A Tragedy at Midnight

Entertaining crime comedy with a radio detective and his girlfriend (called Mommy, very bad idea in my way) about a crime of a woman found stabbed in Mommy's bed. It's kind of Thin Man adventure, quite silly. I really love the shadows scene. Not a must.

John Howard and Margaret Lindsay star in "A Tragedy at Midnight," a 1942 film from poverty row Republic Studios.

Greg Sherman (John Howard) is a radio personality who solves cases that the police have failed to do. So the police hate him. His wife Beth (Lindsay) is a mystery writer. One evening, Beth goes out to visit her sister while Greg goes to a party. The next morning, he wakes up and nudges his wife, who doesn't move. When he looks more closely, it's not his wife, but a dead woman he doesn't recognize. She has a knife in her back.

When Beth returns, she thinks he spent the night with another woman and calls the police. Greg escapes and, once Beth realizes the truth, the two of them try to find out the identity of the woman and also who killed her.

This is a good mystery, actually, and it goes quickly, perhaps more quickly than intended since I understand the version on Netflix is cut. John Howard and Margaret Lindsay are fine. Howard calls her "Mommy," which William Powell calls Myrna Loy in the "Thin Man" films, so this is an unashamed ripoff. It probably was supposed to be a B version series of films as well, but it didn't happen.

Keye Luke plays the couple's servant and he's not what one would call politically correct today.

Entertaining.

All in all, the programmer's a pretty obscure entry in the amateur sleuth sweepstakes so popular at the time. Here it's radio crime broadcaster John Howard and his spunky wife Margaret Lindsey trying to figure out who put a dead woman in his bed, much to wife Lindsey's chagrin. The trail gets complicated, such that the whodunit part is secondary to colorful byplay. Happily though, Lindsey really shines; in fact, her smile alone lit up my gloomy living room. It's really her spark that carries the proceedings.Then too, the little byplay with the prissy hat designer remains a comedy highlight. Too bad Keye Luke's factotum has to call Howard "master". Still, he shows his jiujitsu skills in spades, and without use of a double that I could detect. Note, the naughty innuendo around finding a strange woman in the marital bed, even if it is a double one. Apparently, censorship relaxed a bit on this one. Note also presence of Roscoe Karns as the humorous cop Cassidy, a role similar to his TV Rocky King, Detective (1951-54). Nothing special about the 57-minutes, even though the cast does its best with what amounts to a murky script that's better in parts than as a whole.

Greg Sherman (John Howard) is hated by the local police. It's because Sherman has a radio show about crime...and he often solves the crimes...leaving the police looking foolish. So, when a woman's body is found in his bedroom, the cops are deliriously happy. Whether he did it or not, it will likely hurt Sherman's popularity. So, Sherman does the standard cliche in a case like this...he slugs the cop who discovers it and sets about trying to solve the case himself (Note: kids, do NOT try this at home!). Can he manage to extricate himself or will Sherman end up in the hoosegow?

In this story, Sherman is assisted by Beth (Margaret Lindsay) and Ah Foo (Keye Luke)...a ridiculously named lackey-type character. This is pretty sad, as Luke had a lovely voice and was a good actor, but here he talks like he just got off the boat from China. Fortunately, Luke did have a few good film opportunities apart from this film, such as a recurring character in the Dr. Kildare series.

So is this B-mystery any good? Well, it's at least a very TYPICAL B...with the usual cliches and formula. Now to many viewers, this won't matter. But idiot cops, a body planted in the guy's room and his running from the law has a real 'been there, done that' quality about it for those who love B-movies. Because of this, I certainly don't think it's a must-see...though it is reasonably well made despite the rather lazy and by the book script.

Let's get over all this stuff about Powell-Loy. Howard-Lindsay hold their own in this Republic gem. I am all for 'the Republic for which it stands'.

The plot, not too original but, who cares? It was carried out beautifully by a cast of some of the era's most popular character actors.

The dialog, penned by a femme, was great fun and so well handled by John Howard and Margaret Lindsay. Why she never achieved greater fame, I will never know. She has a Lamarr-like beauty, gorgeous from any angle, and when it comes to line delivery excuse me - but - she equals Loy.

The chemistry between the stars - and they are that - is beautiful, the dialog is clever and witty.

The judo moves were very convincing as delivered by Keye Luke who also was A-plus in line delivery.

"A Tragedy at Midnight" is thoroughly enjoyable at any hour.