The Panther's Claw

Byron Foulger stars as Everett Digberry, a mild-mannered wigmaker for theatrical folks who, in the film's opening scene, is picked up by the cops climbing out of a cemetery late at night. Taken downtown, he finds a number of acquaintances in the commissioner's office; all of them, like him, have received mysterious letters demanding money and signed only with a panther's paw print.

Sidney Blackmer investigates as police commissioner Thatcher Colt with suavity and humor. He is ably assisted by Ricki Vallin as Anthony Abbot. (Somewhat bizarrely, the original story is also credited to "Anthony Abbot," the pen name of a mystery writer who was not the first to insert "himself" into a story.)

The mystery plot holds interest but doesn't create a huge amount of suspense, although it does take a few interesting turns, including one major shift that arguably renders the film's title misleading (but catchy!).

I would like to know, having watched these characters spend no little time looking over wigs, if Mr. Digberry is correct when he tells the commissioner, "One wigmaker can usually tell another's knot."

In the beginning of the movie there is a page dedicating the movie to the New York Police: "This picture dedicated to the New York Police Department with its thousands of loyal and courageous men for meritorious service to its community."

A man named Digberry/Byron Foulge is seen climbing out on a cemetery wall by a policeman late at night. The policeman asked what he was doing in the cemetery. Digberry gives the policeman a story that is like suspicious and kind of funny that he is brought to the police station and questioned.

The story goes on from there that Digberry got a letter from a anonymous person to leave money on a grave. He claims he paid the money because he has a wife and 5 daughter on vacation who will be coming home and he does not want them frightened or anything bad happen to them. Other people that know each other got a similar letter with a paw print on it and days later Digberry got direction as to where and when he was to leave the money.

A woman is murdered and 3 men are considered suspect. One of the clues is a wig. Digberry is a wig maker and there is another man that made a wig for a man. The hair of the wig was found in the dead woman's hand.

There are lots of funny scenes. What I thought was interesting is the way the police investigated. They were very clever and alert as to what was said and what they saw and the way people responded. Good police work.

Good mystery, lots of humor and nice for a black and white picture made in 1942 you can watch for free on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OY6ddm8zy0

I was very happy to be able to buy this movie and watch it last weekend. I last saw this movie over 30 years ago. I remember it being good, and I was not disapponted. It has a fairly good mystery, but what makes this movie special is that it's very funny. It has several scenes which I think are classic. The line up scene is hilarious. Byron Foulger gives a great comedic performance.

When people start getting letters instructing them to leave money in public places ( or else!), the police get them together to figure out how to catch "the panther". Sydney Blackmer is Commissioner Colt, and the cops spend a LONG time bugging Mister Digberry (Byron Foulger), even putting him in a police line-up, when there is no witness. They realize he is yet another citizen falling for this scheme, like opera singer Nina Politza, played by Gerta Rozan. Check out Rozan's trivia on imdb... she had an interesting response when her part was cut from a film. The story is pretty slow, light-weight and linear. no surprises, no depth to the characters. Another very long scene between the singer and Enrico Lombardi, a minor, upper-class character who may or may not be involved in any of this. They seem to spend a lot of time on scenes that aren't important to the plot; they should have spent more time on developing the plot rather than filming all these minor scenes that have nothing to do with the story. As usual, in the old black and white films, the police are chasing their own tail rather than find the right suspect. Rick Vallin and John Ince play supporting roles as coppers. Ince was one of the three Ince brothers, all successful stars in holly-weird. Picture quality is just terrible, but it'll do. Directed by William Beaudine, who had directed a bunch of the Bowery Boys films. this one is very okay. meh.

"The Panther's Claw" is a B-movie from tiny PRC--a tiny studio that made a ton of cheap low-budgeted Bs. While this film isn't that much different from the norm for PRC, it is, inexplicably, more enjoyable than most of their output. Now I am NOT saying it's an especially well made film--it's full of plot holes and the ending is one giant plot hole! But, despite all this, it is fun to watch and much of it is because of the inexplicable choice for a main suspect in this murder mystery.

When the film begins, a very mousy man, Everett Digbury (Byron Foulger) is caught climbing over the wall from the cemetery. According to Digbury, he HAD to go to the place to drop off extortion money from an unknown person who calls them self 'The Panther'. However, the cop insists on taking Digbury downtown and he's treated like a criminal! Fortunately, the Chief of Police isn't as stupid as the rest of the cops and he feels sorry for Digbury and feels that he is a victim of a crime--not some evil perpetrator. However, over time, this confidence is shaken as several times murders occur and all the evidence points to poor old Digbury!

As I mentioned above, seeing one of the meekest men in all of Hollywood playing a guy who MIGHT be a multiple murderer and extortionist is pretty funny. Additionally, despite a few plot holes, the script actually is pretty good--particularly when it comes to snappy dialog. Although this is far from a great film, it is entertaining and fans of old B-mysteries would surely enjoy this one.