Star Reporter (1939)

A fast moving crime/reporter B-movie, so fast moving that there is scarcely time to breathe.

Randolph (Warren Hull) is a young idealistic newspaper owner (and reporter) who is dedicated to the public good and fighting crime. To that aim he has supported the election of the new DA Burnette (Wallace Clarke), though he also wants to marry Burnette's daughter (Marsha Hunt). 

However, when the DA fails to prosecute the gangsters then Randolph turns against Burnette. The reason though is because the DA knows a terrible secret about Randolph's father...

This is a great film that packs in an incredible amount of story and drama into a pretty short running time. The film is exposition heavy to drive things along, though maybe a little too fast. To be honest i do prefer shorter films but this is one which could have probably done with an extra fifteen to twenty minutes! 

It is still highly enjoyable, indeed one of the better B-movies of the late 1930s.

The Speckled Band (1931)

An early Sherlock Holmes talkie.

Sherlock Holmes (Raymond Massey) helps a young heiress (Angela Badderley) after the death of her sister and growing menace from her brutal step-father Dr Rylott (Lyn Harding). One mystery is that the sister's last words were "speckled band"...

A good Sherlock Holmes adaptation which is only marred by the poor quality of production at times, especially the sound. Holmes and Watson (Athole Stewart) are very well portrayed here but also pretty different to the popular series of Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone which would come in a few years time.

The Ninth Guest (1934)

A confusing though fast paced mystery.

Eight guests are invited to dinner at a mysterious house by an unnamed host. The guests all have reason to hate one of the other members so things are a bit fractious. Then a voice from the radio tells them they will be murdered one by one unless they manage to outwit their host, the ninth guest. To underscore the threat they can't leave as he has had the gates connected to the mains, plus various other traps...

Naturally the other guests do not take to this well and start accusing each other of being this ninth guest. The story moves on from there as the guests die off in various ways. It does sound a bit Agatha Christie, though this film (and the original story) predates And Then There Were None / Ten Little Indians (1945) (1965) (1972) by a number of years...

Donald Cook and Genevieve Tobin star as two of the guests, who manage to work out their mutual antagonism as they help solve the mystery of who is the ninth guest. The story is a little complicated with a lot of red herrings (maybe a few too many) but an enjoyable watch.

Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935)

An enjoyable dark house crime romp, just expect many clichés.

Writer William Magee (Gene Raymond) is looking for a quiet place to work on his book and heads to a remote hotel which should be empty. Unfortunately, it is anything but! 

There are a number of other people lurking around the hotel including Mary (Margaret Callahan) but also others who seem to have dark intents and some missing money.

This is a fun film and played pretty light and fast moving, Magee seems pretty unruffled throughout despite tangling with various thugs and potential dangers. It is full of dark house clichés including hidden rooms and random events. 

Seven Sinners (1936)

A fast moving romp across Europe, including multiple train crashes!

Harwood (Edmund Lowe) is an American private detective in Europe, he discovers a dead body in his hotel room but by the time the authorities turn up the body is gone! 

Insurance agent Caryl Fenton (Constance Cummings) joins Harwood for a new job in Scotland but Harwood is more interested in finding out what happened to the corpse! Not long after Caryl and Harwood are involved in their first train crash, but not before Harwood is reunited with the corpse, on the train!

A highly entertaining, witty and fast moving film, the two leads trading quips nearly as fast as the plot. The plot though may have a few holes here and there but it doesn't linger on any one scene long enough for it to really matter. The twist at the end is good too when the mastermind behind the mayhem is finally revealed.

The Crusader (1932)

A slightly dull and awkward early talkie.

Philip Brandon (H.B. Warner) is a crusading District Attorney which naturally has gained him a number of enemies as he goes against the big criminals. One person he doesn't go after is law abiding bar owner Jimmie (Lew Cody). Unknown to Brandon though, is that his wife Tess (Evelyn Brent) was Jimmie's ex back when Jimmie was less law abiding.

Meanwhile, Brandon's sister Marcia (Marceline Day) is also involved with a less law-abiding associate of Jimmie, Joe (Walter Byron). When Marcia kills Joe in self-defence, who is going to take the rap...

The story is fine but the execution is flawed, hindered by some poor sound quality. Ned Sparks plays a typically cheeky chappie news reporter (as they always were in 1930s cinema) but it is often hard to hear his dialogue which ruins the effect somewhat. Not a bad pre-code film but it could have been a lot more.

Night of Terror (1933)

A rather inventive dark house mystery with some good twists.

A maniac is on the loose leaving a trail of dead behind him. The latest killing is near to the Rinehart estate, though the mad scientist son of Rinehart, John (Bryant Washburn) is busy with his new formula which can help someone survive being buried alive for hours. 

His sister Mary (Sally Blane) is more interested in her reporter boyfriend Tom (Wallace Ford) - who has plenty of wisecracks of course! The Rinehart servant Degar (Bela Lugosi) adds a creepy feel to this story though it remains a crime drama not a horror.

The Rinehart family start being bumped off one by one, so as to lessen the competition for the inheritance for someone, but who? Degar is of course accused of the crime but is the murderer someone else entirely, maybe someone who we thought would have a cast iron alibi?

This is a fine film with some good twists and red herrings plus the usual dark house mystery tropes of random screams, hidden passages and doorways and a steady body count. One notable red herring is the maniac himself who in the end we find had nothing to do with the goings on in the house!

Pilot X (1936)

A somewhat strange and poor murder mystery but makes up for it with some excellent aerial scenes.

A fighter with an X painted on it shoots down an airliner. A number of suspect pilots are bought together into a room, which has been covered in 1930s state of the art surveillance technology so the suspects can be listened in on. 

However, this doesn't really lead to anything and the suspects are whittled down one by one until the final showdown between Blackwood (John Carroll) and Pilot X while his gal Helen (Lona Andre) watches on...

This is a rather dry crime drama, it doesn't have the snappy dialogue, gloomy atmosphere or fast moving action which usually makes these kinds of films from the period entertaining. However, the aerial dogfight scenes are excellent and make up for the lackings elsewhere. Not brilliant but worthwhile.

Harlem on the Prairie (1937)

A decent Western with some good music, but this isn't your usual B-movie tale of the Wild West. This is an example of a Black movie made by a black cast and crew for showing in black theatres (as black people were not allowed into "white" theatres in many areas at the time in America).

Crawfish (FE Miller) and Mistletoe (Mantan Moreland) are drifters looking for gold. They link up with tall handsome cowboy Jeff (Herb Jeffries) who is helping Carolina (Consuelo Harris), who is in trouble with the evil Wolf Cain (Maceo Bruce Sheffield), amid many songs.

This isn't a great film but it is an interesting one. Although it is very much like the usual B-movie Western of the period, the black cast does ironically make it a more realistic depiction of the actual American West! 

The Shadow Laughs (1933)

A rather disjointed and awkward comedy crime drama.

A murder/robbery takes place in the bank, though the police do not seem to be getting anywhere. Luckily reporter Robin Dale (Hal Skelly) is on hand to take over the investigation! 

How he is any better than the police is unknown though he does have plenty of the usual "snappy" dialogue that reporters of the 1930s and 1940s had to have by law, though to be honest you'll see a lot snappier dialogue in many other films of the period...

Indeed, there were many films like this from the 1930s and unfortunately that means there are many other films to compare it against and unfortunately this film isn't that good! The pacing and dialogue is awkward and the story doesn't really make a lot of sense. The film isn't without some lightness but as a drama it doesn't have much going for it.

The Roadhouse Murder (1932)

Foolishness nearly leads a young man to the electric chair.

Chick Brian (Eric Linden) is an eager, and pretty naive, young reporter who needs a break so he can marry his gal Mary (Dorothy Jordan). Chick and Mary stumble upon a crime scene at a hotel, Chick has the great idea of pretending he committed a murder so he can later write a great story about the experience. 

Mary is entrusted with the evidence that can clear him, however the real culprits are also observing matters. Could Chick's plan fail and get him executed?

If you can get over the stupidity of the film's premise then this early talkie isn't that a bad crime tale with some good police procedural and court room scenes. Unfortunately, the premise and the naivety of Chick ruins the film a bit. It is still an enjoyable watch all the same.

The Phantom Light (1935)

Mysterious goings on at a lighthouse off the Welsh coast.

Sam (Gordon Harker) turns up for his new job at an important lighthouse on the coast of Wales. He learns that one of his predecessors has been murdered, and another one has one mad after seeing a phantom light. With a growing number of people turning up at the lighthouse including Alice (Binnie Hale) and Jim (Ian Hunter) all of whom are not quite what they seem. A plot is uncovered to disable the lighthouse and cause a ship to be driven onto the rocks by a phantom light, for insurance purposes.

A fine film which has a number of layers and, despite a short runtime, the story is given time to build. The lighthouse setting gives the mystery a claustrophobic edge.

The Great Air Mystery (Serial) (1935)

A superb follow-up serial continuing the adventures of daredevil aviator Tailspin Tommy.

Tommy (Clarke Williams) and Skeeter (Noah Beery Jr) head to Nazil in Latin America to help Betty Lou (Jean Rogers) and Inez Casmetto (Delphine Drew) with the setting up of infrastructure for oil extraction in country. 

However, Inez's father Manuel (Herbert Heywood) and Raymore (Matthew Betz) are two unscrupulous businessmen who want that oil wealth for themselves and concoct a series of schemes to stop Tommy and Skeeter with the help of his rogue squadron of fighters. Luckily, a mysterious aviator in a condor painted plane is often on hand to help Tommy out.

This is a great serial with a lot of amazing aerial stunts (including a crashing airship in episode 1). The serial is based on a comic strip (indeed the original Tailspin Tommy serial from 1934 was the first serial to be based on a comic strip. 

Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)

After the sad death of Warner Oland, Sidney Toler takes over the Charlie Chan character, the first of many films he would make in the series.

While Charlie Chan awaits the arrival of his first grand child, a call comes in about a murder that has taken place on a cargo ship. Number 1 son Jimmy (Victor Sen Yung) takes the call and decides to take the case himself. He discovers the case of a murdered man on the ship, a number of suspicious characters, a hold full of circus animals and some missing cash! Luckily, Charlie Chan turns up to save his son from being thrown overboard and he takes over the case. One complication being the rather mysterious character Dr Cardigan (George Zucco) who is acting quite suspiciously and has a live brain in a suitcase!

A great entry in the Charlie Chan series, Sidney Toler bringing some new energy to the role. The kitchen sink was thrown at the film, quite why we needed subplots involving mad science brains in jars and escaped lions is unknown. It does not spoil the film though, its superb.

The Cheyenne Tornado (1935)

A tale of sheep herders versus cattle men in the Wild West.

A wandering cowboy gets involved in a conflict between Mexican sheep herders and cattle men, however this is no ordinary cowboy, this is Reb Russell the Cheyenne Kid! The rich rancher Darnell has been killed and Reb tries to find out what is going on, fancied by women from both sides (Tina Menard and Victoria Vinton) and also accused of being involved in the murder. After much convoluted plot, and plenty of fine horsemanship and gunplay  the real culprit is found and Reb is revealed to be a US Marshal. 

A decent Western though the plot is slightly too complicated and wordy to suit the limited acting abilities of Russell, his athleticism and horse skills were very good though which is probably more important for the star of a 1930s Western!

The Dark Hour (1936)

A good old country house murder mystery.

Two rich old brothers are the wards of their niece Elsa (Irene Ware), who is going out with private detective Jim (Ray Walker). One of the brothers Henry (William Mong) disapproves of Elsa and Jim, though soon Henry is found murdered. There are many suspects, and a great degree of mystery about the crime, and Jim brings in retired detective Paul (Berton Churchill) for help...

Overall, this is a pretty standard 1930s murder mystery, though the plot is maybe a little too heavy with the red herrings and complications. The twists at the end of the film are also a little too much twisty too but its a perfectly competent watch if unexceptional.

The Black Doll (1938)

That old staple of 1930s crime, a murder takes place and there are many suspects!

Mine owner Rood (C. Henry Gordon) is a rather unpleasant individual who keeps his sister Laura (Doris Lloyd), her son Rex (William Lundigan) and his own daughter Marian (Nan Grey) under his thumb. Plus he has some dodgy dealings in his past. He discovers a black doll on his desk, which means he is marked for death! 

Soon afterwards he is knifed in the back by an unknown assailant. Marian's private detective boyfriend Nick (Donald Woods) is on hand to help out the case, being led by hapless detective Renick (Edgar Kennedy)...

A fairly standard crime B-movie set in a country house and with the usual fast moving plot and red herrings, the Mexican black dolls add a bit of novelty and mystery. The film is fine enough, with enough entertaining scenes to be worth a watch though you may not remember much about it afterwards. The film's main issue is that it suffers from making the enthusiastic amateur detective too clever (and a bit smug) and the professional crime fighter too stupid!

The Crosby Case (1934)

Two former lovers must reunite to save themselves from a murder rap.

After Dr Crosby is found dead in the street, after being hit by a taxi though the gunshot wound is what really killed him, Inspector Thomas (Alan Dinehart) goes into investigate. 

There are a number of suspects including a woman (Wynne Gibson) who's slipper was found in Crosby's apartment and also the man (Onslow Stevens) who owns the gun which killed Crosby! All of the suspects are somewhat shady characters, as was the victim in this pre-Code film.

A fine crime drama, with themes and characters (including abortion) which would soon be forbidden in Hollywood films. The solving of the crime hangs on an eyewitness whom the police did not seem to realise was as blind as a bat for some reason!

The Preview Murder Mystery (1936)

A new film has been completed but some kind of maniac is killing off the cast and crew one by one.

Neil Du Beck (Rod La Rocque) is the leading man for a new film but he has been receiving death threats, when he is killed during a preview showing of the film the police realise it isn't just a crank. 

The publicity officer of the studio, Johnny Morgan (Reginald Denny) decides to help the police out (of course!) especially when the studio is locked down after more attacks and deaths. Who is the culprit? Suspicion falls on a most unexpected name...

This is a very enjoyable film, a crime romp set literally behind the scenes at a movie studio. It has the usual tropes of a crime film of the period, plenty of red herrings and tangents, and of course an enthusiastic amateur helping out the police!

Lady Luck (1936)

A pleasing little crime drama with a light, often comedic, touch.

Mamie Murphy (Patricia Farr) wants to get out of her job as a manicurist, she wants wealth and fame, especially if she can become a movie star. She spurns the advances of newspaperman Dave Haines (William Bakewell) as he is too poor, suave Jack Conroy (Jameson Thomas) is more to her taste, unfortunately for Mamie he is secretly broke!

Mamie wins a sweepstake and is suddenly of interest to Conroy as he sniffs money. The problem for Mamie is that it is another Mamie Murphy (Lulu McConnell) who has won the money, though they come up with a scheme where the other Mamie keeps the money and she keeps the fame and notoriety. Unfortunately for their scheme, Conroy is found dead and Mamie is holding the gun that killed him!

A nice little film with a good engaging plot, and no shortage of humour at times.