The Panther's Claw

Anthony Abbot's fictional detective, Police Commissioner Thatcher Colt, inspired only two little known Columbia features, 1932's "The Night Club Lady" and 1933's "The Circus Queen Murder," so after a decade's passing, Poverty Row's PRC took a crack at the character with "The Panther's Claw," intended to be only the first in a new series that came to naught. Replacing two-time Colt Adolphe Menjou with dependable Sidney Blackmer (an excellent choice), the often comic story is derived from Abbot's 1940 short story, "About the Perfect Crime of Mr. Digberry." In keeping Digberry (Byron Foulger) at the forefront, Blackmer's Colt is reduced in stature, conducting a too leisurely investigation as other annoying suspects get an abundance of screen time until he comes on strong at the end. Sadly missing from this PRC Colt are his faithful assistant Miss Kelly, delightfully portrayed by Ruthelma Stevens, and his unique lip reading abilities, which at least made him stand out from his inspiration, Van Dine's Philo Vance. Speaking of which, this would be the screen finale of Thatcher Colt, just as PRC also brought Philo Vance to his end, in a three picture series from 1947. Both characters suffered the same fate on television, as neither were ever revived for small screen incarnations. In hindsight, I believe that PRC was not only better than Monogram with mysteries (Charlie Chan), but also the horror genre, as their stories usually wasted no time getting underway; feel free to disagree.