Runtime: A brisk 63 minutes
Directed by: William Dieterle
Starring: George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Eugene Pallette, Robert Barrat, Henry O’Neill
From: Warner Bros.
Those that want to see 1930’s forensics in action… after taking a day off from film on Monday (yesterday I posted a list of the Indian cinema I’ve viewed during my years on Letterboxd), last night was a long-awaited return to the Pre-Code world of the early 1930’s by checking out a movie unknown to me until someone I follow reviewed it then another follower did the same almost immediately afterwards. Might as well pay it forward in a Letterboxd sense and inform people of this Pre-Code drama/mystery from Warner Bros. surrounding the murder of a Broadway playboy who was “all coked up” that night—an actual phrase stated in the film.
Jim Stevens is one of the many individuals at the police station who work together as they are tasked w/ cracking the case. The forensics used include fingerprints, hair, blood typing, examining stomach contents, and ballistics. Heck, they got fingerprints from the victim’s main moll by taking her glass of water after she drank from it… all of these techniques are still used today.
George Brent (Stevens) and Margaret Lindsay (the moll) but to echo others, the character actors that made up the other cops, the reporters, the forensic scientist, the criminals, etc. are at least more memorable due to how colorful they were & how they were portrayed. Eugene Pallette as the cop steadfastly (wrong) about his hypothesis and Edward Ellis of The Thin Man fame as the forensic scientist who of course possesses a morbid sense of humor.
At only 64 minutes, this picture filled with swerves is likely to be a fun time for those that dig the Pre-Code mysteries. One last note: the brother of Lindsay was a part of the Olympic shooting team; controversies aside (mostly revolving around how the committee in Paris is running the games, NOT the nonsense revolving around trans panic) it’s been a fun games.
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