Murder with Pictures

After racketeer Onslow Stevens is acquitted on murder, Gail Patrick pops up amidst a bunch of reporters, with a perfect motive for killing Onslow's putative victim...and other people start dying. News photographer Lew Ayres doesn't believe she did it, even though she keeps lying to him.

It's not a Universal picture, it's from Paramount, but it's definitely not one of their better ones. It's very watchable, but it depends mostly on Ayres playing the snappy-pattering reporter, and his rivalry with news writer Paul Kelly, who is very good. Other than that, it's a matter of standard cinematography by Ted Tetzlaff, a murder method that I figured out from the get-go and a murderer whom I identified at the 40-minute mark, by the way he behaved, even though there was no sign of why he had done it for another fifteen minutes.

It looks like B director Charles Barton was given a mediocre script, and did a job that didn't much exceed his undoubted competence. It's worth watching for the actors, but not much else.

While there are enjoyable parts to this film, they have most to do with the wisecracking performances. There is just too much suspension of disbelief to work very well. The characters seem bound and determined to fit into the plot, even if the plot is particularly strained. The byplay between the stripper who has a contract to marry him, doesn't play very well, in my opinion. I know what comic relief is, but I really can't take anything seriously once she shows up. This is about murder, and yet there is little care taken to protect those who are victimized. Cameras come into play frequently and the provide us with the clues we need. There is so much evidence and such carelessness by the authorities that it really detracts. I may be taking this too seriously, however; it's not much of a heavyweight film. The conclusion left me utterly cold.

In a nutshell, Lew Ayers is a newspaperman who tries to scoop all others in his field. Gail Patrick as Meg (nick-named NutMeg in this film) is wonderful as a daughter out to avenge a wrong done to her father. Gail Patrick is a much under-rated actress, and one wonders why she didn't get better roles in big budget A-movies. If you really like Patrick, I recommend that you see: "Quiet Please, Murder", which is a far superior B-movie mystery than is this film.

This neat little suspense yarn is quite atmospheric, with courtroom dramatics, fast gunplay, and a tight little mystery that can only be solved by a picture photographed by one of the newspapermen present when a high-priced criminal lawyer falls over dead. Of course, the picture disappears. Did the killer take it? Only one way to find out!

I wound up with this movie on one of those dubious £3.99 four-packs full of 'films you've never heard of'. And, well, on a slow Sunday, I treated myself to the experience...

And, frankly, I was more than pleasantly surprised. Snappy banter plus strong performance from the leads made up for a transparent plot and lackluster 'action' sequences.

Gangsters, reporters, dames in distress (and even a particularly dismal 'car chase scene') - all the traditional trappings of the 'noir' genre, but given a slightly humorous edge by Ayres' enjoyable performance as a wise-cracking reporter.

Lew Ayres and Gail Patrick both give good performances, and the two of them plus a fast-paced story make this an enjoyable B-feature. The crime/mystery story is often implausible, but it provides some interesting developments and it creates some good action.

Ayres and Patrick were both pretty talented performers, and their roles offer each of them some good material. Ayres plays an easygoing news photographer who gets involved in a murder case, in which Patrick's strong-minded character plays an uncertain role. It's good to see Patrick get a more prominent role than usual, even in a low-budget feature, and her elegance fits in well.

The story uses a number of offbeat details to keep things moving, and this helps to hold your interest in the story as well as in masking some of the low production values. This is not bad at all for a movie of its kind, and it provides an hour or so of good light entertainment.