Murder by Invitation (1941)

Played light, maybe too light as it is frequently ridiculous, but this is yet another dark house murder mystery... and its pretty good!

Wealthy aunt Cassandra (Sarah Padden) sees off an attempt by her relatives to have her declared mentally incompetent so they can get their hands on her cash. She invites them to spend the night at her isolated country house. When one of them is murdered, radio reporter Bob White (Wallace Ford) comes in to investigate. 

More murders take place in a house riddled by hidden passages and tunnels. One of the relatives is suspected to be the culprit (though the field is gradually being narrowed down), while Bob and his assistant Nora (Marian Marsh) are struggling to work out what is going on amid all the nonsense and red herrings, Aunt Cassandra has a cunning plan...

This is objectively not a good film, it is a bit too chaotic and many of the actors mill around without much to do (and not doing that well). However, i loved it! It is a fun film, the goofiness makes it hard to take seriously as a crime drama, but if it is approached with an open mind then it certainly is entertaining.

That Wonderful Urge (1948)

A light if ultimately forgettable romantic comedy.

Heiress Sarah Farley (Gene Tierney) is annoyed that a reporter has been writing some gossip pieces about her. To her surprise a nice young man (Tyrone Power) she has met at a resort turns out to be the reporter Thomas Tyler. 

She aims to ruin his career by falsely claiming they got married. Much to-and-fro will follow, but you know it will end in a kiss.

Somewhat predictable but an amiable little story. There is nothing wrong with the film it just lacks any bite or a spark.

A Fig Leaf for Eve (1944)

A silly piece of fluff, that promises sleaze but doesn't really rise to the challenge (so to speak).

Eve (Jan Wiley) is an exotic dancer who is arrested after her lewd (apparently) is reported to the police. In reality her dance was pretty tame even for the day, but her arrest was arranged as a publicity stunt by her agent (Phil Warren). 

Bail bondsman Hoffman (Eddie Dunn) thinks Eve can pass herself off as a missing heiress. When she is introduced to the family she finds not everyone is delighted to see her...

After the dance at the start there isn't much else in the sleaze department to report, what you do get is a rather mediocre melodrama. The highlight of the film is a short cameo by Cheerio Meredith who plays a drunk.

The Ape Man (1943)

A cheap but perfectly reasonable horror movie, though Bela Lugosi worked better as Dracula than a half-ape man.

Scientist (mad of course) Dr Brewster (Lugosi) has gone into hiding. The reason is because he conducted experiments on himself and is now stuck as a half-man half-ape! 

Brewster tries to get his colleague Dr Randall (Henry Hall) to get him recently harvested human spinal fluid to try and cure him, Randall refuses as it would mean he has to kill. Instead, Brewster and his pet ape (Emil Van Horn) go and seeks victims for himself...

A creepy film, Lugosi plays a good role as the man driven to kill through sheer desperation. The make-up is also very well done. This isn't the best Lugosi film though by a long way but is a fun watch.

Miss V from Moscow (1942)

A ridiculous but fast moving wartime spy drama.

Top Soviet spy Vera (Lola Lane) is sent to France by her boss - who veers between a terrible Russian accent and a Brooklyn one throughout. In Paris, Vera tangled with the evil Nazi police chief Kleiss (Noel Maddison) but she uses her resemblance to a dead German agent to evade the Gestapo and help the Allies and the Resistance send radio messages to alert Allied convoys of impending German attacks...

This is quite an odd film, which at times resembles a fast moving serial. Most of the characters are stereotypes, and often hilariously so. The story doesn't make much sense and the low budget is stretched very thinly, luckily as it's a wartime film there is plenty of stock footage to pad things out. All in all this film is terrible, but it is definitely in the so bad it's good camp.

The Notorious Lone Wolf (1946)

The Lone Wolf continues, with a new face.

The Lone Wolf, Michael Lanyard (now played by Gerald Mohr) has returned from the war and immediately gets drawn into a plot to steal a valuable diamond. Inspector Crane (William B Davidson) naturally thinks Lanyard and Jameson (Eric Blore) stole the gem - Crane is quite an unimaginative detective to be honest as he always thinks Lanyard is behind all gem thefts, maybe he thinks he will get it right finally. The gem was stolen from a dancer who was wearing it, the dancer being murdered. Lanyard must track down the gem and the murderer...

The Lone Wolf series was just starting to run out of steam by now. Post-war, these kinds of bright and breezy B-movies were starting to look a bit dated in the coming age of the Noir, however Mohr slightly refreshes the role. The rest of the Lone Wolf formula is there and this is a good, if unexceptional, entry in the series.

Million Dollar Weekend (1948)

A neat little crime drama with some good twists.

Nick (Gene Raymond) has run off with a million dollars worth of bonds, he is joined on his flight by Cynthia (Osa Massen) who is on the run after killing her husband (accidentally but the slimy Alan (Francis Lederer) is blackmailing her). Once they get to Honolulu, Nick is forced to join up with Cynthia after Alan discovers Nick's secret and decides those bonds are a more lucrative prize and heads off back to the mainland with them. Now Nick and Cynthia desperately try and hunt Alan down in San Francisco...

An enjoyable film that has a bit of a Noir touch but only just enough to give the film a little extra bite. The story is involving and the leads give some good performances. A modest film maybe but certainly more than the sum of it's parts. A film that is well worth checking out.

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942)

Part of the long-running Boston Blackie series, the usual frantic goings on but this time in Tinsel town.

Blackie (Chester Morris) and the Runt (George E Stone) are about to head off to Florida when Blackie receives a call for help from a fellow ex-criminal (or is he?) Arthur (Lloyd Corrigan) asks Blackie to take $60K from his safe in New York and take it over to California. 

Somehow this is mixed up with the theft of a valuable diamond, Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) of course thinks Blackie has stolen the diamond and so follows Blackie to California and gets mixed up in a complicated tale of blackmail and stolen goods...

Still early in the series but the series is now hitting high gear. A fast-paced story with plenty of swerves and action packed into a short running time. Good humour and performances add to make this an excellent film.

The Lone Wolf in London (1947)

The penultimate film in the long running series.

Two diamonds disappear from a police vault, the police immediately suspect the former jewel thief Michael Lanyard - the Lone Wolf (Gerald Mohr) as they know he is in London, officially doing research for a book he is writing. 

Lanyard is recruited by a member of the aristocracy (Vernon Steele), who is hard up, to sell some jewels for him. Meanwhile, Lanyard is starting to suspect stage star Iris Chatham (Evelyn Ankers) is involved in the diamond robbery, though the police still stubbornly suspect him!

Mohr and Eric Blore as Jamison worked well as a team, though this was the last time they worked together in this series, and the eleventh and final time Blore played Lanyard's assistant. A decent film with the usual fast moving plot and various plot tangents and red herrings. Maybe we have seen it all before (many times) but it is still a good film.

Nazi Agent (1942)

Although heavy on propaganda and message, this is a good early wartime spy drama.

Otto (Conrad Veidt) is a respected book seller, and an emigre from the Nazi Germany he despies. However, his twin brother is very much on brand with the regime, indeed he has also come over to the USA but he is setting up a spy ring! He forces Otto to become part of his network but in a struggle Otto is forced to kill his brother. 

Otto takes the part of his brother, and now within the spy network begins his plan to bring it down from within. However, he also encounters fellow agent Kaaren (Anne Ayers) who has become disillusioned with the regime...

An enjoyable film with good performances and emotion leading to great sacrifice. The best part of the film though is definitely Veidt who plays twin brothers with dramatically different characters. Unfortunately this was one of his last films before his early untimely death.

Too Many Winners (1947)

The last Michael Shayne film, though he would return on the small screen in the 1960s. It would be great to say the character ended on a high but...

Michael Shayne (Hugh Beaumont) abandons his planned vacation with Phyllis (Trudy Marshall) to take on a case of counterfeit tickets at a race course. He begins to uncover a case involving murder and blackmail, with Detective Rafferty (Ralph Dunn) on his tail as usual...

This version of Shayne is not as hard boiled as the Lloyd Nolan version, this Michael Shayne is more easy going but maybe that robs this film of a little bite. The film is fast moving but a bit directionless and bland. 

The femme fatale character of Mayme (Claire Carleton) is one of the highlights of the film but she gets killed off too quickly! Not a bad film, watchable but pretty forgettable.

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)

An exciting spy romp with this version of Sherlock Holmes transplanted into the Second World War.

An agent carrying secret plans across the US goes missing, feared captured by Nazi agents. Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr Watson (Nigel Bruce) are sent across to the US capital to investigate. Holmes thinks the plans were hidden by the agent, but their whereabouts is unknown. Can Holmes find the Nazi agents, led by George Zucco, before it is too late?

An excellent entry in the Basil Rathbone Holmes series, Holmes using his deduction skills to find the agents despite the apparent absence of a trail (though to be honest he was lucky with the clue he did get). There is a bit of a wartime propaganda feel, but it does not interfere with a strong story.

The Caribbean Mystery (1945)

A fast moving crime romp in the swamp.

After the repeated disappearances of oil company prospectors in the swamps of an unnamed Caribbean island, private detective Smith (James Dunn) is bought in to find out what is going on. This is not to the liking of the authorities, who think the men just died of natural causes in the swamp (though we know thats not true). When people aligned with Smith start dying, and Smith himself has attempts on his life, it is clear that something big is going on, and involving buried treasure...

A decent little crime B-movie. Modest but well made and the plot moves swiftly enough to keep your attention. There are plenty of potential suspects and the film manages to keep some good surprises until the end, though the finale is a little rushed. 

An enjoyable film, though the plot is not anything out of the ordinary and indeed is pretty similar to a number of other films but still worth watching.

Trapped by Boston Blackie (1948)

Another bright and breezy Boston Blackie entry, though padded out a bit.

After a private investigator friend dies in a car crash, Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) and The Runt (George E Stone) help out his widow to provide discreet protection of valuables at a fancy costume party (which gives Blackie yet another opportunity to don a disguise, though unfortunately he decides to black up!) 

Of course, valuable pearls are stolen at the party and Boston Blackie gets the blame when Farraday (Richard Lane) turns up to investigate... On the run, Blackie and the Runt seek to discover the real thief, and of course there are a number of suspects.

A fine entry in the series, the penultimate film. Boston Blackie's ability to disguise himself is bought to the fore here, though how good these disguises are is another question though they certainly seems to fool everyone he meets! By now though we have seen the Boston Blackie set-up sufficient times that everything is a little too familiar but this is still an enjoyable film.

Exposed (1947)

An uneven but still enjoyable crime B-movie.

Private investigator Belinda (Adele Mara) is hired by a businessman to check on his step-son (Mark Roberts) who is acting suspiciously including making a number of large money withdrawals. 

However, when Belinda arrives at the businessman's home she finds the businessman dead! Belinda begins to investigate the case, much to the annoyance of her police inspector Dad (Robert Armstrong)!

This is not a bad film though maybe a bit generic. A lot of plot is squeezed in as well as plenty of suspects and red herrings. The leads do not have much chemistry together though and Belinda herself can be a bit too annoying at times. Still, this is a decent watch.

Fear in the Night (1946)

A modest but thrilling psychological thriller with a Noir edge.

Vince (DeForest Kelley in his first film role) wakes from a horrible dream where he killed someone. However, he doesn't think it was a dream when traces of blood are found on his clothes and he also had a strange key, which he thinks it to a cupboard he put the body! Vince is highly troubled by it all and goes to his police detective brother-in-law Cliff (Paul Kelly) for help. When they find the house which Vince saw in his dream and discover there was a murder that took place there a few days ago it looks like Vince is in a jam but what really happened?

This is a superb film, often quite dark and chilling. As the story progresses it does look Vince may be doomed though an unexpected twist later on leads to something even darker going on.

King of the Bandits (1947)

Part of the long-running Cisco Kid series of films.

The Cisco Kid (Gilbert Roland) is travelling through Arizona with Pancho (Chris-Pin Martin), he discovers that someone is conducting robberies but disguising themselves as the Cisco Kid to shift the blame! 

The Kid retrieves some stolen loot but ends up captured himself by the US Army. The Kid and Pancho manage to escape and then go after the real villain Smoke Kirby (Anthony Warde)...

A fun romp of a film which doesn't take itself very seriously, Roland plays the Kid rather tongue in cheek throughout and also is very charismatic.

The Crime Doctor's Diary (1949)

The last entry in the Crime Doctor series.

Steve Carter (Stephen Dunne) has been released from prison after serving time for arson against his employer - a radio DJ service, Dr Ordway (Warner Baxter) having testified that he was not insane. Carter is out to prove his innocence and wants Dr Ordway's help. 

However, soon Steve's former boss is found murdered, Steve is a suspect and goes on the run but Ordway suspects that someone else did the crime, and indeed the culprit when finally unmasked is most unexpected...

This is a fine crime B-movie and an excellent way to end the series with plenty of fast moving action and puzzles. Lois Maxwell stars as a person who ends up very central to the case.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)

Sherlock Holmes battles Moriarty with a vital secret weapon at risk of being lost to the Nazis.

Dr Tobel (William Post Jr) has developed an advanced new bomb sight, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) helps bring Tobel to the UK and away from the clutches of the Gestapo. It should all be simple and settled now right? 

Unfortunately not as Tobel has a rather lax attitude to his own personal safety, and the dreaded Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) is after the bomb sight and is willing to sell them to the Nazis...

An excellent "modern" Sherlock Holmes tale, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Watson bringing all the goods as usual. Fast moving plot and ingenious code driven action makes this film highly enjoyable.

The Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)

The Crime Doctor heads to gay Paris!

Dr Ordman (Warner Baxter) has gone to Paris to lecture, and definitely not get involved in investigating a crime. Of course, very soon he is helping his detective friend (Marcel Journel) out with a murder as the main suspect could be insane. 

The Crime Doctor investigates the case which involves art forgery, an old family dispute and a knife thrower act!

The ninth entry in the Crime Doctor series, and pretty enjoyable too. Although set in Paris, the crime procedural is fairly standard for a B-movie of the period, but the setting adds a little bit of freshness and novelty.