The Phantom of 42nd Street

"The death of a performer at a Broadway stage play brings a theatre critic and a police detective together as an unlikely crime-solving duo. The dead performer's niece becomes not only the object of affection for our critic, but also a prime suspect in this death, and some other murders that occur at the theatre. 'The Phantom Killer' sets his sights upon the young woman as his next victim; so, it is a race against time for our heroes to catch the killer," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Milton Raison's screenplay puts a little spark in this low-budget mystery whodunit. Helpfully, Dave O'Brien (as Anthony "Tony" Woolrich) does well in the lead role; his skills as an actor appear to be much greater than the productions employing him. O'Brien and cab driving sidekick Frank Jenks (as Egbert "Romeo" Egglehoffer) would have made a fine 1950s TV detective team. Leading lady Kay Aldridge (as Claudia Moore) and the supporting cast are also good. Unfortunately, the story becomes meandering, and anti-climactic.

**** The Phantom of 42nd Street (5/2/45) Albert Herman ~ Dave O'Brien, Kay Aldridge, Frank Jenks

I've just seen The Phantom Of 42nd Street for the first time and found it fairly enjoyable, but a little talkie at times.

A critic and police investigate a series of murders that have taken place on the set of a play. Three people have been killed in all and in order to catch the killer, a performance of Julius Caesar is held. Will the killer be caught?

This is an interesting little movie and atmospheric but I found it a little slow moving in parts.

The cast includes Dave O'Brien (The Devil Bat), Kay Aldridge and Alan Mowbray (Terror By Night).

Though not brilliant, The Phantom Of 42nd Street is worth watching. A good time filler for an hour or so.

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5.

The Phantom Of 42nd Street from PRC is a not too bad murder mystery of a group of people connected to a theatrical company. Theater critic Dave O'Brien is on the job reviewing a play when the first murder is committed. He gets drafted into the job of covering this and the other murders as they are committed. The ultimate target seems to be Alan Mowbray who is the actor/manager of the company and his daughter Kay Aldridge.

It all goes back to some dirt done the murderer many years ago by many members of the company both in front of and backstage. The culprit has gone quite nuts about it, no doubt fixating for many years on how he would do the job. It is a he, I'll give that much away.

Having a critic be a detective is an intriguing plot premise. Surprisingly the cops seem to warm up quickly to the outside help they're getting unlike in so many of these mysteries.

At a major studio this might have been a minor classic with a lot of the holes in the plot not existing. Still for a PRC film it's far from the worst I've seen.

A newspaper's drama critic turns detective when he gets mixed up with murder among members of a theatre company. Eventually, a series of murders occurs apparently committed by a mysterious phantom.

Not a bad little detective mystery from low-budget PRC. That's thanks mainly to a lively turn from O'Brien as Woolrich and the decorous Kay Aldridge as Claudia. Then there's the familiar Frank Jenks as the comedy relief cabbie, and a surprisingly delightful Vera Marshe as the lame brain waitress Ginger. The screenplay makes good use of its theatrical setting, and I suspect many of those backstage set-ups were real backstage scenes from PRC's sound stage. Of course, 50-some minutes is scarcely enough time to develop a strong list of suspects or mystery plot, but there's enough colorful characterizations to compensate. All in all, an adequate little time-passer.

Tony Woolrich is an oddity for '40s mysteries—a newspaper man who decidedly does not think of himself as a detective. In fact, this film opens with a murder at the theater, and all theater critic Woolrich wants to do is get back to his paper and review the play. He is encouraged to pursue the mystery by his editor, who is understandably upset that the paper has missed a big scoop, and also by his sidekick, Romeo the cab driver. Eventually throwing himself into the job, Tony turns out to be surprisingly good at detective work (for a drama critic, anyway!) and his connections in the theater world help him quickly surpass the little progress achieved by rather dim police detective Walsh (Jack Mulhall).

Dave O'Brien as Tony is earnest and appealing; Frank Jenks as Romeo is appropriately helpful and smart-alecky. (Tony: "I know it's a boorish thing to do but I'd like to follow her." Romeo: "All detectives are boorish, don't let that worry you.") Kay Aldridge is good but unmemorable as leading lady Claudia Moore in a role that doesn't offer much in the way of surprises.

Alan Mowbray is fun as the famous actor at the center of the mysterious events, and even gets to declaim a few lines from Julius Caesar in a climactic scene.

Disguises, old grudges, secret marriages…oh, those actors' lives are so full of intrigue!