Mexican Manhunt

For a couple of decades, true-crime writer George Brent has been trying to find out what happened to crime reporter Morris Ankrum. Now he's off to Mexico in what he hopes will be the last trip investigating the matter. He quickly find Ankrum and the daughter he took along, grown into Karen Sharpe. But there are people trying to make sure Ankrum doesn't get back, even if they have to kill him, including Hillary Brooke, Carleton Young, and Stuart Randall.

It's a last hurrah for Brent as a leading man, and about time; he's looking pudgy and not moving very fast. He would continue acting on big and little screens until shortly before his death in 1979 at the age of 75.

The plot has an issue or three. The issue of who is behind the machinations could be figured out in short order had Brent simply asked Ankrum, which would turn this into a very short movie indeed. Nonetheless, I was able to figure it out fairly easily. With Marjorie Lord and Alberto Morin.

George Brent had his last leading role in a movie when he made this low-budget drama for Monogram/Allied Artists. A bit of a letdown considering the great stuff he had done with Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck and Olivia De Havilland who would all continue to make big budget films for some time after this.

The popular leading man of the 1930s and 1940s still looks fit for a guy of his age, and his pleasing personality is apparent in all his scenes. But the routine plot and by-the-numbers character he plays is certainly no challenge for him. Or for some of us watching, who wish to stay awake. In some ways, you can see the influence television was already having on mainstream films such as this one. It does not differ from any crime yarn that would be made on the small screen during this era, except that at around 70 minutes and with no commercials, it's a longer drama with a number of outdoor sequences.

Helping the production is actress Hillary Brooke who specialized in playing crooked "dames" as well as Marjorie Lord who appears as Brent's girl Friday. Lord's movie career never really went beyond B films like this, and she would soon make a more lasting mark on TV as Danny Thomas' wife on his long-running sitcom.

I'd recommend MEXICAN MANHUNT not exactly for the story (it's been done a million times) but for anyone who likes George Brent. He deserved a better script but shows us he still had considerable charm and was still every bit a class act though his days as a movie star were now over.