Too Many Winners

This film made by PRC looks more like it was made by the People's Republic of China, rather than a cheap film company. It was shot in one day on a Sunday, and the script, which was unbelievably corny and bad, was written in the back seat of a bus going to the studio.

Poor Hugh Beaumont; it would take years before he would find success on TV, and he had to suffer these indignities as a really bad detective named Michael Shayne. I will not bore you with the C actors and writing or plot; suffice it to say you should never waste your time watching junk like this, where every character in the film is a cartoon character with cartoon dialogue.

Just what the 1947 regular movie-goer would have expected as a first half. Director William Beaudine's experienced hand and a simulation of production value (a few extras to walk from one shot to the next in set decorated studio interiors and a location excursion into the bungalow suburbs) make this a presentable example but don't disguise the poverty row quality). It's the last of PRC's Michael Shaynes with Hugh Beaumont, who is too jaunty to be a pulp fiction P. I. A couple of low rent hoods keep on beating him up and throw him into the Public Dump and, when he finally gets around to toughing it out with them, comic cop Ralph Dunn has to take down the last man standing. Trudy Marshall manages forties glamorous but shows no flare for the excessive comic relief with duck calls and arguments about his assignments getting in the way of their holiday. Meanwhile, intrepid reporter Charles Mitchell hovers ineffectually.

It's really all too cheerful, lacking menace and noir lighting. Clare Carleton's blonde floozy has potential as a femme fatale but doesn't last long enough to fulfill promise. The plot is pretty much an afterthought to accomodate all the crime B movie stuff. John Hamilton, owner of the Race Track (one stock shot and a sign on the door of the office with Meet activity on the BP screen behind Venetian blinds) wants to hire Beaumont's Mike Shayne to find out about a racket where he's being swindled with fake winning tickets. A bit more detail on this would have helped. Carlton offers information for a four-figure price and trusted associate Grandon Rhodes knew her when. Throw in shifty Ben Welden and nervous family-man inventor Byron Foulger (best performances) to make up the roster of suspects. A weak subplot with punk kid Gary Grey gets passing attention and George Meader's fussy hotel clerk is actually quite funny.

Now that the film has acquired a veneer of nostalgia, the casual way all the formula ingredients are thrown together becomes quite endearing.

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS!!! I just watched this on a poor quality DVD. I have been a HUGE fan of this series and have been looking for this title for 30 years. This is the last of a series of 5 movies starring Hugh Beaumont as private detective Mike Shayne. What you will notice is that the Michael Shayne of this PRC series is not hardboiled like the one from the books or the Lloyd Nolan series. This Mike Shayne is an easy going, likable, peanut eating sleuth. He is stylish and slick. He carries a gun and gets into fistfights when he has to but does not throw his weight around and threaten people like the Lloyd Nolan Shayne.

I used to have the 1st 4 of the 5 movie series on 16mm film. I sold the films off years ago and had VHS copies made of the movies. I had never seen this title and was never able to find anyone who had a copy available. I just picked up this copy from a collector in England and I have been dying to watch it for many years. I especially wanted to watch it because it featured Claire Carlton. Hugh Beaumont and Claire Carleton are 2 of my all time favorite B movie actors.

The movie starts with Hugh getting ready to go on vacation with his secretary. Many of the movies in this series start or end with Hugh Beaumont trying to leave for vacation, but unable to because of his very busy schedule. The secretary in this movie is played by the beautiful Trudy Marshall. This is the only film in the series featuring her. The secretary Phyllis was played by Cheryl Walker in 3 movies and Kathryn Adams (Hugh Beaumonts real life wife) in 1 movie. Mike Shayne gets offered a high paying job to investigate counterfeit racing tickets. Shayne receives a phone call from Mayme Martin, played by the glamorous Claire Carleton. Mayme plays a blackmailing escort. She offers Shayne some information that he will have to pay $1,000 for. Shayne sends his reporter friend Tim Rourke with the money but Mayme is found dead when Rourke gets there. Tim Rourke is in all 5 movies in the series and is played by Charles Mitchell. Charles Mitchell played the role of Rourke only 1 time with Richard Keene playing it only once (in the 1st of the series) and Paul Bryer 3 times.

This movie features Ralph Dunn as Police Detective Pete Rafferty. Dunn played Rafferty in 4 of the 5 movies and Cy Kendall played him once. Ralph Dunn is one of the highlights of the series. He is lots of fun. The movies in this series tend to run about 60 minutes and are fast paced. This movie was directed by the immortal William "1 Shot" Beaudine. It was his only film in the series, with the 1st four being directed by the great Sam Newfield. William Beaudine was a prolific B director who directed many classic B movies and series movies like Charlie Chan, Bowery Boys and also several cheesy horror movies. He is probably best know for directing Mary Pickford in the great classic SPARROWS. Uncrediited in this movie, and also uncredited in the IMDb credits of this movie is a small role of a doctor played by Selmer Jackson. It seems hard to find a PRC or Monogram movie that he doesn't seem to pop up in. He always plays a doctor, army general or police chief in low budget movies.

This movie is recommended for fans of Hugh Beaumont or fans of low budget series detective movies like Charlie Chan, Philo Vance, Mr. Wong and the like. It is definitely worth tracking down if you can find it. I would love to see a good quality copy of the movie. The copy I watched was poor quality. The big problem with finding the movie is that the movie is not in the public domain. It is not a title with enough demand for the company holding its rights to release on DVD. If you like this movie, you definitely need to get the 3 Hugh Beaumont movies PIER 23, DANGER ZONE and ROARING CITY released on DVD by VCI. They are great quality with Hugh Beaumont playing private eye Denny O'Brien. Denny O'Brien was the movie version of the fantastic Pat Novak (and also Johnny Modero) old time radio shows starring Jack Webb. I consider the radio shows as MUST HAVE. Also look for Hugh Beaumont in the classic RAILROADED.

In this episode of the Mike Shayne mysteries from "The new PRC", Hugh Beaumont and secretary Trudy Marshall are getting ready to go duck hunting when Ben Welden walks in and offers his $2000 to not take a case. This soon develops into racetrack manager John Hamilton hiring Beaumont to investigate who's been forging winning parimutuel tickets.

It's a clunkily composed mystery, with Beaumont dealing with people who refuse to answer questions, and then someone advances the plot lot a ratchet, along with fist fights, pointed guns, and Ralph Dunn as a permanently disgruntled police lieutenant. Director William Beaudine clearly is trying to make Beaumont a breezy version of Brett Halliday's shamus, but while there is some fun with George Meader as a hotel desk clerk who doesn't like Beaumont, mostly there's a sense of frustration as Scott Darling Fred Myton's script keeps everyone waiting. With Byron Foulger and Stanley Blystone.

It was not uncommon for B-movie detective and crime films to have sequels...and often the sequels starred different actors in the leading roles. A good example is "Too Many Winners"...a Michael Shayne detective mystery. For years, Lloyd Nolan played Shayne but here Hugh Beaumont is in the lead. This isn't too surprising, as Beaumont played in a lot of crime films in the 1940s-50s before gaining greater fame as Ward Clever in "Leave it to Beaver". In all, Nolan made seven (for Twentieth Century-Fox) and Beaumont made five Shayne films (for the tiny studio, PRC).

Shayne and his secretary are supposed to go on vacation. However, Shayne is kidnapped and is pulled into a new case involving counterfeit race track tickets. Along the way, folks are killed and Shayne is, as usual, glib and one step ahead of the police.

This is a pretty good film and much of it is due to Beaumont's easygoing characterization. However, the film also has a few strikes against it...mostly because it was made by PRC, one of the cheapest and worst studios at the time. The worst is one of the cops, who openly talks about needing to beat up Shayne to get information out of him! Talk about one-dimensional. Overall, however, the good outweighs the bad and it's a quick and enjoyable movie.