The Phantom of 42nd Street

After watching this poverty row mystery -- and re-running the climactic scene three or four times -- there's no need for a spoiler alert. I still have no idea who committed the murders nor why. Which sorta' takes the wind out of watching Dave O'Brien as the drama critic for the New York Record playing amateur sleuth, probing the slayings that are decimating the cast of a New York repertory theater. Then again, why was the film called "Phantom of 42nd Street" when live theater had long given way to grind movie houses on 42 Street by the time it was made in the 1940s? That's easy. While "Phantom of 47th Street Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues" would have been more accurate, it wouldn't have had nearly the cache. And fitting it on marquees -- especially at theaters that played PRC releases -- would have been a challenge.

Tony Woolrich is an oddity for '40s mysteries—a newspaper man who decidedly does not think of himself as a detective. In fact, this film opens with a murder at the theater, and all theater critic Woolrich wants to do is get back to his paper and review the play. He is encouraged to pursue the mystery by his editor, who is understandably upset that the paper has missed a big scoop, and also by his sidekick, Romeo the cab driver. Eventually throwing himself into the job, Tony turns out to be surprisingly good at detective work (for a drama critic, anyway!) and his connections in the theater world help him quickly surpass the little progress achieved by rather dim police detective Walsh (Jack Mulhall).

Dave O'Brien as Tony is earnest and appealing; Frank Jenks as Romeo is appropriately helpful and smart-alecky. (Tony: "I know it's a boorish thing to do but I'd like to follow her." Romeo: "All detectives are boorish, don't let that worry you.") Kay Aldridge is good but unmemorable as leading lady Claudia Moore in a role that doesn't offer much in the way of surprises.

Alan Mowbray is fun as the famous actor at the center of the mysterious events, and even gets to declaim a few lines from Julius Caesar in a climactic scene.

Disguises, old grudges, secret marriages…oh, those actors' lives are so full of intrigue!

From PRC, Producers Releasing Corp, comes the moidah of an actor. Dave OBrien is "Tony", mister suave reporter, who is trying to solve the case. Kay Aldridge is the actress Claudia, who may or may not be involved. lots of talking, talking with suspects, who may or may not be suspects. O'Brien certainly did it all; writer, actor, director. probably best known for "Reefer Madness", 1936. Met Harry Truman. died quite young at 57 from a heart attack. Keep an eye out for Cyril Delevanti... was the old guy in "Night of the Iguana". Directed by Al Herman; this was one of his last films. had started in silents, doing short films, and moved into the talkies. the sound and picture quality is pretty bad, but there ARE captions, so i guess we're lucky it's watchable at all, after eighty years. showing on FilmDetective streaming channel. it's okay. that about all.

I've just seen The Phantom Of 42nd Street for the first time and found it fairly enjoyable, but a little talkie at times.

A critic and police investigate a series of murders that have taken place on the set of a play. Three people have been killed in all and in order to catch the killer, a performance of Julius Caesar is held. Will the killer be caught?

This is an interesting little movie and atmospheric but I found it a little slow moving in parts.

The cast includes Dave O'Brien (The Devil Bat), Kay Aldridge and Alan Mowbray (Terror By Night).

Though not brilliant, The Phantom Of 42nd Street is worth watching. A good time filler for an hour or so.

Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5.

The Phantom Of 42nd Street from PRC is a not too bad murder mystery of a group of people connected to a theatrical company. Theater critic Dave O'Brien is on the job reviewing a play when the first murder is committed. He gets drafted into the job of covering this and the other murders as they are committed. The ultimate target seems to be Alan Mowbray who is the actor/manager of the company and his daughter Kay Aldridge.

It all goes back to some dirt done the murderer many years ago by many members of the company both in front of and backstage. The culprit has gone quite nuts about it, no doubt fixating for many years on how he would do the job. It is a he, I'll give that much away.

Having a critic be a detective is an intriguing plot premise. Surprisingly the cops seem to warm up quickly to the outside help they're getting unlike in so many of these mysteries.

At a major studio this might have been a minor classic with a lot of the holes in the plot not existing. Still for a PRC film it's far from the worst I've seen.