A Shot in the Dark

No, it's not the Inspector Clousseau picture, it's a fast-moving Warner's B picture, with reporter William Lundigan and police detective Regis Toomey teaming up to investigate a murder. Nightclub owner Ricardo Cortez is trying to sell his night club to an out-of-town buyer. Apparently the local mobster objects, because the buyer winds up dead.

It's no classic, but the leads keep up the pace under William McGann, and the Warner Brothers stock company is on hand, with time out for chanteuse Nann Wynn to belt out three songs, including "I'm Just Wild About Harry". It's an enjoyable time-waster.

I just watched this on TCM this afternoon. It's a fast paced Warner Brothers B-movie that only lasts 57 minutes. Songstress Nan Wynn has the female lead and she sings three songs, enough to get this one labeled a musical murder mystery. William Lundigan plays the reporter and Regis Toomey is the police lieutenant. They trade witty banter while working together to try to solve a couple of murders. The plot gets complicated for only 57 minutes and you have to stay focused to keep the suspects straight. Watch closely for William Hopper and Dave Willock in uncredited roles. That's Frank Wilcox as the naval officer at the end. The wild car chase is exciting and well done, but the best part of this movie is the singing by Nan Wynn.

"A Shot in the Dark" is a slickly produced B-mystery from Warner Brothers. And, just like in his film "The Case of the Black Parrot", William Lundigan plays a smartypants newspaperman who helps the cops solve the mystery. But, unlike "Black Parrot", this later film suffers from a poor mystery...so poor that at the end of the film, the two main characters discuss the case and explain to the audience what actually happened! In other words, the film is poorly written and could have been a lot better. Imagine...watching a mystery that really makes no sense and then relying on the characters explaining what you saw! As a result, while I like a nice B-movie, here I cannot recommend it because of the Swiss cheese-like holes in the story.

William Lundigan stars in "A Shot in the Dark" from 1941, which also stars Regis Toomey, Ricardo Cortez, and Nan Wynn.

Phil Richards (Cortez) a friend of police detective Bill Ryder, has decided to sell his nightclub and other properties to a buyer from out of town, although a mob boss has offered him a higher price. Richards has always been clean, and is determined that his businesses are sold to someone with the same values.

Newspaperman Peter Kennedy (Lundigan) goes to the airport to interview the buyer; after a brief interview, the man is shot dead. Ryder dogs his detective friend as he works on the case.

Nan Wynn turns in a lovely performance as Dixie, the club singer, whom both Kennedy and Ryder are interested in. Sadly, this actress' career ended in 1947 when a cancerous growth was removed from her throat.

Not very good, but I do appreciate goofball Lundigan. He at least is lively. At the end, Ryder and Kennedy recap the case since the script wasn't written well enough to follow.

Appearing as Richard's girlfriend is the beautiful Maris Wixon. Her biography says she it all going to be a star but somehow didn't make it. She was much in demand for magazine covers, and the great photographer George Hurrell loved her. Warners put her under contract and loaned her to Monogram, a poverty row studio!

With the #metoo situation getting so much publicity today, and the fact that this actress was married for 59 years, one wonders if her refusal to play the Hollywood casting couch game didn't contribute to her lack of success. That actually happened quite a bit in Hollywood. And still does.

Typical, unpretentious Warner Bros. 'B' programmer. A brash reporter and a dour homicide cop investigate the murder of a nightclub owner. The film zips along at such whiplash speed (running time a mere 57 minutes)that you may well lose track of the complicated plot. No matter. William Lundigan is lively and likeable as the newsman, and, as a special bonus, this is one of the few films featuring the delectable Nan Wynn (best-known for her luscious dubbing of most of Rita Hayworth's musicals). Wynn is a fetching delight in the female lead as a nightclub singer, and sings three songs with style to spare. Why Nan Wynn didn't become a musical movie star in her own right (instead of being Rita Hayworth's 'Marni Nixon') and why Lundigan never joined the 'A' list of leading men are unanswered questions more mystifying than anything in the plot of "A Shot in the Dark."