Sky Murder

The most interesting and entertaining of the three films that opened up a little and went outdoors and included a heavy plot of spies and Nazis on the home front. There is that dreaded printing press that the subversives use to peddle their poison with fliers like "Don't be Doped by America".

There is also quite a bit of gun-play and this one is as serious as the series ever got. But it is not without the standard flaws. The Detective as a relentless womanizer (in all its overdone cringe inducement here), the almost ever present Beeswax his always irritating sidekick, the cute ditsy, dumb dame, and the German-American included so we can understand America's tolerance (but not after Pearl Harbor) for all Nationalities despite their governments evil ways. Did we really have to be reminded we are the good guys in such a heavy handed manner?

Sure we did, because repetition works, and this series was just another palatable picture used as a delivery device to a yet to be convinced public that we are about to join the fight against fascism. A noble cause. That is also the best that could be said about the Nick Carter Series.

This is yet another experiment in the all important detective genre — before the genre settled into the few riverbeds we work with today. The experiment failed, which is why you don't find this celebrated. Its actually a very bad entertainment. Very bad indeed and after this Nick Carter would end.

Its only interesting if you study how the notion of film detection and noir evolved, and what branches died out... or if you are interested in how national identity is defined in film (or reflected if you are a gnostic).

This one tries to punch up the franchise with pretty girls, six of them who are apparently prostitutes though the relationship is so softpeddled, they are mentioned as "dancers." They are protected by a dumb blond who is so dumb it defies even movie logic.

One of these is a German girl who is reluctantly recruited into a German conspiracy against the US, a "fifth column." When she is condemned in front of members of the "cell," one decent man gets up to protest that he joined to make the world better. He is immediately beset by thugs and beaten to death. There is mention of concentration camps. The US hadn't yet entered the war, but it was ready.

There's a mystery of sorts here, how someone is stabbed in a sealed cabin on an airplane. But it is so contrived, so needlessly elaborate its funny, like the genteel whores that subliminally stand for American values.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

This film is a real treat! People expect a major "film noir" edge and that was not the intent here! Whine all you want but this is for fun! One "critic" said it was fit for "eight year old boys". I disagree. It's witty, fast paced, well acted and directed! Perhaps some of these armchair Siskel and Eiberts should watch a similar film made a year later at Warner's, called "All Through the Night" with Bogie! A humorous spin on fifth columnists at work in the US. I find Donald Meek to be a real riot here. A goof who was remarkably resourceful. 1940 was a tumultuous time in the US, what with the war raging for a year in Europe. A film like this, while avoiding the usual flag waving makes it's point in a humorous light! Pidgeon has Bill Powell's easy going nature as he slowly gets to the bottom of the plot. A pity there weren't more in the series with Pidgeon at the forefront. A great cast of character actors makes this a stand out! Don't miss it!

Master detective Nick Carter as played by Walter Pidgeon tangles with fifth columnists in Sky Murder. During the course of the film a murder does take place in a millionaire's private plane and at the climax another is attempted, but foiled.

United States Senator George Lessey tips the famous private eye to this nest of traitors, but the leaders are an illusive group. His Senate investigating committee is looking into this and he'd like Carter to work for them.

Of course Walter Pidgeon does things in his own way with sidekick Donald Meek with his ever present bees. They key seems to be refugee girl Kaaren Verne who is being pressured and not quite leveling with Pidgeon or anyone else about her situation.

Once again Donald Meek whom I usually love as a character actor is downright annoying in this as he was in the other Nick Carter films as the bee man. Sometimes he's more of a danger to Pidgeon than the bad guys.

Take note of Dorothy Tree in this film, she plays a hardcore Bundist type and well. Tree who later had blacklist troubles saw the other side of the struggle as the underground leader in the famous camp classic, Hitler - Dead Or Alive.

There's a little more MGM type gloss to these Carter films which is also a bit out of place. But MGM didn't know how to do it any other way in the days of Louis B. Mayer.

When I heard "Nick Carter," I was expecting a dark, noir-ish hard boiled detective story, along the lines of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. "Sky Murder" is anything but.

I thought the first few scenes of the movie were so bad, I was going to give it a 3 and turn it off. (No movie can score higher than a 3 with me if I can't stand it till the end.)

For some reason, though, and it wasn't any sudden change in plot or acting, I kept with it. It was more than three quarters of the way through, more than 45 minutes into the film, that I suddenly realized this is a rollicking adventure story aimed at eight-year-old boys, with no pretensions of being anything but a good time. It is a comic book come to life, sort of like the old Superman TV show from the fifties.

Once I realized that, the movie became much more enjoyable.

I don't know if an eight-year-old would enjoy it today, though. It's not full of fast action, has no gunfire, and of course it has no CG.

So, without modern kid appeal, and, as other reviewers have shown, it doesn't hold much for adult viewers, I'm afraid this well-done and entertaining film is probably destined for obscurity.