Blue, White and Perfect

Detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) boards a Hawaii-bound ocean liner on the trail of stolen industrial diamonds and a Nazi smuggling ring.

I have never heard of the Michael Shayne series, and I know by starting here I am jumping in the middle. Hopefully I didn't miss much, but the story still makes plenty of sense. And actually, it is really, really good. I get the feeling this was something of a B-picture, but today (2017) it feels more fun and fresh than some of the A-pictures of the time.

It serves as an interesting blend of detective fiction and spycraft, and has the interesting distinction of being set at least partially in Hawaii. As I understand it, the film was released in 1942 but was probably filmed in 1941... thus they had no idea just how crucial Hawaii would be to the World War II story. In fact, if this was filmed prior to Pearl harbor, America was not technically even in the war yet!

All in all, this was a good series - better than average, all things considered. Plots, production values, supporting casts all top-of-the-line. Lloyd Nolan is an excellent detective hero as the charismatic Mike Shayne. Funny how Nolan acts and sounds like a New Yorker, even though he was from the West Coast. Here he is involved in a wartime espionage story involving Nazis, but they aren't as big a part of the plot as they could be a couple of years later.

It's a good mystery, well written and you won't guess the murderer. But I thought it was interesting to note the bag tag on the steamer trunk that a reviewer alluded to. It says Honolulu - Dec. 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor. I have to think it was just chance that this date was used, because the film was released in Jan. 1942 - but it had to have been made 6-8 months previous, so I don't think there was any intent to be sensational here (unless I misread the reviewer's comments).

Anyway, this is a good, worthwhile show in a noteworthy series. But I still think the last one, "Just Off Broadway" (1945), is the best.

Lloyd Nolan is Mike Shayne again. This time he's headed to Honolulu after some stolen diamonds -- industrial ones which are not blue-white and perfect.

This Fox second feature clearly shows it doesn't waste money, but everything about it -- except the script -- is first rate. It has Glenn MacWilliams as cinematographer -- beautiful, sharp, high lighted images -- and some solid talent in the ranks: George Reeves as a suspicious shipboard passenger, Curt Bois as a ship's steward and even Mae Marsh in a sizable role. The story is a mystery, with its curves disguised by Nolan's wise-cracking. In short, it's a fine little B movie.

Private detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) takes a job at an airplane manufacturing firm in order to look for saboteurs. On his first day, a load of industrial diamonds are stolen, and Shayne tracks them all the way to Hawaii and a gang of German crooks.

This is a fun, breezy mystery despite the heavier implications of the war. Nolan is funny and charming, and his detective is a morally ambiguous hero, such as when he defrauds his girlfriend (Hughes) out of a thousand bucks so that he can pay for a pleasure cruise to trail his quarry. Yeah, it was for a good cause, but most guys who do that to a girlfriend end up the subject of somebody else's murder mystery. The supporting cast is good, particularly Helene Reynolds as an old acquaintance of Shayne's, and Reeves as a shady Latin salesman.

Michael Shayne takes on the Nazis in this fourth entry in Fox's enjoyable B detective series starring Lloyd Nolan. This is far from the best of the series but it is entertaining thanks to a fine supporting cast and a plot that always keeps its lead character moving. It went lots of places I didn't expect, both in terms of locations and plot twists. The best Shayne movies have a good mix of humor and mystery. This one's a little more on the darker side. But like I said it's still an entertaining picture.