By Whose Hand?

You probably shouldn't enjoy this because it's not a good film, in fact the script and some of the acting is terrible but it's got just enough early thirties energy and determination to be fun that it's 100% pure entertainment. A real trashy treat.

Unless written by a Ben Hecht or a Robert Riskin etc. There was a line dividing early thirties B-movies between those which were written and acted so badly that they're unwatchable to those which tried too hard not to be dull but in doing so ended up being so stupid, silly and annoying that they're equally unwatchable. This picture made by Columbia's B team but with pretty decent production standards straddles the line perfectly.

If you love early thirties pictures, particularly Warner's gritty features but can't be doing with those mushy theatrical productions, you'll probably like this. It's no classic but it's no MILLION DOLLAR LEGS either. Great fun.

I've seen him in quite a few pictures but can't say I've ever really 'noticed' Ben Lyon before - he's tended to be a bit nondescript but in this he shines. His character, a less cheesy version of Dick Powell, is just right for this and he virtually single handedly brings this to life.

This film was shown on Turner Classic Movies in the early hours of the AM and I was very glad to have been able to view this nice Classic Film from 1932. The story is all centered on a train ride with a prisoner aboard the Steam Engine powered train and some very shady characters both men and women. A detective on the train loses his prisoner and everyone went crazy trying to locate him, they searched the Pullman car with its bunk bed arrangements with a drawn curtain over each bunk. Some of the passengers were lovers and some couples were newly-weds and they all had to get out of their beds. There is lots of comedy even though there is murder, funny cigarettes give out and a few jewel thieves. Ben Lyon, (Jimmy), Hell's Angels" played the role of a reporter along with Barbara Weeks (Alice),"One Man Justice" who gave a great supporting role. There seemed to be plenty of blonde women on this train, it was during the 30's and everyone wanted Jean Harlow in their pictures or someone who looked like her. Ben Lyon was the star of "Hell's Angels" produced and directed by Howard Hughes. If you can catch this film on TV, you will enjoy a Classic Great Film from the PAST.

This often neglected programmer is filled with suspense and mayhem aboard a fast-moving train and well worth a watch, even though the acting is often overwrought, a holdover from the silent film days when histrionics were sometimes necessary to compensate for the lack of sound. Being an early sound production, the dialog too is often stilted. But the crisp photography, at times reminding the viewer of a Hitchcock picture, and apt direction more than make up for the movie's shortcomings. Sometimes as exciting as today's action hits, especially during the runaway train sequence at the end, "By Whose Hand?" proves a winner all the way.

Though Ben Lyon was a fine actor, he did much better as a second lead. He never had the charisma nor the looks to play top banana as he does in this film. The drunk played by Tom Dugan was probably a laugh riot to audiences in 1932 but by today's standards becomes a bit grating after a few minutes. Intended mainly for comic relief, the part should have been whittled down considerably. Otherwise, the casting is first rate with standout performances by the vivacious Barbara Weeks, the always delightful Dwight Frye, William V. Mong as a crotchety old man, and the versatile Nat Pendleton. The racial stereotyping that was rampant in Hollywood at the time is omnipresent, but if the viewer keeps an open mind this aspect is also tolerable.

The plot involves a hotshot reporter, Jimmy (Lyon), who takes a train ride to scoop a story on Chick Lewis (Frye), the man who plea-bargained with the police and is therefore the target of an escaped killer, Delmar(Pendleton), who stabs his victims. And there are two steak knives missing from the kitchen! Jimmy accidentally meets Alice (Weeks) and falls madly in love with her (who wouldn't!). All the while the locomotive speeds full throttle toward San Francisco.

On a runaway train, there's an escaped killer on his way to prison, a jeweler killed and his pieces missing, a dumb cop to try to figure out what's going on: good thing Ben Lyon, the best reporter in town is on the train!

It's a high speed mystery from Columbia which takes advantage of some good players, like Kenneth Thomson, Ethel Kenyon, Dwight Frye, and Nat Pendleton. Pendleton is far from his comic persona, and quite good as the killer. The real star of the movie, though, is Teddy Tetzlaff Jr's lighting. Most of it is shot in cheap interiors, but a good proportion of it is shot outside in the dark, with only the light from the rigs to illuminate. And those focused shots against a vast, black background are dramatic and often weirdly beautiful. There's also a fine shot of the engine of the train, a maze of pipes in which the engineer and fireman are lost to the audience. There's an ok script, but that's not what makes this one interesting.

By Whose Hand? (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Enjoyable mystery from Columbia, which was once thought lost until being discovered back in 1998 (so I've read). A playboy detective (Ben Lyon) with the lust for women cracks the story of a serial killer who has escaped from prison. While following a lead he ends up on a train where a wide range of suspicious character lure including a murderer. The actual mystery of this film is pretty good but there are way too many attempts at comedy. Some of it works like the drunk who keeps following the detective around but some falls flat on its face. Lyon is decent in the lead but he's never really able to pull off all the charming, lead male stuff. Tom Dugan steal the show as the drunk and Dwight Frye has a small role as a mother loving bad guy. When I say mother loving I really mean it as there's an extremely bizarre scene at the start of the film where he's holding his mother as you'd expect to see someone hold their lover. Then he plants a big, hard kiss on her lips! Directed by Benjamin Stoloff who would direct Bela Lugosi the following year in Night of Terror.