxine (Sally Eilers), assigned to bring Donald back to his legal guardians, instead joins Mitchell in his efforts to do what's best for the boy. Along the way, the three fugitives disguise themselves in blackface, a scene that has often been cut from TV showings. Pursuit is based on Lawrence G. Blochman's mini-novel Gallant Highway. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Chester Morris, Sally Eilers, Scotty Beckett, Henry Travers | Directed by: Edwin L. Marin
QUICK MILLIONS (1931) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: D
Truck driver Spencer Tracy claims he's "too lazy to work and too nervous to steal", but he gets mixed up in racketeering all the same. Organizing a trucking association, he lines his pockets by demanding protection money from the other drivers. Naturally, Tracy's underhanded business practices make him a pillar of the community. He plans to marry a society girl (Marguerite Churchill), who loves another. When she spurns him, Tracy arranges to have the girl kidnapped. Instead, his henchman turn on him (they've gotten a better offer) and take Tracy on a one-way ride. The first film for writer-director Rowland Brown (something of an expert on gangsters), Quick Millions is a rugged example of Spencer Tracy's earliest movie work.
Starring: Spencer Tracy, Marguerite Churchill, Sally Eilers, George Raft | Directed by: Rowland Brown
RACKET BUSTERS (1938) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this gangster movie set in the Big Apple, a crime lord strong arms teamsters into paying him protection money. One young trucker with a very pregnant wife, stands up to the thug. His partner also refuses to pay in the hopes that they will help the other truck drivers. Naturally this enrages the king-pin and his mob. Simultaneously an idealistic young attorney is chosen by the DA to do all he can to get that crime boss convicted and off the streets for good. Back on the streets, the mobster manages to force the young trucker into paying up; this causes the man to quit and begin selling tomatoes. The lawyer finds him and offers him a chance to help the government and prosecute the gangster. He accepts and together the two do just that. — Sandra Brennan
Starring: George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Dickson, Allen Jenkins, Walter Abel | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
RENDEZVOUS (1935) (91 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This espionage thriller with romantic comedy touches was loosely based on the book American Black Chamber by the real-life head of the U.S. Secret Service during World War I, Herbert O. Yardley. Bill Gordon (William Powell) is a newspaper puzzle editor who becomes a lieutenant in 1917 when he enlists to fight in the First World War. Before shipping out, Bill meets and becomes attracted to Joel Carter (Rosalind Russell), the niece of John Carter (Samuel Hinds), the Assistant Secretary of War. When Joel learns about Bill's former occupation, she arranges for his transfer to the War Department, where he is put to work code breaking for Major Brennan (Lionel Atwill). When Brennan is murdered as the result of a German-Russian spy ring's machinations, Bill investigates the spies and a comely secret agent (Bonnie Barnes), which jeopardizes his newfound romance with Joel. Russell received the role because MGM's first choice, Myrna Loy, was refusing to work for the studio at the time
Starring: William Powell, Rosalind Russell, Binnie Barnes, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero | Directed by: William K. Howard
RETURN OF BULLDOG DRUMMOND, THE (1934) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Based on the character created by "Sapper" (Herman Cyril McNeile), Return of Bulldog Drummond was a British production starring Ralph Richardson in the title role. The film is closer to the jingoistic, near-fascist spirit of the original stories than were the Hollywood "Drummond" B-pictures of the mid-1930s. In fact, Richardson's Drummond organizes the "Black Clan," then goes on a crusade to rid England of all foreigners, on the theory that every "outsider" is a criminal or at the very least an undesirable. And according to the script, he's right: The villains are European armament merchants hoping to increase profits by sparking a new world war. Return of Bulldog Drummond is about as politically incorrect as it's possible to get, with Ralph Richardson coming across more as a heavy than a hero; two years later, he was more effectively cast as a criminal mastermind in the "Drummond" parody Bulldog Jack.
Starring: Ann Todd, Ralph Richardson, Francis L. Sullivan, Francis L. Sullivan, Patrick Aherne | Directed by: Walter Summers
ROAD TO PARADISE (1930) (76 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
17-year-old Loretta Young is as cute as all get out in Road to Paradise. This compensates for the fact that Young isn't quite up to the dramatic demands of the script. She plays a dual role, as a society deb and her twin sister. Looking for thrills, Young ties up with a couple of crooks (Raymond Hatton and George Barraud), and ends up robbing her own sister's house. Ms. Young's leading man is the personable Jack Mulhall, in one of his last sizeable talkie roles. Road to Paradise was adapted by F. Hugh Herbert from a play by Dodson Mitchell and Zelda Sears. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Loretta Young, George Barraud, Raymond Hatton, Kathlyn Williams | Directed by: William Beaudine
ROARING TWENTIES, THE (1939) (106 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Based upon an idea by Broadway columnist Mark Hellinger, The Roaring Twenties opens during World War I, as doughboys Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney), Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn) and George Hally (Humphrey Bogart) discuss what they will do when the war is over. Bartlett wants to go back to repairing cabs, and Hart yearns to be a lawyer, but it becomes clear that Hally has less reputable plans in mind for himself. Come the end of the war, things are not as easy for veterans like Bartlett as they should be. He is unable to get his old job back and ends up driving a cab for little money. One night he is asked to deliver a package (which turns out to be whiskey) to an address that turns out to be a speakeasy. This starts him on a life of crime, as he gets deeper involved as a bootlegger. Things are not made easy by a rival bootlegger — who turns out to be Hally. The two join forces and prosper. Hart shares in their prosperity, as Bartlett engages him to take care of his legal matters. Unfortunately, Hart is also interested in Jean Sherman (Priscilla Lane), a young woman that Bartlett has had an eye on for quite some time. He loses her to Hart at about the same time that his criminal empire crumbles, and he is reduced to driving a cab again while Hally continues to prosper with his ruthless ways. Eventually, Hart — now a crusading prosecutor — runs afoul of Hally, who tells Jean that he will kill him if he doesn't change his ways. Jean begs Bartlett to intercede with Hally; because he still is carrying a torch for her, Bartlett agrees — but by doing so, he may have signed his own death warrant. — Craig Butler
Starring: James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Priscilla Lane, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh | Directed by: Raoul Walsh
ROME EXPRESS (1933) (86 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Rome Express is a fast-moving British imitation of Hollywood's Grand Hotel formula. The film concentrates on the various passengers of a European express train. On this particular run, the train is a veritable hotbed of intrigue, with crooks and blackmail victims seemingly in every coach. Among the naughty and nice characters are continental favorites Conrad Veidt, Cedric Hardwicke and Finlay Currie, as well as American silent film star Esther Ralston. Rome Express enabled director Walter Forde to graduate from inexpensive regional comedies to prestige British productions. The film was also an obvious inspiration for such later intrigue-on-the-rails epics as The Lady Vanishes (38) and Night Train (39). Rome Express was remade in 1948 as Sleeping Car to Trieste.
Starring: Conrad Veidt, Esther Ralston, Joan Barry, Cedric Hardwicke | Directed by: Walter Forde
SABOTAGE (1936) (77 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Oskar Homolka plays a London movie-theatre owner who maintains a secret life as a paid terrorist. Homolka's wife Sylvia Sidney doesn't suspect Homolka of any wrongdoing, but she's picked up enough second-hand information about her husband's activities to arouse the interest of government agent (John Loder). Posing as a grocer, Loder moves next door to the Homolkas, befriending Sidney and her precocious young brother Desmond Tester. Sensing that he's being watched, Homolka sends Tester out to deliver a reel of film. The reel contains a time bomb, but Homolka is certain that the boy will deliver his package on time and will be safely away by the time the bomb explodes. Thus begins one of Hitchcock's most electrifying suspense sequences, as the unsuspecting boy is delayed en route to his destination. Sabotage was based on Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent; the film was retitled A Woman Alone in the US. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder | Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
SAFE IN HELL (1931) (73 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A young Barbara Stanwyck was considered for the starring role as the exiled call-girl in this extremely frank pre production-code drama directed by William A. Wellman from a play by Houston Branch). The role eventually went ot Dorothy Mackaill, an evocative British-born veteran adept at playing less than respectable women. Mackaill is Gilda Karlson, a call-girl fleeing New Orleans the supposed murder of her latest "john," Piet Van Saal (Ralf Harolde). Old boyfriend Carl Erickson (Donald Cook) arranges for safe passage to Tortuga, a Caribbean Island without extradition laws. After "marrying" the girl in the eyes of God but without the benefit of clergy, Carl leaves on his ship. Having successfully kept an international array of escaped crooks at bay, Gilda suddenly finds herself face-to-face with Van Saal, still very much alive and on Tortuga because an insurance scam went astray. The island's jealous executioner, Bruno (Morgan Wallace), hands the girl a gun "to protect herself." Van Saal attacks her, and this time Gilda manages to kill her tormentor. About to be acquitted of murder by a sympathetic jury, Gilda chooses to "confess" in order to escape a trap set by Bruno. To the strains of Pagan Moon, the wronged girl bravely faces the gallows. Forthrightly told and extremely well acted, Safe in Hell features two prominent African-American performers — Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse — portraying completely un-stereotypical characters. Muse, in fact, persuaded director Wellman to drop the screenplay's standard "black" lines in favor of straight dialogue. McKinney, famous for playing the vamp in King Vidor's all-black Hallelujah! (1929), performs When It's Sleepy Time Down South by Clarence Muse. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harolde, Morgan Wallace | Directed by: William Wellman
SAINT IN LONDON, THE (1939) (72 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In an unusual move for a mere program picture, RKO Radio filmed A Saint in London on location in England, using a largely British cast and crew. George Sanders makes his second appearance as suave soldier of fortune Simon Templer, aka The Saint. This time, Templar gets mixed up with a gang of counterfeiters who've murdered and robbed a European count of 1,000,000 pounds. He is aided reluctantly by Scotland Yard inspector Teal (Gordon McLeod), who's convinced that Templar himself pulled off the heist, and less reluctantly by light-fingered Dugan (David Burns) and dizzy socialite Penny Parker (Sally Gray). The Saint in London was directed by John Paddy Carstairs, who later worked on some of the episodes of the Saint TV series.
Starring: George Sanders, Sally Gray, David Burns, Athene Seyler | Directed by: John Paddy Carstairs
SAINT IN NEW YORK, THE (1938) (71 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The Saint, Leslie Charteris' charming but deadly criminal-turned-sleuth, made his first film appearance in RKO Radio's The Saint of New York. Faithful to Charteris' original concept, this first movie Saint is a cold-blooded murderer, redeemed by the fact that all of his victims are notorious gangsters who'd otherwise elude the clutches of the law. Hired by a coterie of businessmen, Simon Templar (Louis Hayward), aka the Saint, methodically rids New York of its worst criminals, though "The Big Fellow", aka Hutch Rellin (Sig Rumann), continues to elude him. He is aided by Rellin's enigmatic mistress Fay Edwards (Kay Sutton), who pays for her actions with her life. The film's most memorable moment finds Templar disguising himself as a nun to dispose of a particularly nasty villain. The success of The Saint of New York prompted RKO to negotiate with Charteris for a series of "Saint" films, with George Sanders and Hugh Sinclair taking over from Louis Hayward as the title character.
Starring: Louis Hayward, Kay Sutton, Sig Rumann, Jonathan Hale | Directed by: Ben Holmes
SAINT STRIKES BACK, THE (1939) (67 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
The Saint Strikes Back was the second in the series of films featuring Simon Templay, better known as The Saint, and the first to star George Sanders in the role. Val Travers (Wendy Barrie) is the daughter of a police detective who killed himself after being dishonorably let go from the San Francisco Police Department, due to allegations that he was a member of a gang led by the mysterious criminal mastermind known only as Waldeman. Hoping to clear her father's name, Val has assembled a gang of minor criminal types to track down Waldeman, which puts her in trouble with the police. Templar crosses tracks with Val and, after hearing her story, believes that her father was framed, most likely by someone else working in the police department. Cullis, one of department's chief criminologists, dismisses this suggestion and implies that Templar might be Waldeman. Templar's investigations eventually find the real culprit and exonerates Val's father.
Starring: George Sanders, Wendy Barrie, Jonathan Hale, Jerome Cowan | Directed by: John Farrow
SAN QUENTIN (1937) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
One of a slew of prison reform picture that flourished during the Great Depression, this melodrama was banned in Finland. Pat O'Brien stars as Steve Jameson, a former Army officer who is hired at the infamous California prison of the title and quickly brings military order to the facility, separating the general population from the most violent offenders. In the meantime, Steve is falling for a singer, May (Ann Sheridan), but he keeps his profession a secret when she reveals that her brother Joe (Humphrey Bogart) is serving time in San Quentin. May eventually learns of Steve's deception and their romance hits the skids. When a jealous rival guard, Lt. Druggin (Barton MacLane), arranges for Joe to discover the romance between Steve and his sister, Joe begins plotting escape and revenge. — Karl Williams
Starring: Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Veda Ann Borg, Barton MacLane | Directed by: Lloyd Bacon
SATAN MET A LADY (1936) (74 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
While John Huston's screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon is widely regarded as a screen classic, it wasn't the first time Hammett's novel had been brought to the screen, and this comedy-drama offers a decidedly different spin on the same story. Detective Ted Shayne (Warren William) is hired by a woman named Valerie Purvis (Bette David) to find a woman named Mme. Barrabas (Alison Skipworth). Valerie, however, won't tell Ted what she wants from her, and as he tries to track down Barrabas, Barrabas's people come to him, in search of Valerie. When Ted and Barrabas finally meet, she claims Valerie has a valuable piece of her property — a jewel-encrusted ram's horn — and she'll gladly pay Ted to return it to her. Certain Valerie hasn't been on the level with him, Ted asks his partner to trail him, but when Valerie discovers she's being watched, she kills the second detective. Unaware that she's killed Ted's partner, Valerie asks that Ted pick up a package for her from a ship arriving from Asia the next day, which %Ted realizes is the precious horn which has caused all the trouble. Satan Met A Lady was actually the second feature film based on The Maltese Falcon; the first, also called The Maltese Falcon, was released in 1931.
Starring: Bette Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth, Arther Treacher | Directed by: William Dieterle
SCARFACE (1932) (93 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Completed in mid-1930, Scarface, based on Armitage Trail's novel of the same name, might have been the first of the great talkie gangster flicks, but it was held up for release until after that honor was jointly usurped by Little Caesar and Public Enemy. Paul Muni stars as prohibition-era mobster Tony Camonte, a character obviously patterned on Al Capone (whose nickname was "Scarface"). The homicidal Camonte ruthlessly wrests control of the bootlegging racket from his boss, Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins), and claims Lovo's mistress, Poppy (Karen Morley), in the bargain. But while Poppy satisfies him sexually, Tony has a soft spot in his heart only for his sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak). The film's finale is one of the longest and bloodiest of the 1930s, maintaining suspense and concern for the characters involved even though Muni has deliberately done nothing to make Tony likeable to audience. The grimness of Scarface is leavened by a few choice moments of black humor. Forced to leave a stage production of Rain in order to commit a murder, Tony returns to his theater seat and anxiously asks his buddies how the play came out. Some of the film's funniest moments belong to Vince Barnett as the mentally deficient, illiterate gangster secretary, who at one juncture gets so mad at a caller on the phone that he shoots the receiver. Scarface features a famous "'X' Marks The Spot" logo, inspired by news photos of gangland murders: whenever a character is killed, the letter "X" appears on screen in one form or another. Example: When a rival gangster (played by Boris Karloff) is killed at a bowling alley, the camera cuts to his bowling ball knocking down all the pins — a strike, denoted, of course, by an "X." Producer Howard R. Hughes couldn't release Scarface until he toned down some of the violence, reshot certain scenes to avoid libel suits, added the subtitle "The Shame of the Nation" to the opening credits, and shoehorned in new scenes showing upright Italian-Americans banding together to wipe out gangsterism. After its first run, Scarface was completely withdrawn from distribution on Hughes' orders; the film would not be seen again on a widespread basis until it was reissued by Universal in 1979, shorn of 8 of its original 99 minutes. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, George Raft, Boris Karloff | Directed by: Howard Hawks
SCREAM IN THE NIGHT (1935) (58 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Although released after The Shadow of Silk Lennox, this ultra low-budget mystery thriller was the first film in which Creighton Chaney used the billing Lon Chaney, Jr. The actor was persuaded to change his name by producer Ray Kirkwood, who promised to make 24 action melodramas with him as the star. Only two were actually made, however, and Scream in the Night did not enjoy a wide release until 1943, when Chaney had become Universal's newest horror sensation. Detectives Jack Wilson (Chaney) and Wu Ting (Philip Ahn) are tracking the famous jewel thief Johnny Fly (Manuel Lopez) to Singapore, where Fly has stolen a priceless ruby belonging to lovely Edith Bentley (Sheila Terry). Wu Ting is murdered by one of Fly's underlings, the deformed Butch Curtain (also Chaney), and Edith gets herself kidnapped. Bearing some resemblance to the killer, Wilson manages to infiltrate the gang and free the girl. Kirkwood and director Fred Newmeyer obviously counted on Chaney, Jr. to deliver the goods as the deformed Butch Curtain, but Lon was not in a league with his legendary father no matter how hard he tried.
Starring: Lon Chaney, Jr., Sheila Terry, Manuel Lopez, Philip Ahn | Directed by: Fred Newmeyer
SECRET OF MADAME BLANCHE, THE (1933) (85 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Secret of Madame Blanche is one of those "confessional" film dramas which movie fans of the early 1930s ate up like bonbons. Irene Dunne stars as a musical hall entertainer who is impregnated by a wealthy young man (Phillips Holmes). They marry, but the husband kills himself. Under the pressure of father-in-law Lionel Atwill, Dunne gives up the baby. Two decades pass: Irene crosses her son' path again. He commits a murder, and she willingly takes the blame--never letting the boy know her true identity. Secret of Madame Blanche is a remake of an equally teary Norma Talmadge silent film; both pictures bore the heavy influence of Madame X.
Starring: Irene Dunne, Lionel Atwill, Phillips Holmes, Una Merkel, Jean Parker | Directed by: Charles J. Brabin
SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM (1933) (66 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
This tight little melodrama opens with a group of wealthy people staying at a luxurious European mansion. According to legend, the mansion's "blue room" is cursed—everyone who has ever spent the night in that room has met with an untimely end. The three suitors of the heroine (Gloria Stuart) wager that each can survive a night in the forbidding blue room. The first to brave the room is a callow young man (William Janney) in whom the heroine has no real interest. A scream is heard in the middle of the night; when the other guests investigate, the young man has vanished, and the available clues suggest that he has met with foul play. Within the next several months, more murders occur in the blue room, prompting the lord of the manor (Lionel Atwill) to belatedly summon the authorities. A police inspector (Edward Arnold) solves both the mystery of the missing guest and the series of murders. Veteran moviegoers will be able to guess the outcome without even trying, but somehow Mystery in the Blue Room was deemed worthy of two remakes: The Missing Guest (38) and Murder in the Blue Room (44) (a musical!) Though not publicized at the time, Murder in the Blue Room was Universal's least expensive non-western feature film of 1933.
Starring: Lionel Atwill, Gloria Stuart, Paul Lukas, Edward Arnold | Directed by: Kurt Neumann
SECRET SIX , THE (1931) (83 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Bootleggers Louis Scorpio (Wallace Beery) and Johnny Franks (Ralph Bellamy), with the advice of their alcoholic lawyer Richard Newton (Lewis Stone), try to muscle in on the territory of gangster "Smiling Joe" Colimo (John Miljan). Franks kills Colimo's brother and tries to frame Scorpio, but Scorpio kills both him and olimo. Newspaper reporters Hank Rogers (Johnny Mack Brown) and Carl Luckner (Clark Gable) investigate with help from "The Secret Six," a consortium of businessmen eager to fight crime, but when Scorpio's moll Anne Courtland (Jean Harlow) tries to help them, Scorpio kidnaps her and Carl. The two hostages are rescued by "The Secret Six" and the police, and Scorpio and Newton shoot each other fighting over their money. — Nicole Gagne
Starring: Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow | Directed by: George Hill
SECRETS OF THE FRENCH POLICE (1932) (59 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
A Parisian flower girl is trotted out as the missing Grand Duchess Anastasia in this fast-moving thriller based on a popular newspaper serial, Secrets of the French Sureté. Discovered by evil White Russian Count Moloff (Gregory Ratoff), Eugénie Dorain (Gwili Andre) is hypnotized into believing that she is Anastasia, the daughter of the slain Russian czar. Léon Renault, the girl's fiancé, aligns himself with Francis St. Cyr (Frank Morgan) and the famous Sureté Français detective Bertillon (Murray Kinnell), but is too late to save Réna (Kendall Lee), Moloff's mistress, who is embalmed alive in cement. A Russian Grand Duke (Arnold Korff), who doubted Eugénie's veracity, is summarily killed when his limousine is forced off the road, and, having outlived her usefulness, Eugénie is about to suffer the same fate as Réna when St. Cyr and the police arrive like the proverbial cavalry. The evil Moloff is electrocuted by one of his own fiendish devices and Eugénie and Léon are finally free to plan a future together. — Hans J. Wollstein
Starring: Frank Morgan, Gwili Andre, Gregory Ratoff, Murray Kinnell | Directed by: Edward Sutherland
SERGEANT MADDEN (1939) (82 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
In this interesting drama, a highly respected straight-arrow Irish cop is pleased when his son follows him onto the force. Unfortunately, the son is more interested in promotions than in upholding the law and he makes few friends among his peers. When he shoots a child caught stealing, the others frame him and he is sent to prison where his attitude becomes even worse than before. Upon his escape, the bad seed goes on a crime spree. He then learns that his wife has just borne him a son. When he goes to the hospital to see the babe, his father, who set this trap, arrests him and sends him back to the pokey, proving that in this case, justice is thicker than blood.
Starring: Wallace Beery, Tom Brown, Alan Curtis, Laraine Day, Marc Lawrence, Clayton Moore | Directed by: Josef von Sternberg
SEVEN SINNERS (1936) (70 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
US private eye sorts out European crime wave. With female sidekick in tow, wisecracking private eye follows a trail of corpses around Europe, shaking up a sinister criminal network which will stop at nothing, even causing major train wrecks to cover their crimes.
Starring: Edmund Lowe, Constance Cummings, Thomy Bourdelle, Henry Oscar | Directed by: Albert de Courville
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1935) (74 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
This is a neat little murder mystery/comedy with noted Shakespearean actress Constance Collier absolutely delightful while making her sound film debut. She plays a rich recluse who hadn't left her apartment for twenty years, but does so when her nephew (Ricardo Cortez) and his actress fiancée (Virginia Bruce) are prime suspects in the murder of Bradley Page, with whom Cortez had fought earlier. Collier didn't like the the idea of Cortez marrying a penniless actress, but changes her mind after she meets Bruce, and sets about to solve the murder by setting a trap for the murderer. I loved the banter between Collier and twinkle-eyed Edward Brophy, playing the detective in charge of the investigation. Their comedy and that of her butler, Ivan Simpson had me chuckling throughout. Also a plus in the film were the presence of Betty Furness and Isabel Jewell, both looking young and beautiful. And I felt good about being able to guess who the murderer was from the clues given. The film is worth seeing, especially for murder mystery buffs.
Starring: Ricardo Cortez, Virginia Bruce, Constance Collier, Isabel Jewell | Directed by: George B. Seitz
SHADOW STRIKES, THE (1937) (61 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
The Shadow, the famed radio and pulp-novel hero with the mysterious power to "cloud men's minds" so that they cannot see him, was first brought to the screen by low-budget Grand National Pictures in 1937. Former matinee idol Rod LaRocque stars as the Shadow's man-about-town alter-ego Lamont Cranston, a lawyer-criminologist who occasionally adopts his celebrated disguise to prey on the consciences of the guilty. The only person who knows the true identity of the Shadow is Cranston's faithful manservant Henry (Margot Lane, the Shadow's "constant friend and companion" who shared his secret in the radio version, does not appear in the picture). On this occasion, Cranston tries to solve the murder of a wealthy "gentleman" who had enemies galore, with suspects ranging from the victim's heirs to a gang of racketeers. Since the film's budget precluded the special effects needed to cloud men's minds, Cranston must rely on his wits -- and a none-too-concealing cloak and mask -- to outmaneuver the villains.
Starring: Rod La Rocque, Lynn Anders, Walter McGrail, James Blakeley | Directed by: Lynn Shores
SHERLOCK HOLMES / HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1939) (80 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Though it takes a few liberties with the Arthur Conan Doyle original — not the least of which is turning Sherlock Holmes into the second lead — The Hound of the Baskervilles ranks as one of the best screen versions of this oft-told tale. After learning the history of the Baskerville curse from the hirsute Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill), Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) takes upon himself the responsibility of protecting sole heir Henry Baskerville (top-billed Richard Greene) from suffering the same fate as his ancestors: a horrible death at the fangs of the huge hound of Grimpen Moor. Unable to head to Baskerville mansion immediately, Holmes sends his colleague Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) to act as his surrogate. What Watson doesn't know is that Holmes, donning several clever disguises, is closely monitoring the activities of everyone in and around the estate. Meanwhile, young Henry falls in love with Beryl Stapleton (Wendy Barrie), sister of the effusively friendly John Stapleton (Morton Lowry). Holmes and Watson compare notes, a red herring character (John Carradine) is eliminated, Henry Baskerville is nearly torn to shreds by a huge hound, and the man behind the plot to kill Henry and claim the Baskerville riches for himself is revealed at the very last moment. The Hound of the Baskervilles "improves" upon the original with such embellishments as turning the villain's wife into his sister, and by interpolating a spooky séance sequence involving mystic Beryl Mercer. In other respects, it is doggedly (sorry!) faithful to Doyle, even allowing Holmes to bait the censor by asking Dr. Watson for "the needle" at fadeout time. A big hit in a year of big hits, The Hound of the Baskervilles firmly established Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as moviedom's definitive Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Richard Greene, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine | Directed by: Sidney Lanfield
SHOW THEM NO MERCY! (1935) (76 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: B
Taking refuge from a rainstorm in a deserted farmhouse, young married couple Joe and Loretta Martin (Edward Norris and Rochelle Hudson) soon discover to their horror that the house is being used as a hideout for a gang of kidnappers. Gang leader Tobey (Cesar Romero), a comparatively reasonable sort, elects not to kill the couple because they have an ailing baby with them. But Tobey's psychotic henchman Pitch (Bruce Cabot) is not quite so sentimental, and awaits the opportunity to knock off all three "intruders." When the G-Men, tipped off by the serial numbers on some ransom money, manage to track down the crooks, Tobey is killed, leaving Loretta and her baby at the mercy of Pitch — at least until she picks up a machine gun and mows him down! As brutal as it was possible to get under the newly strengthened Production Code, Show Them No Mercy (inspired by the real-life Weyerhauser kidnapping case) is an excellent entry in the "FBI cycle" of the mid-1930s. The film was remade in a western setting as Rawhide (1951).
Starring: Rochelle Hudson, Cesar Romero, Bruce Cabot, Edward Norris | Directed by: George Marshall
SIN OF NORA MORAN, THE (1933) (65 Min.) Genre: 1930 SUSPENSE, Transfer Quality: A
Having confessed to murder, Nora Moran (Zita Johann) sits sadly on death row, waiting her date with the electric chair. In flashback, the audience is apprised of the events leading up to this present sorry state. It turns out that Nora is innocent; she has taken the blame to shield her lover, Governor Bill Crawford (Paul Cavanaugh) — the only man who can issue the pardon that will save her. Ridden with guilt, Crawford desperately tries to phone the prison and rescue his sweetheart before it's too la