London by Night

It is all too obvious after the first five minutes who the master criminal, "The Umbrella Man" is. Nevertheless, it is a charming, lighthearted mystery with some very good performances.

George Murphy (long before he became a U.S. senator from California,) plays the lead part, Michael Denis, with a great deal of charm and a large dose of tongue-in-cheek. Truth be told, our late U.S. senator was quite a handsome man.

A small side note: back in 1964 I worked at General Service Studios in Hollywood as a messenger. Among other shows that were filmed there was "The Beverly Hillbillies" starring Buddy Ebsen. Ebsen and Murphy were good friends. After Murphy won his U.S. senate seat, he visited Ebsen in his dressing room. There was some talk that Ebsen (who to me, at my lofty age of 18, seemed to be an insufferable snob) might run for office himself.

I had bicycled up to Ebsen's dressing room to deliver some mail. I misjudged the distance between the curb and the dressing room. I hit the curb straight on, knocking all the mail out of my basket. Just as I was maneuvering that very graceful slam, Sen. Murphy came walking out of the dressing room. I was a bit surprised to see that he was about my height. I was, and still am, at 5'9", far from a giant* "What seems to be the trouble, son?" asked the affable Murphy. "I dropped my mail, senator," I managed to mumble and stumble out. "Here, let me help you," said Murphy, whereby this dignified, handsome, and immaculately dressed United States senator got down on his hands and knees, and helped me shuffle the mail back into my basket.

I have been a life-long Democrat, but if I had been old enough to vote for Republican George Murphy, I certainly would have.

What a guy!

*other "cutesie" names (which I learned to despise) were, "squirt," "pipsqueak," "shorty," (which the school bully always called me) and my all time favorite, "shrimp boats."

By way of explanation of that last one, there was a very popular song being sung at that time called "Shrimp Boats are A-comin'"

I had never heard of this film or George Murphy my main reason for watching it was George Zucco and I was not disappointed. The mystery kept me entertained the cast were excellent would certainly recommend it to fans of thirties mystery films.

London By Night (1937)

** (out of 4)

Mystery film from MGM has London being stalked by a mad killer who uses an umbrella as his disguise to prevent being seen. A local reporter (George Murphy) links up with a rich woman (Rita Johnson) to try and figure out who the mysterious figure is. Apparently the working title of this film was THE UMBRELLA MAN was the working title for this film and that probably would have fit it a lot better. I've seen so many mysteries like this over the years to the point where I'm feeling there aren't too many out there left for me to watch. This one here is about middle ground as there's nothing too bad but there's nothing too good either. The one thing the director does get right is the atmosphere as the film has a very dark and fog filled look to it. This here is a major plus as is the casting of George Zucco in the role of a good guy. You don't get to see that very often so it was nice to see it here. He's pretty good in the role as is Virginia Field and Leo G. Carroll in their parts. I wasn't too interested in either league, which was one of the film's faults and I'd also say the identity of the killer was given away rather early even though the "secret" is held to the end. I think most will be able to figure things out. If, like me, you've seen the majority of these types of movies then you might as well check this one out as well. If you haven't seen too many of what the genre has to offer then there are many others you should check out before catching this one of TCM.

A murder occurs in a London night. A mystery man with an umbrella is seen running away. Reporter Michael Denis is always accompanied by his loyal dog Jones. Socialite Patricia Herrick joins him in his investigation along with Scotland Yard Inspector Jefferson.

The umbrella is a cute prop until it's not. It becomes more or less a gimmick. He is literally using the umbrella to hide behind even when he's indoors. It starts like a great concept, but it becomes a bit ridiculous. I like Michael's start with his dog. I like his connection with Patricia although they need more time together. They need the time to do more banter. I did get invested in the murder mystery even if it's only a flawed little film.

This decent but unremarkable programmer has George Murphy sliding occasionally into his Irish brogue, as a reporter in foggy London who wants to go on vacation, but he needs to solve the mystery of 'the Umbrella Man' and court Rita Johnson -- doing a Billie Burke imitation -- assisted and hampered by his dog and Scotland Yard.

As you can tell from that description, it has occasional screwball overtones, but it's largely carried by Murphy's Irish charm. MGM didn't do many of this sort of movie once you descended from the heights of the THIN MAN series, and so it needs to be compared to the RKO programmers of the type. It comes off well in most departments, but it does lack focus and depends on the charm of Mr. George Murphy.... later U.S. Senator. That's one way of getting there, I suppose.