Girl Missing

"Girl Missing" is a neat little B-movie which goes from being a comedy to a murder mystery about midway through the picture. It begins with Kay and June (Glenda Farrell and Mary Brian) at a hotel...and June is being pursued by a dirty old man (Guy Kibbee). While Kay and June are looking for a rich husband, this guy is just a creep who won't take no for an answer. Well, when June tells him no, he abandons them...sticking them with a hotel bill.

Now you probably will assume that the rest of the film will consists of the pair hooking husbands....and you'd be wrong! Instead, it becomes a murder mystery and the police are having a hard time putting the pieces together. So, like too many 1930s films, amateurs manage to piece it all together, as Kay and June want the reward money!

Overall, this is a fun and snappy B-movie...the type Warner Brothers did so very well during this era. The acting is very good and the writing, surprisingly, is very good as well. Well worth seeing and fun.

By the way, if you do watch note the opening titles....as they are very creatively done.

Glenda Farrell is a delight as Torch Blane in that series. Here we have more of a hybrid:

This starts out as a light-hearted comedy dedicated strictly to the fine art of gold-digging.

When it eases into the mystery suggested by the title, Glenda keeps pace beautifully and the movie keeps its rhythm.

A real pleasure!

Two gold digging chorines think they can solve the mystery of a criminal's murder and a GIRL MISSING on her wedding night.

Fast-moving & fun, this is another example of the comedy crime picture that Warner Brothers was so expert at producing. Casts & plots could be shuffled endlessly, with very predictable results. While this assembly line approach created few classics, audience enjoyment could usually be assured.

Warners' wisecracking brassy blonde, Glenda Farrell, and pretty Mary Brian play the chorus girls stranded in Florida who must crack the homicide and kidnapping case in order to earn the sizable reward. They are both excellent in their roles, with sassy Farrell especially funny slinging her one-liners.

Ben Lyon plays the newlywed husband with much unexpected trouble on his hands. Lyle Talbot appears as a successful New York gigolo gone adventuring to Miami. Little Ferdinand Gottschalk is the eccentric parent of the purloined bride and wonderful character actor Guy Kibbee enlivens his few scenes as an old lecher desperate to get his hands on Miss Brian.

Movie mavens will recognize Louise Beavers as a maid & Walter Brennan as a garage attendant, both uncredited.

Instead of the usual two guys as sleuth and sidekick, Girl Missing features two gals, blonde Kay (Farrell) and brunette June (Brian). I guess shaking a leg in a chorus line sharpened their Sherlock skills. Add mystery girl, Daisy (Shannon) and you've got lots of 1930's eye-candy along with the styles and fashions. Seems Daisy mysteriously disappears on her wedding night to a wealthy man, Gibson (Lyon). Her secret is she's a gold digger, but what good will disappearing do since how then can she collect. Thus the mystery begins.

This is pre-Code Warner Bros., so how can you lose. Even programmers like this 69-minutes are full of snap and sass. As a brassy dame Farrell belongs up there with Blondell and Rogers. Here she's full of ideas and push, but cutie Brian gets the guys. Together there're a good team, causing me to wonder if WB had series in mind. There's also an unusual wind-up since there're two plausible solutions to the mystery, one implicating apparently nice guy and male lead, Gibson. And catch those rickety old flivvers rolling down the road. I'm surprised they ever held together. Also in passing, check out actress Shannon's bio in IMDb—it's on the tragic side, especially since she had the screen talent.

Anyway, the movie's an entertaining way to pass on hour, without being anything special.

Kay (Glenda Farrell) and June (Mary Brian) have gotten away from the chorus line in New York and are living it up in a posh Palm Beach hotel, but the price is leading on elderly wealthy Kenneth Van Deusen (Guy Kibbee), and hoping he will just continue to be led with no sexual payoff. He gets tired of the routine and leaves the girls owing a 700 hotel bill. Their solution is to find another wealthy guy, but this time the guy (Ben Lyon as Henry Gibson) is engaged. And he is engaged to somebody they both knew in the chorus line (Peggy Shannon as Daisy), but who snubs them by saying she doesn't know them. The girls have their problems solved when an old friend (Lyle Talbot as Raymond Fox) offers not only to pay their hotel bill but pay their train fare back to New York.

When Kay and June miss their train and have to stay an extra night, they hear on the radio the next morning that newlywed Daisy is a "girl missing". Gibson, her new husband, is offering 25000 as a reward for returning her, and Kay and June decide to stick around and solve the mystery. There is a car chase along a seacoast highway, a dead body found on a bench, and a note with a dagger through it saying "you are next".

This thing is pure rat a tat action and precode one liners , largely powered by brassy Glenda Farrell who really carries the weight of the energy of this thing. Kibbee is great in his small role as the frustrated wannabe lover. Edward Ellis is memorable as the very skeptical police inspector. Watch this one if you are in the mood for some precode goodness Warner Brothers style.