They're Always Caught

When reform mayor Charles Waldron is blown up with a car bomb by crooked aide John Eldredge, Louis Jean Heydt is accused and picked up. However crime lab scientist Stanley Ridges won't call anyone guilty without real proof. When he has it, though, the evil-doers will discover that CRIME DOES NOT PAY.

This entry in the long-running MGM series can be considered a precursor of all those science-based mystery shows that have become so popular in the past few years. In shows like BONES and CSI, it's always science that figures out whodunnit, and this was good enough to get an Oscar nomination and an expansion a few years later into the feature KID GLOVE KILLER.

It's remarkably low-key for the series, which often culminated in gun battles, fires and attendant deaths. The decision not to have any -- Waldron aside, and that happens offscreen -- it doesn't need it.

A city's new mayor is a hard-nosed old cuss who's tough on crime. Naturally someone croaks him. The police use some newfangled scientific methods to solve the crime. A good entry in the Crime Does Not Pay series. Really neat seeing the police using scientific techniques not too far removed from today's. Most movies from back in those days tended to focus only on the he-man aspects of crime fighting, shoot-outs and roughing up suspects and so on. Nice to see some brains to go with the brawn. Fine cast of character actors that includes John Eldredge, Louis Jean Heydt, and Stanley Ridges helps a lot too. Best scene is when the cops trick the killer into letting them vacuum his hair for evidence. That has to be seen to be believed.

They're Always Caught (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Another nice entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series. This time out a tough Mayor is trying to get all the corruption out of the city. He learns that the D.A. is working with a crime lord so he asks for his resignation. Later that night the D.A. plants a bomb in the Mayor's car, killing him and throwing blame on an innocent man. It seems like an easy case but the latest technologies make it far from being over. This short seemed to be made just to show criminals that there are new ways for them to get caught. The use of hair, fingernails and dust was something new back then and it was nice seeing the way the equipment was used to gather all the evidence. This film does a nice job at breaking everything down where people back then would be able to understand what was going on even though by doing this the actual story of the film takes a few hits. This film would later be remade as KID GLOVE KILLER but I've yet to see it to compare how close they are. Received an Oscar-nomination.

"They're Always Caught" is one of the best films from the exceptional "Crime Does Not Pay" series from MGM. These shorts are almost all uniformly well made and interesting and hold up well today. However, of all the shorts I've seen so far, this one is among the very best--and that's saying a lot.

This short begins with the election of a new mayor. The new mayor is tough and wants to clean up the city. And, in light of this, one of the first things he does is fire the district attorney--a guy who is quick to sing his own praises but who is incompetent or on the take. But this D.A. is clever--before the mayor has a chance to tell anyone else, his car explodes--and it's not the D.A. who is an ex but the mayor! Unfortunately for some poor schnook, it appears as if he's done it--and the D.A. is quick to capitalize on this and swears to convict the guy--even though there is plenty of investigation to go!

What makes this episode so special is the emphasis on forensics. And, what's more interesting is how advanced they were back in 1938. You'll see the investigators going step by step explaining their work and showing exactly how such an investigation is done. Fascinating throughout--and very informative. Well written and acted as well. Strongly recommended.

The always interesting "Crime Does Not Pay" series from MGM, running from 1935 to 1947, checks in with an interesting tale of a crusading mayor, his betrayal and murder, a man who looks guilty but isn't , and the role of forensic science in solving the crime.

Always part dramatic, part documentary, these 20 minute shorts do a pretty good job of showing empathy when it is appropriate tempered with justice. In this case, the short focuses on the role of science in solving the crime. The mayor is killed with a car bomb and the culprit thinks the explosion will erase all evidence. But careful evidence collection by the police, the test tube, the microscope, and the spectrograph give the police a clear view of why the chief suspect could not be guilty, and who the actual murderer is. With a dramatic conclusion, think of it as Quincy M.E., 1938 without the colorful Jack Klugman.