Los desaparecidos

...In fact, Warner Brothers seemed very confused as to who they wanted to play the hothead with a (usually) good heart until the production code era. Then it was O'Brien's level headed guy to Cagney's hothead. But here O'Brien is still in hothead mode, as he is Butch, a detective assigned to NYC's Bureau of Missing Persons - the part of the NYPD that tracks down missing persons or sometimes their corpses - because Butch has gotten to be too rough as a regular detective. Hopefully here he will learn to use his head.

Lewis Stone takes a vacation from MGM to play Captain Webb, head of the bureau, with a Judge Hardy style of leadership. It's interesting to see his humane treatment of people who must be informed that the missing is deceased, and how he tries to restore the deliberately missing to their families with minimum embarrassment to the missing or the families. Here we get into precode territory a couple of times.

Bette Davis plays Norma Roberts, a woman who comes to the bureau looking for her missing husband. But to be married to the guy she knows ridiculously little about what he looks like and his habits when Butch questions her. What goes on here? Watch and find out.

This is a great Warner Bros. precode in the Warner Bros. tradition that has an unusual setting. With Ruth Donnelly as the bureau's secretary with mouth and attitude to spare as usual, Glenda Farrell with a cameo role as Butch's estranged wife who is always coming in to clean out his pockets (it was the Depression, a girl's got to eat, you know?), and Allen Jenkins as a bureau detective who for once plays a capable guy who is in the know.

This pre-Code WB production is typical of the period—a fast-talking lead, a batch of loose dames, a rather comical supporting cast, and an upbeat tempo.

As tough, aggressive cop named "Butch", O'Brien machine-guns his dialogue in pretty strident tones. Trouble is it does get tiresome. As Butch, he's sent over to Missing Persons Bureau from his former assignment to hopefully mellow out. Fat chance. Anyway, the screenplay weaves a number of missing person cases into the narrative, with the Bette Davis case being primary. An authoritative, no-nonsense Lewis Stone presides over the bureau that makes you believe he can handle the thuggish new guy. This was before Stone became enshrined in the Andy Hardy series. On the whole, Davis may get the billing but it's really O'Brien's movie.

With the comically adept likes of Farrell, Jenkins, Herbert, and Donnelly, there're a number of chuckles. But what I really like is that bit of business at the coffee bar, where condiments slide back and forth like hockey pucks. I wonder if that was director Del Ruth, a generally underrated craftsman with occasional flair. Despite the title, there's no mystery but there is some suspense near the end. All in all, the 73-minutes is more like a fabric of characters colorfully interwoven.

Every day the front desk of the Bureau of Missing Persons is crowded with people trying to locate loved ones who have turned up missing - some by accident and some on purpose. Not sure if this picture is accurate in its conception of a BMP, but it's a fascinating look at how it might be. It presents a series of vignettes, some funny some serious, of different cases the Bureau might handle.

The main focus is on the newest arrival at the Bureau, a cop (Pat O'Brien)assigned to the Bureau after one too many brutal arrests. He is assigned the case of a woman (Bette Davis) looking for her husband, and with an air of suspicion attached. O'Brien is a strong-armed sort who is assertive and, as is his custom, talks in a loud, penetrating staccato voice which can soon become tiresome. Davis is very pretty here. Her looks did not hold up and grew harder as she got older. There is good chemistry between the two and they rise above the muddled material presented here, dated though it is.

If you are a Golden Age fan, there are many familiar faces, among them Lewis Stone as the Bureau chief, Glenda Farrell as O'Brien's estranged (and strange) wife, Hugh Herbert as a Bureau detective and many more. This formed the basis for my rating because, as previously stated, the material here is hum-drum and somewhat confusing. I thought the picture was fun and better than several reviewers gave it credit for.

For getting too rough on robbery cases, New York City detective Pat O'Brien (as "Butch" Saunders) is transferred to the "Bureau of Missing Persons" where he must answer to MGM stalwart Lewis Stone (as Captain Webb) who appears to be moonlighting at First National-Warner Bros. Typical of the missing is businessman Clay Clement (as Burton C. Kingman) - found honeymooning with a woman who is not his wife. Also located by Mr. O'Brien is 12-year-old prodigy Tad Alexander (as Caesar Paul)...

When her husband runs away with their cook, a woman tells Mr. Stone, "Never mind about him, I want my cook!"

After a half hour getting to know smooth-talking detective Allen Jenkins (as Joe Musik) and the cast, the main case gets started when beautiful young Bette Davis (as Norma Williams) arrives on screen, to report her groom missing. Very obviously, Ms. Davis is holding back some important details about her so-called missing husband. Business is mixed with pleasure as O'Brien, separated from so-called wife Glenda Farrell (as Belle) for a year, is attracted to Davis. Stay tuned for murder and other mayhem.

***** Bureau of Missing Persons (9/8/33) Roy Del Ruth ~ Pat O'Brien, Bette Davis, Lewis Stone, Allen Jenkins

If you've already seen all the well-known studio films from the early 30's, it's fun to go back and fill in with some lesser known ones, like this typical Warner's B-movie.

Its director, Roy del Ruth, was strictly B-list at this point in his career. The supporting cast -- Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly, Glenda Farrell, Hugh Herbert -- are familiar from the Busby Berkeley movies, and each brings a stereotyped character briefly to life, which is what they were paid to do. Farrell in particular is funny as a gold-digger.

Pat O'Brien is actually the lead, although Bette Davis was given top billing. He's best known for playing butch types -- reporters, cops, soldiers, manly priests. (In this one, Butch is actually his character's name!) His performance here is surprisingly subtle and varied; it makes me want to see more of his movies.

Unfortunately the story is hopelessly implausible and unconvincing. Davis does the best she can with a confusingly-written part, although I can't quite tell whether she's trying to do an accent or not. And she changes from a blonde to a brunette halfway through -- was she shooting another picture at the same time?

The whole thing looks like it was thrown together in a couple of weeks. Probably the only really demanding scene to film was a car chase near the end, shot on location (or was it stock footage?).

All in all, probably worth 72 minutes of your time if you happen to run across it on TCM. Don't expect too much though...