The Mystery Man

It's not annoying or boring, but plot point by plot point it makes little sense. And yet is a fun and breezy little film, so I give it 6/10.

This was made by poverty row stalwart, Monogram and directed by Ray McCarey, younger brother of famed director Leo McCarey. Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) is a Chicago reporter who drinks heavily and gambles heavily, always annoying his boss, the city editor. Early on the police department gives Larry an award for cracking criminal cases as part of his job as a crime reporter. And they give him as a gift - a 45 caliber police revolver??? Then Larry resigns from his job and goes to St. Louis in the middle of the Great Depression with no money and no job.(???) There he meets a jobless broke girl, Anne, and although he acts like a total creepster and hits on her, she agrees to - check into an expensive hotel with him posing as his wife and order a large expensive meal for which they cannot pay??? Strangely enough, Larry stops treating Ann like an object as soon as they are alone in a hotel room, registered as man and wife.

Larry thinks he can get and keep a job with a local paper as a crime reporter if he can catch a local serial robber, "the eel". But instead he winds up accused of being the eel with a complicating factor that every time somebody calls his old managing editor and asks him to verify Larry's identity he claims that Larry Doyle is still in Chicago. Complications ensue.

The first half of the film moved quickly enough, but it is all over the map and contains lots of pointless scenes that appear to be filler to get this to feature length. Things pick up in the second half once Larry tries to catch The Eel and is then accused of being him, with Larry needing to catch the actual Eel to keep from being charged with murder. I saw a very good print of this film on youtube that looks like it has been restored with both the audio and video being quite crisp.

The Mystery Man (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent mystery from Monogram has Robert Armstrong playing newspaper reporter Larry Doyle who after a big story gets a revolver as a gift. Later in the picture he's in need of money so he pawns the gun and is later arrested for a murder that was done using the same gun. Now Doyle must prove that he actually pawned the gun and that the killer known as The Eel was the real murderer. THE MYSTERY MAN is a fairly entertaining movie, although the story I've just given really doesn't tell everything. This thing clocks in at just 61-minutes and the murder doesn't take place until around the 37-minute mark, which should tell you a couple things. For starters, there's a lot of early filler in the film that probably could have been left and and in all honesty it probably should have been left out. The only problem then is that you wouldn't be left with a movie. The second problem is that the solving of the case happens in the final twenty minutes and in many ways this was simply way too fast for the crime to be solved. With that said, fans of Armstrong as well as the genre should find the material good enough to keep you entertained through the short running time. As you'd expect, Armstrong has no problems playing the smart aleck reporter who is constantly rubbing people the wrong way until he's finally the one being pushed around. Maxine Doyle is also very good as the woman who ends up helping the reporter on his mission. The two stars have some nice chemistry together and their work certainly helps keep the film moving. The biggest problem with the picture is that there's a bit too much comedy and sadly the majority of it never works. Still, the majority of the people remains entertaining as long as you're not expecting THE MALTESE FALCOLN or some sort of classic.

Newsman Doyle drinks himself out of Chicago job, wakes up on train to St.Louis, and meets penniless girl Ann. Together they get mixed up in murder case involving St. Louis's notorious The Eel. So, will Doyle revive his professional reputation, pay his many debts, and keep Ann out of jail. Stay tuned.

The programmer is about what's expected from cheap-jack Monogram. The sets are bare-boned, the script sloppy, and the direction pedestrian. But as the brashly fast-talking Doyle, Armstrong injects real spunk into the screenplay, maybe too much. No wonder he grappled with the legendary King Kong (1933). To me, however, it's really actress Maxine Doyle who shines. Catch how she goes from withdrawn street urchin to newsman Doyle's aggressive helper, and in convincingly agreeable fashion. Her talent really exceeded the matinee oaters she soon turned to. Anyway, the cast, including the supporting players, come off as much better than the material. Nonetheless, don't go out of your way for it.

Following a drunken night out, an ace Chicago reporter loses his job. Arriving in St. Louis penniless, he meets a girl in a similar position and they team up. After a gun he pawned is used in a murder, they have to solve the crime to avoid arrest.

Average crime story with just a touch of humour but really needing a stronger script. However, despite this, Robert Armstrong does the best that he can and gives a decent performance. Maxine Doyle plays the girl.

This really seems to be two movies in one. The first is a sweet romantic comedy that takes up the first 40 minutes of the film. Reporter Larry Doyle from Chicago gets $50 for breaking an important story and does too much celebrating. He ends up broke in St. Louis. He sits down at a lunch counter with beautiful Anne Oglivie (Maxine Doyle). She finds that she only has 10 cents to pay for her 20 cent coffee and donut. Larry secretly pays for her. Realizing that a young girl broke in the city could end up in trouble, Larry follows her around to help her out. Having no place to stay, he gets a hotel room for the two of them. Anne is reluctant, thinking he wants sex in return, but Larry reassures her that he's a square kind of guy. He orders an expensive $35 a day hotel suite which has two bedrooms with separate keys. He explains that Anne is as safe with him as she would be anywhere in the city.

This part of the movie seems to inspired by Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" which came out also in 1935. Suddenly with about 25 minutes left the movie turns into a more typical Monogram murder mystery. Larry, remembering that he's an investigative reporter, goes after a slippery gangster called "the Eel." As all Monogram murder mysteries are, its silly, cheap and quite a lot of fun.

Robert Armstrong (King Kong, Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young) gives a really strong performance. He's a sweet tough guy with a heart of gold. Maxine Doyle is excellent as the broke virgin in the city. Twenty years old at the time, this was one of her first starring movies. Over the next two years, in 1936 and 1937, she starred in about a dozen low budget movies and that was pretty much the end of her career. She did do some bit parts in the 1940's.

Monogram generally made "C" or "D" movies. This one is actually a solid "B" movie.