Cinemateca » Crime

The Hurricane Express (condensed version) (1932)

admin2 — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:38:32 +0000

The Wrecker wrecks trains on the L & R Railroad. One of his victims is Larry Baker’s father. Baker wants to find the evildoer, among a host of suspects, but it will be difficult since the Wrecker can disguise himself to look like almost anyone.

Adventure | Crime | Drama

John Wayne	…	Larry Baker
Shirley Grey	…	Gloria Stratton, aka Gloria Martin
Tully Marshall	…	Howard L. Edwards, Railroad manager
Conway Tearle	…	Stevens, Railroad attorney
J. Farrell MacDonald	…	Jim Baker, Railroad engineer
Matthew Betz	…	Tom Jordan, Railroad engineer (as Mathew Betz)
James P. Burtis	…	Det. Hemingway, Matthews, assistant (as James Burtis)
Lloyd Whitlock	…	Walter Gray, Airline manager
Joseph W. Girard	…	Detective Matthews (as Joseph Girard)
Edmund Breese	…	Frank Stratton, Gloria’s father
Al Bridge	…	Carlson, Plainville station agent (as Alan Bridge)
Ernie Adams	…	Henchman Barney, Machine gunner (as Ernie S. Adams)
Charles King	…	Henchman Mike
Glenn Strange	…	Henchman Jim
Al Ferguson	…	Henchman Sandy – The ‘Wrecker’s’ pilot

Rene Clair’s – And Then There Were None (1945)

admin2 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:07:36 +0000

On a remote and isolated island, ten people – 8 invited guests and two servants – find themselves facing their own deaths. Their unidentified host informs them, via a gramophone record, that as they have all been responsible for someone’s death, they in turn will die before the weekend is out. There is no way for any of them to flee the island, so they set about trying to determine who their hidden host might be and where he might be hiding. One by one, the guests are killed and one of them suggests that the killer is likely among them.

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Barry Fitzgerald	…	Judge Francis J. Quinncannon
Walter Huston	…	Dr. Edward G. Armstrong
Louis Hayward	…	Philip Lombard
Roland Young	…	Detective William Henry Blore
June Duprez	…	Vera Claythorne
Mischa Auer	…	Prince Nikita ‘Nikki’ Starloff
C. Aubrey Smith	…	General Sir John Mandrake (as Sir C. Aubrey Smith)
Judith Anderson	…	Emily Brent
Richard Haydn	…	Thomas Rogers
Queenie Leonard	…	Ethel Rogers
Harry Thurston	…	Fred Narracott

Young and Innocent (The Girl Was Young) (1937)

admin2 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:06:06 +0000

Eight years after the famous movie actress, Christine Clay, thought she was rid of him, her husband shows up from nowhere. He’s furious that she left him, outraged over her “silly Reno divorce” and indignant that she is now spending her time with “boys.” That’s his view of things, but she’ll never get the chance to give her own side. The quarrel is barely over before her body washes up on the beach near her home. She didn’t drown. She was strangled with the belt of a raincoat. The person who finds her is the “boy” she’s supposedly seeing, Robert Tisdall, a young screenwriter, down on his luck. He runs to get help, and two young women see him. It looks as if he is escaping the scene of a crime. Soon, Tisdall is arrested for murder. But before the trial begins, he escapes, determined to find the real killer. Along the way he finds an unexpected ally in Erica Burgoyne, the police constable’s daughter.

Crime | Thriller

Nova Pilbeam	…	Erica Burgoyne
Derrick De Marney	…	Robert Tisdall (as Derrick de Marney)
Percy Marmont	…	Col. Burgoyne
Edward Rigby	…	Old Will
Mary Clare	…	Erica’s Aunt
John Longden	…	Det. Insp. Kent
George Curzon	…	Guy
Basil Radford	…	Erica’s Uncle
Pamela Carme	…	Christine

Irish Luck (1939)

admin2 — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:57:07 +0000

Buzzy O’Brien is a bellhop in a hotel where a guest is murdered. The police blame Kitty Monahan and Buzzy succeeds in helping her escape and hides her at his home with his mother. Buzzy and his pal Jefferson manage to fumble their way to finding the real killer who was after the stolen bonds carried by the victim. Based on Charles Molyneaux Brown’s story “Death Hops the Bells.”

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Frankie Darro	…	Buzzy O’Brien
Dick Purcell	…	Steve Lanahan
Lillian Elliott	…	Mrs. O’Brien
Dennis Moore	…	Jim Monahan
James Flavin	…	Hotel Detective Fluger
Sheila Darcy	…	Kitty Monahan
Mantan Moreland	…	Jefferson

Contender, The (1944)

admin2 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:35:02 +0000

Widower Gary Farrell can’t afford, on his $45-weekly salary as a truck driver, to send his young son, Mickey, to a high-priced military school and decides to enter heavyweight-boxing tournament in an effort to win the $500 prize money. He wins and turns to boxing as a career and, in a short while, and under the guidance of “Pop” Turner, becomes a Contender for the Heavyweight title. Newspaper reporter Linda Martin is attracted to Farrell but he is paying more attention to the flashy Rita Langdon, who introduces him to night clubs, late hours, drinking, roistering and other attractions and distractions. Ignoring the warnings posted by Linda, Pop, Mickey and Biff Benham, his old cab-partner in the truck-driving business, Farrell continues to abuse all the training rules but still wins bout after bout.

Buster Crabbe	…	Gary Farrel
Arline Judge	…	Linda Martin
Julie Gibson	…	Rita Langdon
Donald Mayo	…	Mickey Farrel
Glenn Strange	…	Biff Benham
Milton Kibbee	…	‘Pop’ Turner
Roland Drew	…	Kip Morgan
Sam Flint	…	Major Palmer

The Boss of Big Town (1942)

admin2 — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:26:45 +0000

Diligent City Market official Michael Lynn resists overtures by well-to-do gangster Kenneth Craige to fix produce and dairy prices during wartime. Lynn seems unable to stop the resulting sabotage and violence on the part of the mob to bring the farmers and wholesalers into line and so is fired by city attorney Jeffrey Moore. After Lynn’s assistant Bram Hart is murdered for going to the authorities, Lynn takes responsibility for his daughter and feigns co-operation with Craige in order to discover the real boss of the criminal enterprise. Lynn unmasks Moore as the corrupt head, and the conspiracy is exposed and foiled.

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance

John Litel	…	Michael Lynn
Florence Rice	…	Linda Gregory
H.B. Warner	…	Jeffrey Moore
John Miljan	…	Kenneth Craige
Jean Brooks	…	Iris Moore
David Bacon	…	Dr. Gil Page
Mary Gordon	…	Mrs. Lane
Frank Ferguson	…	Bram Hart

Sunset Murder Case (1938)

admin2 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:14:14 +0000

First of all this film was produced and distributed in 1938, and is not a 1941 production. The exhibitors and various censor boards objected to the original title, “The Sunset Strip Case” (because of the double meaning that implied a strip on Sunset rather than the name of the street, which is exactly what the producer had in mind when he hired fan-dancer Sally Rand, the hit of the Chicago Exposition and the later Texas Centennial), and Boston promptly banned the film, as Boston was often subject to do with far less reason than they had with this film. The film was tied up in law suits across the country brought against the various blue-nose boards who also blocked its showing, and all this was going on during the collapse of Grand National with GN president E. W. Hammons being hauled to court by exhibitors and creditors, including the production unit headed by this film’s producer George A. Hirliman. The latter produced it for Grand National distribution, but Grand National had no distribution left when Hirliman finally got it cleared for showing in New York in 1941 under the title of “The Sunset Murder Case”…and it was distribued through indie exchanges in 1941 as Grand National had long folded its tent. It still carried the Grand National logo, which evidently has fooled the source that keeps calling this a 1941 production, and showing it as being distributed by an entity that no longer existed. The cast order shown on the 1941 prints is no way reflective of the cast order shown on original release. Excuse the use of Plot Summary to explain why this is not a 1941 film, but that is beginning to appear to be the only way to get this film into its proper decade. The plot summary, albeit skimpy,already on site will suffice for the plot. Be advised that Sally Rand was slower with her fans and showed more flesh in a later-Soundies short film than she does here. This one ran into trouble in 1938 because of her name, and not what she actually showed, although she showed more than was custom in 1938…or 1948 or 1958 for that matter.

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Sally Rand	…	Kathy O’Connor
Esther Muir	…	Lora Wynne
Vince Barnett	…	Barney
Paul Sutton	…	Bapti Stephani
Lona Andre	…	Nita Madera
Mary Brodel	…	Jane Baird

Star Reporter (1939)

admin2 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:45:22 +0000

John Randolph (Warren Hull), an idealistic young newspaper owner who uses his paper as an instrument for the public good, uses a campaign against crime to successfully run grafting politicians out of town. District Attorney William Burnette (Wallis Clark), father of Barbara Burnette (Marsha Hunt) who John loves, learns that John’s father (unknown to John) is a criminal they are seeking. He refuses to prosecute him and John, not knowing the real reason, turns against Burnette and tries to run him out of office.

Crime | Drama | Romance

Warren Hull	…	John Randolph, aka John Charles Benton
Marsha Hunt	…	Barbara Burnette
Wallis Clark	…	District Attorney William Burnette
Clay Clement	…	Whittaker
Morgan Wallace	…	Joe Draper, aka Charles Benton
Virginia Howell	…	Mrs. Julia Randolph

The Speckled Band (1931)

admin2 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:30:44 +0000

Violet Stoner dies under mysterious circumstances in her bedroom at the gloomy mansion of her brutish stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Rylott. Because Violet had become engaged to be married, she stood to inherit a substantial annual allowance from her parents’ estate but never survived to collect it. Her last words were “The Speckled Band!” Now, her sister Helen has become engaged, and the mercenary doctor views the event as money out of his pocket as she stands to get a yearly stipend too. When he orders her to start sleeping in her sister’s bedroom, and she finds the bed bolted to the floor, she fears that a fate similar to Violet’s will befall her. She turns to the residents of 221B Baker Street for help.

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Lyn Harding	…	Dr. Grimesby Rylott
Raymond Massey	…	Sherlock Holmes
Angela Baddeley	…	Helen Stonor
Nancy Price	…	Mrs. Staunton
Athole Stewart	…	Dr. John Watson

Smart Alecks (1942)

admin2 — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:03:54 +0000

Danny helps to capture a wanted criminal and receives a $200 reward. However, he has a falling out with the gang when they believe he should share the money with them. Complications ensue when the crook that Danny helped capture escapes from jail and comes looking for him.

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

Leo Gorcey	…	Muggs McGinnis
Bobby Jordan	…	Danny Stevens
Huntz Hall	…	Glimpy
Gabriel Dell	…	Hank Salka
Max ‘Slapsie Maxie’ Rosenbloom	…	Butch Brocalli (as Maxie Rosenbloom)
Gale Storm	…	Ruth Stevens