A fast moving crime drama.
The body of a woman called Alice Ross is found hanging in a cheap hotel room, the police (Thomas E Jackson) call it a case of suicide. Private detective Bill Crane (Preston Foster) is hired by the healthy family of Kathryn Crawford (Patricia Ellis), who fear that Alice is really Kathryn, to investigate discreetly. However, the body disappears from the morgue and the police think Crane and his buddy Doc (Frank Jenks) have something to do with it.
Crane begins to unravel a complicated plot involving a mysterious women dancing in a bar, a jealous band leader and two rival gang leaders who were both involved with the missing/dead woman. He handles the case in breakneck fashion and with plenty of wise cracks.
This is an uneven film though held together by decent performances by the leads. There is quite a lot of story here and it is squeezed into a typically short B-movie length, some pruning of the story may have worked wonders. However, it is an enjoyable film for all the flaws.
