Kid Glove Killer

Kid Gloves Killer (1942)

There might be little to recommend this movie beyond a look at Van Heflin in a constrained early role. Oh, and that the director is the noted Fred Zinneman himself. This is a crime caper formula movie, and it's enjoyable all through. For me, a highlight was the unexpected ease of the leading actress, Marsha Hunt (who is still alive at 100 years old as I write this). She is a kind of "regular girl" who everyone is meant to like, but she has a natural presence on screen that seems like should have meant something bigger. Maybe that kind of "normalness" isn't quite star material, not bigger than life. But see it for her, at least. Heflin is an acquired taste these days, but an interesting leading man a little different than the rest (he's great in "Martha Ivers" and "Act of Violence"). His role here is meant to be a really determined and incorruptable science guy in a crime lab. There is a little of that show-and-tell that happens in some detective movies of the time, but not too much to make it lag. The plot owes something to gangster films, where the big crime guy has the D.A. in his pocket. But this same man is also in love (or pretends to be) with the Hunt character. It's all in good entertainment fun, however, nothing too thrilling, and nothing too corny or cheap either. Back to Zinneman. This is his first feature film direction. The snappy, smart construction might be a sign of things to come, once he gets meatier material. Interesting!

Voters elect to "clean up crime" by electing Samuel S. Hinds (as Richard Daniels) mayor of a small city. Gangsters strike back immediately by murdering his district attorney. The homicide is investigated by forensics expert Van Heflin (as Gordon McKay) and his attractive assistant Marsha Hunt (as Jane Mitchell). She provides Mr. Heflin with most of his cigarettes. A likely couple, they say "match me" instead of "got a light?" Special prosecutor and crime-busting radio show host Lee Bowman (as Gerald "Jerry" Ladimer) is also on the hunt. In a "love triangle" subplot that adds tension later on, both men are attracted to Ms. Hunt...

As a car-hop, young Ava Gardner asks if anyone wants desert. Things heat up when the mayor is also murdered. In a "best supporting actor" role, sweating restaurant owner Eddie Quillan (as Eddie Wright) is accused. We know who the real killer is and who could be the next victim. This was a good feature length debut for director Fred Zinnemann. Before the car bomb, one of the characters says, "Wouldn't it Be Nice" which has no connection to The Beach Boys' song. However, the phrases "Don't Worry Baby" and "I Get Around" fairly quickly follow. God only knows if Brian Wilson was jotting down song titles while watching.

****** Kid Glove Killer (4/17/42) Fred Zinnemann ~ Van Heflin, Marsha Hunt, Lee Bowman, Eddie Quillan

In Zinneman's directorial debut, as in most of his films, the emphasis is on the interaction among human minds, souls, emotions, words, and actions. Forensic pathologist Heflin tries to clear accused killer Quillan from being railroaded by radio cop Lee Bowman. Marsha Hunt is marvelous as the lady caught in the triangle. John Litel is memorable in supporting role.

(Slight Spoilers) Intelligent little murder drama where were shown who the murderer is even before he murders his victim. Working for the election of Richard Daniels, Samuel S. Hinds, for mayor of Chatsburg crusading lawyer and crime-fighting, that's a laugh, radio personality Jerry Lidimer, Lee Bowman, is in the know to just what Daniels is to do to in combating crime after he gets into office. Jerry is really working for the Matty Mob who's paying him $1,000.00 a week for his services.

Having Matty's hit men knock off Mayor Daniels crime-fighting attorney general Hunter J. Turnley, by telling them wheres he's going on vacation and thus away from his police protection, Jerry is now made by the unsuspecting Mayor Daniels special prosecutor which makes him even more effective for the mob not the law-abiding people of Chatsburg who he's sworn to serve.

Mayor Daniels later gets this special delivery letter that asks him about a reference for Jerry and how he was able to pay up front $28,000.00 in cash for a $80,000.00 insurance policy. Daniels knowing that Jerry was flat broke where he started to work for him less then a year ago also knows that there's something not kosher with Jerry and tells him that he's going to announce an investigation on his finances the next day.

Panic-stricken Jerry rigs Mayor Daniels car and the next morning as the Mayor is about to start the car motor he's blown to bits. Having a perfect pasty to take the fall diner owner Eddie Wright, Eddie Quillan, Jerry is now in the clear not only to be special prosecutor but mayor as well of Chatsburg. This will give the Matty Mob the run of the city with nothing to fear from the police and the law. What Jerry didn't count on is the man in charge of police lab Gordon McKay, Van Heflin.

Getting all the evidence together Gordon and his pretty assistant Jane Mitchell, Marsha Hunt, at first exonerates the accused and bewildered Eddie Wright of Mayor Daniels murder. With Jerry desperately trying to put the frame on poor Eddie and with a little conniving, on his part, Gordon gets the goods on Jerry by getting a sample of his hair which has particles that were found at the murder scene.

The ending has Jerry who found out about Gordon's evidence against him ,from an unsuspecting Jane, have it out with Gordon, who knew he was coming to murder him, who called the police in advance and also gets Jerry pinned with a dart that he was practicing with all through the film.

Van Heflin was both valiant and funny as the somewhat peculiar lab technician Gordon McKay and his scenes with the pretty Marsha Hunt were, besides a number of fight scenes, the highlight of the movie "Kid Glove Killer".

This low-budget MGM crime flick is surprisingly entertaining. The best way to enjoy it is to suspend what you know about today's film-making and settle into a more innocent time when plots—like the movies themselves—were in black and white, when characters were labeled good or bad, when dialog was crisply effective (though artificial) and when even the deadliest dramas ended with wedding bells. One thing that separates "Kid Glove Killer" from similar films of the 1930s and '40s is the fact that its protagonist, Gordon McKay (Van Heflin) is not only a cop. He's in charge of a police crime laboratory. With the aid of his assistant, Jane Mitchell (Marsha Hunt), McKay solves murders and rids the city of corruption by using a microscope, a spectrograph and other tools that—mutatis mutandis—will be used again in crime-scene-investigation stories for decades to come, up to and including the current "CSI" television series. McKay scrapes beneath fingernails, vacuums people's hair and analyzes fibers to get trace evidence that will nail the crooks. The fact that you know all along who the crooks are doesn't spoil the fun—it's that kind of movie. Embedded in the investigation is a love triangle whose outcome is so obvious that you can go for popcorn without missing a beat. The acting is above par. Van Heflin's performance is adept if unspectacular. (That same year Heflin won a best-supporting-actor Oscar for "Johnny Eager.") Lee Bowman is suavely manipulative as a power-seeker. Marsha Hunt makes what she can of a role that has her wearing a lab coat one minute and an evening gown the next. In those days, of course, it was a Hollywood cliché that a professional woman would slog away at her job only till she could junk it in favor of marriage. This movie observes the cliché, but there is a hint of feminism in the fact that Jane Mitchell—whom everyone calls simply "Mitchell"—works as a chemist, a job more often held by men. Notable among supporting players are John Litel as a crime boss and Eddie Quillan as a victimized citizen. If you look fast, you can see Ava Gardner and Robert Blake in uncredited bit parts. This was Fred Zinnemann's first feature film, and he keeps the whole thing moving to a time clock. The bare-bones production and its repeated use of the same interior sets are not major drawbacks. "Kid Glove Killer" was never intended to be pâté de foie gras. It's a ham sandwich. Pass the mustard.