Mord ist mein Geschäft

A man's body is found face down in a fireplace, face and fingerprints charred beyond identification. Clues lead to his mistress, bar singer Barbara Payton (alas, we get to hear nary a note). Homicide cop Ray Patrick tracks her to a mountain cabin, but a blizzard forces them to spend a (chaste) night together, and she starts to get under his skin. On the train back to Los Angeles, she spots the man who was presumed murdered standing on a platform; against his better judgement, Patrick joins her on the lam to uncover the truth -- a confusing pastiche involving her roommate, a double blackmail scheme, the wrong body and, somehow, ceramic figurines....

Of all the directors who started out in European cinema but fled to America, Edgar G. Ulmer worked with the most crippling resources. In Murder Is My Beat, he returns to Detour's depressing terrain of thrown-together fugitives holing up in crummy motels. But instead of the full-tilt, well, savagery of Ann Savage, there's the catatonic passivity of Barbara Payton, a beaten-down, ill-used blonde. (How much of this depends on acting ability is anybody's guess. At this final outpost of her movie career -- five years earlier, she'd been James Cagney's moll in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye -- Payton had already begun her sad drift toward the demimonde.) Though the story relies too much on explication rather than exposition, its fatalistic inertia keeps the viewer interested but off balance. It's another cheapie noir saved from utter mediocrity by the genuine, if compromised, talents of its director.

The best thing about this jumbled programmer is the intimidating snowstorm Detective Patrick (Langton) has to slog through. I almost went to the closet for my parka. The movie's main draw now, I expect, is Hollywood bad girl Barbara Payton's final movie. Too bad she couldn't work up some emotion. Outside of her sweaters, it's hard to see how veteran cop Patrick could fall for her so quickly, and jeopardize his career, to boot.

All in all, you may need a scorecard to track the convoluted plot—something about who's killed whom and whether the dead are really dead. It may also help to turn off your sense of disbelief when you turn on the movie. Anyhow, Patrick's got 77-minutes to figure it all out. Langton's fine in the lead role, while Tracey Roberts makes for an intriguing mystery woman. I wish Roberts had made more movies; she's definitely a distinctive presence.

Five years earlier and I expect cult director Ulmer would have delivered an atmospheric noir. But not here. The lighting and photography are strictly pedestrian, and it's anybody's guess why. In my book, the results amount to forgettable 50's crime drama.There are a couple of noir earmarks-- a compromised fall guy, a half spider woman-- but crucially there's no noirish mood that might implicate the ambivalent nature of reality itself.

Too bad the star-crossed Payton didn't go out on a stronger note. Still, she looks bored with the whole procedure, so maybe it's just as well.

Murder Is My Beat (1955) stars Paul Langton as a hard boiled police detective. He captures murder suspect Barbara Payton and she is convicted of murdering a man whose face wound up being off in a fireplace. Somehow, Langton is assigned to escort her to prison. On the train ride, she thinks she sees the supposed victim outside the train. Langton has already fallen for her so they jump off the train and start pursuing the supposed victim. Along the way, Langton's Superior, Robert Shayne (Inspector Henderson on the Superman TV series) finds them and decides to join them in their quest. How is that for believability? Only in Hollywood. Paul Langton had a long career as a supporting actor, mainly in authoritative roles. He isn't convincing as kind of a poor man's Charles McGraw. Barbara Payton was already on the skids and this was her last role. She appears bloated, especially her face, and just speaks her lines without emotion, as though she were reading them off cue cards. I just watched this on TCM and you will enjoy it only if you are a fan of 1950s police dramas.

When a man is found with his face destroyed by fire in a fireplace, the prominent Police Detective Ray Patrick (Paul Langton) is assigned to the case. Soon he captures the singer Eden Lane (Barbara Payton), who was the man´s mistress, and solves the case. Eden is sentenced to prison and while Ray is transporting her by train, she claims that she has just seen her lover alive in a train station. Ray believes the woman and helps her to escape to hunt the man. Meanwhile Police Captain Bert Rawley (Robert Shayne) hunts the couple down.

"Murder Is My Beat" is a flawed but entertaining film-noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. The plot has many coincidences and most of the twists are not believable but it is worthwhile watching at least once. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Morto Desaparecido" (The Vanished Dead")

This is no masterpiece but is a modestly entertaining crime movie...not "noir" by any stretch either but the performances from a good group of "B" players are not bad, and anyway you don't get too much chance to see Barbara Payton in movies. Just don't expect any competition for The Big Heat or The Maltese Falcon and you should have a good time!