Time Out for Murder

Not that bad this little comedy thriller made by Bruce Humberstone, in his early part of career, for Twentieth Century Fox, where he spent most of his time. He gave us light hearted or musicals yarns, Charlie Chan stuff, an excellent thriller I WAKE UP SCREAMING, a western FURY AT FURNACE CREEK, before quitting Fox and making TEN WANTED MEN for Columbia Pictures and some Tarzan films. This one is very agreeable, light hearted at the most, not a pure drama, but typical of this late thirties period. Fast paced, never boring, even if you don't like comedies, you'll be enjoyed by this one. Don't bother the topic, just the overall atmosphere, and the very dynamic directing.

Ruth Hussey is murdered while getting the time from the telephone operator -- the girl running the switchboard will swear to it. Ace reporter Michael Whelan and his photographer pal Chick Chandler try to get the story, figuring night-club owner Douglas Fowley is the natural suspect -- she was stiffing him on a big gambling debt. Along the way they rope in top-billed repo girl Gloria Stuart.

In a murder mystery where almost everyone is known by a nickname, I immediately suspected the three characters who went by their proper names. Once you threw out Miss Hussey, that made it two. But there were some curve balls thrown along the way, and everyone talked as fast as they used to in a Warner Brothers pre-code movie. There's absolutely zero social content; interest in bringing a murderer to justice seems to be completely a matter of getting some headlines for the paper, but this zips along. This being a Twentieth Century-Fox B movie, there's an amazing assortment of performers playing small roles, from Jane Darwell to Brooks Benedict to Edward Gargan.

A bank runner is accused of killing a woman for whom he deposited a large amount. Reporter and bank official investigate and learn that a gangster could be involved. Luckily, the reporter is friends with the gangster, but that friendship might not last ...

Time for Murder is a breezy comedy mystery that moves at a click pace, and though the main reporter's sidekick ( photographer) can be annoying with his jokes, the characters are quite likeable, especially Gloria Stuart. She keeps things together and is full of energy. The reporters appear to place headline news above getting justice, but they -with the help of Gloria- get the job done.