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Lloyd 'Michael Shayne' Nolan is hired by Ethel Griffies to retrieve a valuable coin for her, the Brasher Doubloon, which she is convinced was stolen by chorus girl Doris Merrick, who is also involved with her son James Seay. What starts out as a routine assignment quickly becomes a puzzle for Nolan as he finds the coin, but then Griffies informs him she also found it back in her personal belongings! Something is not right, and it includes murder, blackmail, Griffies' fidgety secretary Heather Angel and a seemingly inconspicuous photo taken years earlier...

Even tho this is a Michael Shayne movie, it's the first screen adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel 'The High Window', which would be remade a few years later as 'The Brasher Doubloon' starring George Montgomery as Philip Marlowe. The plot is a maze, twisting and turning non-stop in its 60-minute runtime, as the always wise-cracking Nolan ('Lady In The Lake') goes from one clue/red herring to the next. You really need to pay attention or you'll miss things. This was the last of the Shayne movies starring Nolan and it does feel a bit rushed and less fun compared to the other ones. Having said that, it's still got its moments, and Nolan is always a blast as Shayne. But part of what made Nolan's Shayne movies so much fun was the continuous back&forth witty banter between him and the leading ladies (Mary Beth Hughes, Lynn Bari, Marjorie Weaver)... And this movie really lacks it as Angel's ('Lifeboat') character is nothing of the sort, and tough cookie Merrick ('Sensation Hunters') doesn't have quite enough screen time.

Director Herbert Leeds had already directed a few Shayne movies like 'The Man Who Wouldn't Die' so he knew how to direct these quick 'blink or you'll miss a clue' mysteries. DoP Charles G. Clarke ('Moontide', 'Violent Saturday') does a decent if unremarkable job. As mentioned, the movie does feel rushed, and while the crew obviously knew how to get the job done in a timely manner, it also shows. Not the best way for Nolan's Shayne to end, it's a slightly disappointing movie due to the high expectations created by the previous Shayne movies plus using a Chandler novel. A few years later Hugh Beaumont would take over as Michael Shayne for a new series of movies (which I've yet to see). Still good enough to watch for people interested in either Michael Shayne or Raymond Chandler.

Entertaining Michael Shayne movie, the seventh and final in Fox's series starring Lloyd Nolan. A few years after this, PRC would restart the series with Hugh Beaumont. Nolan's Shayne goes out on a high note here with a story adapted from Raymond Chandler's "The High Window." Here Shayne is hired by a nasty old lady to recover a missing coin she believes her daughter-in-law stole. Shayne investigates and finds more to the story. Decent support from Heather Angel, Richard Lane, Ralph Byrd, Morris Ankrum, Doris Merrick, and Paul Guilfoyle. As with the other Shayne movies, Lloyd Nolan carries the movie. This one's a bit "tougher" than the others. Perhaps that's Chandler seeping through. It's no "The Big Sleep" but it's a good way to pass an hour.

This is a fun little detective movie. It actually follows the storyline of The High Window a lot more closely than the later (and much inferior) The Brasher Doubloon. I gather that Michael Shayne's character is quite the wise-ass (he certainly is in this movie), but that's not too much of a stretch from the original Philip Marlowe, and Lloyd Nolan is quite enjoyable in the role.

Of course, like all Chandler adaptations, this one moves much too quickly to capture the hot, sticky southern California atmosphere that pervades so many of the original novels. The running time is too short to include every aspect of the novel, of course, and a couple of my favorite parts were left out, but overall, this is far superior to the version of the same novel that came out a few years later starring George Montgomery (The Brasher Doubloon). One of the better "second-tier" 40s mysteries I've seen.

A Ray Chandler tale. In fact, it was remade in 1947 as the Brasher Doubloon. In this earlier version, Lloyd Nolan is Shayne, hired by an old widow to find a stolen coin and return it to the family. Co-stars Ethel Griffies, Heather Angel, Doris Merrick. The film is all washed out, with bad sound, jumps and cuts. Badly in need of restoration. And while looking for the coin, Shayne opens up a whole counterfeiting ring, and of course, the bodies are piling up. Can they solve the crimes before they run out of suspects? The story is quite good, in spite of the poor quality film. Directed by Herb Leeds. Died young at 54, suicide.

Time to Kill is a fast-paced, thrilling Michael Shayne mystery adapted from a Raymond Chandler novel and sped up to fit just inside an hour. Mrs. Murdock hires Shayne to find her daughter-in-law, a chorus girl who stole a precious coin from her home. Murdock's son is an odd sort of fellow who appears now and then to create a sense that Shayne is being watched, not the sort of guy that could be trusted. When Shayne meets the daughter-in-law, aptly named Miss Conquest, he discovers a beautiful girl just as eager to get out of the Murdock family as Mrs. Murdock is to get her out. Something doesn't quite fit.

Don't blink your eyes or you'll miss something; you have to be able to keep up with this one to truly enjoy it. Maybe some practice with other Lloyd Nolan movies will do the trick.

Nolan gets some great lines and utilizes them well. His tough guy might not be as memorable as Edward G. Robinson's, Humphrey Bogart's, or Dick Powell's, but he gets the job done. He is flanked by a b-movie cast, including the lovely Heather Angel, but don't see b-movie and think you'll be losing out on quality. You don't want your murder mysteries to be polished anyway; the dirtier, the better.