The Westland Case

This is the first of the three Universal Bill Crane comic mysteries with Preston Foster playing the detective. He is a hard-drinking playboy investigator who manages to sober up quickly enough to get his job done. The story is set in Chicago with mobsters and their machine guns still operating in that city. Shootings occur in a club and out on the streets to try and stop Crane getting the information he needs.

A man named Robert Westland is in the condemned cell for murdering his wife. He receives a letter six days before he is due to be executed. He feels hopeful that this letter will prove his innocence and so he gives it to his attorney friend Frazee. Frazee and the warden get Crane on the case. Crane has to prove how someone else could have committed the killing while leaving the murder room locked from the inside when Westland has the only other key.

The tension mounts as the time ticks down to the moment of Westland's execution. And it goes down to the wire with a roomful of people anxiously watching the clock in the warden's room. I reckon the action and the mystery and the humor are dealt out in just the right proportions. Preston Foster is good and able to switch between portraying serious detective work and delivering some humorous lines. Barbara Pepper is also good as the tough blonde doing a fair impression of Mae West.

PI Preston Foster is hired to prove the innocence of Theodore von Eltz -- also a tough job -- before he hangs in less than a week.

It's the first of three Universal mysteries based on Jonathan Latimer's 'Bill Crane' detective novels. It's a fine classic crime mystery, with Foster gradually assembling the real story, although his conclusions remain a little obscure even after he explains them and produces the witness. Still, for a second feature, it's brief, lively and gets the job done.

It's directed by the under-rated Christy Cabanne. Mr. Cabanne is generally considered a terrible director, but when he had a bit of a budget, he could get some nice effects. He began directing under the supervision of D. W. Griffith about 1913, and by the early 1930s was considered a leading director at the newly constituted MGM. Sound hit him hard, like many of the old professionals, but until the end of the 1930s, he held up his end in programmers and second features. He directed his last of more than 150 features and short subjects in 1948 and died two years later, aged 62.

Chicago businessman Bob Westland is facing execution for the murder of his wife when lawyer Charlie Frazee receives an anonymous letter claiming that Westland is not guilty. He hires a private detective, who begins investigating the crime. It's tricky - Mrs. Westland was found dead inside a locked apartment, and only she and Mr. Westland have keys. The detective discovers evidence pointing to Westland's innocence - but can he prove the truth in time?

With the help of a deep-sea diver, a stop watch, and a taxicab driver, he is sprinting after the real culprit...just as Westland is starting his last mile to the electric chair.

Ok mystery with plenty of chatter, wise cracks, suspects and a fast talking detective, however it became a little overwhelming and tedious after a while, and the detective came across obnoxious, but the finale has some tension especially with Westland getting close to the electric chair ... and the real culprit just about to be nabbed.

The fact that some fiction is so implausible as to be wonderful reading fulfills the definition of much of the mystery writing that has ever been done. When converted into a film, some of these ridiculously implausible films are the most fun to watch. Universal made eight "Crime Club" mystery films based on novels that were part of such a series. The very first one was "The Westland Case" (1937), starring Preston Foster, Frank Jenks, Carol Hughes, Barbara Pepper, Astrid Allwyn, Clarence Wilson, Theodore von Eltz, George Meeker, Russell Hicks, Selmer Jackson, Thomas E. Jackson, and others. This one moves along at a wonderful pace, and the characters are all full of snap, pap, and sass. Barbara Pepper does her best saltiest Mae West and infinitely steals the best acting honors. She's absolutely wonderful in the part. Even reedy and thin-boned, thin-voiced, wiry-haired Clarence Wilson shines throughout the affairs of this tumbling mystery that takes one from one suspect to another as Preston Foster cleverly, slyly, hung-overly, smart-assedly goes after the clue that breaks the mystery into solved territory. His helper is the equally smart-assed, self-righteous-eyed, told-ya'-so Frank Jenks. The plot is one where a wife (of Theodore von Eltz) is found murdered in a locked room, with the key still in the locked room. The husband is accused and is on death row. Another death row character, Ward Bond, recommends that the husband hire Preston Foster. This was really well done and a pleasure to watch. Moves like a race around 1930's dirt race tracks, with plenty of dust and oil and nary a car in the film at a race track, just mystery stirring the pot of fate - with a lot of garlic added.

This film is notable for one reason, and one reason only. It is the performance of Barbara Pepper, a Mae-West look and act alike actress who does a terrific job of imitating Mae West. For five minutes, I was mezmerized by her performance. Her body movements, eye rolling, posture with hand on hip, and other right-on imitations of West were remarkable. The rest of the film is average kaka. See the film and roll to the 25 minute mark just for this sequence; its worth it. Then forget about watching the rest of it.