Dressed to Kill

Lloyd Nolan brightens up the screen as investigator Michael Shayne in "Dressed to Kill" from 1941.

While picking up his fiancé (Mary Beth Hughes) from her residential hotel so that they can finally get married, Shayne hears a scream from upstairs. Racing up there, he finds two people sitting at a dining table in costume and quite dead.

Eventually Shayne is led to a play done years earlier by the victims and begins looking at the other performers. Meanwhile, he's constantly tripping over both his angry fiancé and Police Inspector Pierson (William Demarest).

There's lots of comedy in this B movie, mostly provided by Demarest, who is one-upped every time by Shayne. The acting is terrific, with some really neat character actors: Virginia Brissac, Erwin Kaiser, Henry Daniel, and Mantan Moreland. Though in a stereotyped role, Moreland shows his talent as he does in the Charlie Chan films, this time even going into a dance.

Recommended.

The third Michael Shayne film Lloyd Nolan made for Fox. This one has hard-boiled detective Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) set to marry his sweetheart (Mary Beth Hughes) but a double homicide in a theatre draws his attention away. Nolan is great in this role. He was made for delivering the snappy dialogue that was the best part of the Michael Shayne films. Mary Beth Hughes is very cute but doesn't get much to do here. She appeared in two other Shayne movies, playing a different character in each one. Nice supporting cast includes William Demarest, Henry Daniell, and pretty Sheila Ryan. Demarest is especially fun. Mantan Moreland and Ben Carter also provide some comic relief. It's a good B detective picture helped by healthy doses of comedy. I also liked the moments of weirdness such as when Shayne first discovers the murder victims in their bizarre costumes. It's a good way to pass the time if you like detective stories.

Lloyd Nolan's Michael Shayne is a refreshingly human private detective, jumping to wrong conclusions and once not even being able to say his own name correctly (you'll see why). The two policemen assigned to the case are delightfully dense.

Shayne is within hours of being married when he and his bride-to-be hear a scream that he investigates. He has to spend the rest of the movie not only attempting to solve the crime but placating and putting off his impatient fiancée. Secret passageways and trapdoors, people who have changed their identities, magicians' sleight of hand, and a hilarious singing-telegram scene add to the tasty mix.

I really enjoyed this and found the humor a welcome addition to the murder investigation.

Economical B movie that has a snappy pace and some terrific lines. Among the best "The stork that brought you should have been arrested for dope peddling!" Lloyd Nolan is perfect in the lead, attractive but believably an everyday guy that you'd run into as a private detective. Always a reliable supporting player whether cast as a heavy or a hero he gets a chance to hold down the star spot in this. One of the great things about the old lower budget films was the opportunities it presented for the quality secondary actors in A level productions to play parts with a bit more variety. William Demarest and Henry Daniell play their stock characters but as always extremely well and add zing to the picture. Something that probably came and went without much fanfare at its release this is a snappy little pic that will please most viewers.

Dressed to Kill (1941)

There are several movies by this name, and this is one of the lesser of them, a comic detective yarn with an improbable murder and some fun settings. Key to its success--because it isn't half bad--is the leading man, Lloyd Nolan, who has an ease and likability that makes his scenes fun to watch. And he's in every minute of the movie.

This is one of a series of Michael Shayne movies (that's the detective's name), and the first seven of the thirteen movie versions star Nolan. It says something that I'd be willing to see another, for sure. But I think this is a television level drama (before t.v., but that kind of budget and level of intensity). These aren't like the great detective movies of the 30s and 40s, and not a bit like the noirs of the 40s and 50s, just to be clear.

One of the surprising high points is the script--very witty, and unrelentingly clever. Nice

Expect very good production values, a decent supporting cast, and a kind of over-convoluted Agatha Christie kind of plot with lots of characters that are really hard to get to know in just over an hour. In the big picture these are a little like the Sherlock Holmes or the Mr. Wong movies with Boris Karloff. Fun, but no great shakes.