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Michael Cassidy (Melvyn Douglas) runs the old respected newspaper, The Guardian, like a family affair. The new owner Matthew Cooper orders it to shutdown in favor of his own tabloid, The Evening Record. Cassidy turns down his pick of a job at the Record. With a clue to a famous kidnapping, he makes a final stab at saving his beloved paper with the hot new story in a final edition. He sneaks pass the police to retrieve kidnap victim Ellen Frazier (Louise Platt) who is under police protection.

The plot is a straight line of one stop to another as Cassidy tracks down the journey of that $100 bill. It's not the most imaginative plot structure. It is good enough to leverage a good performance and a nice crime thriller. The movie is able to maintain its kinetic motion all the way through. It's not really a mystery to solve. It does need some action to punch it up. It's a little flat but it's pretty good.

A Rich and Nifty Little B-Movie that Takes an Investigative Journalist on a Quest to Find Kidnappers and Stop His Newspaper from Folding. Melvyn Douglas is the Protagonist, but it is the Many Set-Pieces of People and Places that Make This Special.

Always Engaging and there are Outstanding Side-Bars and a Surprisingly Dark Atmosphere and Snappy Dialog Along the Way that was Not Typical of MGM. The Scene at an African American Wake and the Climatic and Dark Display in the Gangster's Car are Exceptional, as are Brief Encounters with a Bird Loving Casino Owner and a Henpecked Groom to be.

Overall, a Very Good Sleeper that is Virtually Unknown and is Deserving of a Rediscovery.

In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made tons of mystery films in which private citizens outwit the cops and solve crimes...usually murders. There is a certain sameness to the plots and at least "Tell No Tales" offers a few changes to this formula...the best of which is having it star Melvyn Douglas--a marvelous and versatile who is one of my favorites.

When the story begins, a newspaper is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Unfortunately, just after the festivities begin, the editor, Michael Cassidy (Douglas) learns from the paper's new owner that he's shutting it down....selling it because he never really wanted to own the business, just make a buck splitting it apart!

Naturally Michael is in a funk and he ends up in a local bar. Instead of getting wasted, however, he stumbles upon something which MIGHT help him keep the paper going. One of the bills the bartender had given him turned out to be from a ransom! So, Michael decides to investigate it on his own instead of just passing on this information to the police.

As usual, Douglas turns in a nice and apparently effortless performance. I appreciate how his newspaper editor character differs from the abrasive characters usually played by Lee Tracy (he played newspaper men A LOT).

Unlike most murder mystery B-movies, this one is from MGM...a big studio. While the big studios did make Bs, when it came to murder mysteries, the smaller studios glutted the market....and too many of these films from Monogram, Republic and PRC are inferior in most ways. Here, however, the writing is nice, as is the music, supporting characters...heck, everything is quite polished and nice here. Well worth seeing, though clearly one of Douglas' lesser films.

Melvin Douglas stars in the 1939 B movie, Tell No Tales.

Douglas plays Michael Cassidy, who is the editor of a newspaper whom he's told is about to close its doors. In the meantime, a rag has been sensationalizing a kidnapping; a witness (Louise Platt) is being kept a virtual prisoner at the school where she teaches. While Mike is having a drink in his usual bar, the bartender checks a list and realizes that he has one of the bills the kidnappers received. This gives Mike the idea of tracking down and catching the kidnapper himself and giving his newspaper a great final issue.

I often wonder how Melvin Douglas must have felt, breezing his way through one film after another, possibly knowing that he was one of the finest actors of the century. It was a talent he wouldn't be able to show until he was an old man, but when he did, one saw how wasted he had been all those years. He's wonderful here in a spirited performance.

It was nice to see Mantan Moreland and Theresa Harris in this film, as they were two black actors deserving of more recognition. Moreland is probably best remembered as Birmingham, Charlie Chan's chauffeur. He had a friendly face and an enormous comic talent. Theresa Harris for some reason had better roles in precode films than she did later on. I suppose in a way this is a film about wasted talent - Moreland and Harris, a beautiful and sexy woman, were victims of their time and Douglas was in a groove from which he did not escape until much later.

Good movie with some very good performances.

Saw 'Tell No Tales' seeing as it has the kind of story that has always appealed to me straightaway. It was interesting to see how actor Leslie Fenton (have much more of his work to see though) would fare in his feature debut as director. And also to see Melvyn Douglas in a different and less suave role to usual (he was one of the best at that kind of role at the time in my view) and talented actors such as Gene Lockhart and Theresa Harris in also atypical supporting roles.

'Tell No Tales' turned out to be very entertaining and always engaging, very solidly done in most areas. Those playing against type surprisingly excel at it, Fenton does a remarkably good job as first time director and it always intrigues. It is not quite great, despite it having potential to be, and is not perfect, but despite any misgivings there is so much done right and the best of the good things are pretty brilliantly done. So well worth seeing.

Admittedly, 'Tell No Tales' gets far-fetched and contrived in places. The very end is too tacked on and doesn't ring true, due to not gelling with what goes on before.

It could have gotten going a little earlier perhaps too.

However, 'Tell No Tales' is well filmed with a slick, stylish yet never glossy look, with some atmospheric lighting, and Fenton keeps things moving at a crisp pace. Without rushing events through. William Axt's score has the appropriate typical moodiness. The script is taut, eventful and has very little extraneous fat, meaning that it always intrigues and it never goes limp. Some nice sharp wit too to not allow the film to get too dark.

Furthermore, the story has a good deal going on and doesn't feel dull, with some nice tension (towards the end to the maximum) and an exciting climax. It doesn't try to do too much and has enough surprises without being over-complicated, even if it does get silly and contrived as said in spots. The Wake sequence is a powerful one. All the actors do well, with Douglas having his usual suave persona mixed with a gritty edge. Louise Platt is charming without being pallid, Lockhart is fun in his part and Harris stretches her acting chops in a more substantial role than as a maid type of part.

On the whole, good fun though with flawed moments. 7/10