Red-Haired Alibi

"Red-Haired Alibi" is a b-movie from a low-budget studio. Because of this, the adult actors in the film are mostly no-names. However, despite this, the film is pretty good--and better than you'd expect.

When the film begins, Travers meets a young lady, Lynn (Merna Kennedy) in a shop and offers her a job without even knowing her. Soon, she leaves her small town and moves to New York to work for the man-- even though she has no idea what the work will entail. Her job is odd and yet she asks no questions--she is to pretend to be his wife and provide him with an alibi if needed. So, for example, when they go out to eat, they eat in a private dining room and soon Travers sneaks out. She is to keep the door locked and vouch for him being there even though he wasn't. The pay is good and Lynn, foolishly, goes along with it.

Surprise, surprise....it later turns out that Travers is a gangster and Lynn nearly gets herself thrown in jail. She comes clean with the police and is fortunate that they let her go. However, getting another job is difficult considering she now has a reputation. However, when she meets an old acquaintance once again, Bob asks her to come work for him. It seems his wife has left him and their adorable moppet (a very young Shirley Temple) and she will become the child's governess. Not surprisingly, after some time, Bob asks Lynn to marry him and they are quite happy. However, she has not told him about her past and he's refused to even hear about it. Later, however, Travers returns. He's a wanted man and needs to get out of the country and demands that Lynn help him or else he'll tell everyone who she is and about her sordid past. He also says he'll implicate her in a murder she didn't commit. What's next? See the film.

The best thing going for this melodrama is the acting. Although Myrna Kennedy and the rest of the cast are folks you'll very unlikely recognize (apart from young Shirley), they are quite good and manage to make the most of the script. Enjoyable if a bit far- fetched.

Very fine performances denote this crisp romantic drama, tightly directed by B movie specialist Christy Cabanne. It has some beautiful touches at just the right moments to make it a memorable little movie.

1932 is my personal favorite year for movies, from some classics to solid sleepers like the great, unsung comedy "This Is the Night". "Red Haired Alibi" is the sort of film that sneaks up on you -it seems to be conventional and even ordinary, but cumulatively, brick by brick, builds up to pack an emotional wallop.

The story of a naive girl who fate has a few key twists to throw at her is rather simple, but the snappy dialogue, utterly sincere characterizations and careful manipulation of genre cliches works wonders to both grab the viewer and then create an emotional investment in the archetypal roles. Merna Kennedy is no superstar, but instead convincingly represents a "smart" young woman, who rolls with the punches and maintains her poise throughout both luck and hardship, just what is needed for a depression-era heroine. Theodore Von Eltz is near-perfect as the transparently immoral, smoothie of an antihero, upfront with his misogyny yet likable in a sleazy Ricardo Cortez way. It helps to create interest in watching his behavior while creating enough distance to make his fate acceptable to the viewer.

I loved the climax where Merna takes charge, and with the irresistible Third Act presence of Shirley Temple as her stepdaughter the heart-warming finale is simply terrific.

Merna Kennedy is offered a well-paying job by Theodore von Eltz. She's to appear with him in public and keep her mouth shut. Eventually it turns out he is a gangster and she is his red-headed alibi.

It's directed by Christy Cabanne, surely not a name to conjure with. However, he was a skilled craftsman and, given a decent budget and a good script, he could certainly turn out a good movie, and he has done so here, even for Poverty Row producer Sigmund Neufeld. In a period when the camera was static, he filled his movies with moving shots, and there are many of them here: pans, tracking shots and pull-outs are executed with beauty by cinematographer Harry Forbes. The script is also good, and although Miss Kennedy is a little weak in her longer speeches, the characters are nicely drawn. Purnell Pratt has aa nice role as a sympathetic policeman. There's also Shirley Temple in her first appearance in a feature.

Merna Kennedy had become a minor star after appearing with Chaplin in THE CIRCUS. It did not last long, and although she continued appearing in minor roles through 1934, she retired that year to marry Busby Berkley. She died of a heart ailment in 1944, only 36 years old.

"Lynn" (Merna Kennedy) is fed up with her mundane life and looking for a job in New York. Luckily, she alights on the dodgy "Travers" (Theodore von Eltz) who offers her an opportunity. All she has to do is be seen with him. She looks great, is well paid and housed and for a moment or two, there is even the threat of a romance on the horizon. Gradually, though, she begins to realise that he is an out-and-out wrong 'un and when another mobster is gunned down and he goes into hiding, she flees. Good fortune is again on her side when she re-encounters "Shelton" (Grant Withers) who is in need of a nanny for his daughter "Gloria" (Shirley Temple). This romance does blossom but has she seen the last of her erstwhile boss? The stories - there are essentially two, here - are nothing much to write home about, but I did rather like the ending and Kennedy has a certain chemistry with the camera that easily enables her to out-act her male counterparts. Temple is also a natural in front of the lens, and though she doesn't really feature very often, she does bring a little charm to this otherwise watchable, but rather by-the-numbers, romantic thriller.

This forgettable film appears on the Shirley Temple film collection even though she is only in about 5 minutes in the film. Of course, she is quite a scene stealer as always. The story is about a fallen woman played well by Merna Kennedy. The script is quite flawed. Since this film was done in the early 1930s, you have to account for the time period of film making and the time period of the Great Depression where money was tight even for studios. Still this film should be considered an early film noir collection but not the Shirley Temple film collection. I doubt that I would have seen this film otherwise though. The cast doesn't have memorable names from Hollywood's early film era.