A Night for Crime

This is an above average PRC mystery. Lyle Talbot is cast as a movie studio publicity man. Glenda Farrell is his brash, wise-cracking girlfriend. When a studio movie star goes missing Talbot is sent out to find her. What he finds instead is a murder case. There is nothing new here and it is the type of story that was popular a decade previous. Ralph Sanford plays the too stupid to be real detective in charge of the murder case. This film is not terrific, but it never gets boring as it often the problem with PRC films. It's really a tribute to old pros Talbot and Farrell, who manage to keep this baby entertaining despite a low budget and a so-so screenplay.

Film starring Glenda Farrell, Lyle Talbot, and an actress I knew personally, Lina Basquette. And Lina's story outdid anything that could be in a movie. But I digress.

During a wartime blackout, a woman is murdered. Susan Cooper, a fast-talking girl reporter, endeavors to solve the case, to the consternation of the police department. Not only has she done this before, but she's been more successful.

Susan's beau (Talbot) is a publicist on a film starring a difficult actress, Mona Harrison, who disappears and then is found dead. So the plot thickens and the film is threatened.

Fun B movie with Glenda Farrell her usual wisecracking and snappy self.

Lina Basquette was a child star in silents who married Sam Warner (the first of her 9 husbands) in 1925. They had one child. When Sam died in 1927, the Warner family took the baby away from her. She didn't see her daughter again for 30 years.

She worked for DeMille and Frank Capra, but eventually wound up in B westerns. Lina also had a big affair with Jack Dempsey. She retired from films and bred great danes and judged in dog shows. She made a film in 1991 and was a guest speaker at Cinecom. She died at 87. Her half-sister is Marge Champion. She was a fascinating woman and looked wonderful until she died.

One more piece of Lina trivia (she claimed Hitler made a pass at her, but that's for another day) - she said that Joe Kennedy and others entered the film business to drive out the Jews. There was a lot of antisemitism. On the night Sam (a redhead) negotiated for the Vitaphone license, he asked Lina to wear her Catholic cross.

A dark night in war time, with several black-outs, it's just a night for murder. Susan Cooper, a fast-talking girl reporter, doubles as amateur sleuth solving yet another mystery among Hollywood's famous.

This is a decent mystery, with an emphasis on comedy, mainly wisecracks, which I found amusing. The mystery element is simple, the deduction as well, and the script is quite thin and lacks polish, however Glenda Farrell as the wisecracking reporter and Lyle Talbot lift this above its standard. Elsewhere, there are also fine performances to be had from Ralph Sanford as a dumb policeman ( he cracks me up) and Forrest Taylor. There are some tense moments; it's not outstanding but it's entertaining enough.

PRC annoying lady--voice from hell--neighbor

In most B-mysteries, there are a lot of clichés you come to expect if you watch a lot of these films. One of the most familiar is the stupid cop investigating the case. In reality NO COP is as dumb as these guys and they specialize in coming up with elaborate theories and trying to make the evidence fit their crazy preconceptions. In the case of "A Night for Crime" the cop (Hoffman) isn't just dumb...he's practically brainless! This is a deficit in the film as you can't help but wonder WHICH police force would ever hire such a guy or give him such authority! Fortunately, the other cliché the films has are the amateurs who somehow know MORE than all the cops...and in this case Susan (Glenda Farrell) and Joe (Lyle Talbot) can't help but be smarter than the police!

The case begins with a scream...and Joe and Susan find a body in the nearby apartment. Almost instantly, the dopey detective shows up and Hoffman proves he's one of the dumbest policemen in the history of films. Plus, in addition to the body, there's a missing woman to be found. So, the reporter and publicity man decide to figure out the case when the police are so easily baffled.

So is the film any good? Not really. As I already mentioned, it has a lot of clichés. The only thing that saves it, a bit, is Glenda Farrell--an actress who usually plays snappy-talking broads. She is enjoyable.

Joe Powell, movie studio publicity man, visits Susan Cooper, Hollywood reporter, at her apartment. He proposes, she laughingly refuses, Joe takes a phone call from the boss…and suddenly there's a scream from across the hall! A young actress is found murdered in her room. Who did it? And where is Mona Harrison, the studio's biggest star? Mr. Hart, studio producer, is going to be out $300,000 if Mona doesn't show up to finish her work on their latest picture….

It's a Hollywood mystery that makes no sense and contains no great suspense yet somehow manages to be quite entertaining. Lyle Talbot and Glenda Farrell are enthusiastic as Joe and Susan; Farrell is fine as the spunky and quick-thinking reporter, while Talbot makes a game effort at portraying a smooth talker with a winning wit—a task made difficult by a script that is sorely lacking in originality and cleverness.

Since it's a pretty silly movie, Ralph Sanford probably comes across best as the very silly police detective Hoffman. Big and dumb, Hoffman is supposed to say idiotic things—and indeed he does, often amusingly. Ralph Sanford does look like he's having fun.

A typical exchange occurs when Farrell pretends to confess to the murder and meets Hoffman's objections: "But I had a motive, Hoffman, I had a wonderful motive." "Yeah? What?" "Well, you see, Ellen bought a dress exactly like one of mine. Now you know what that does to a woman…" --Is that funny? Not exactly. But delivered by actors who look like they're convinced that it is funny…it is actually kind of humorous. And that's pretty much true of the film as a whole.

The Hollywood setting is interesting….On Talbot's studio office wall is a movie poster for another PRC production, The Panther's Claw. Presumably the film's "Motion Picture Associates" is a studio not unlike the genuine Producers Releasing Corporation. So does the film's creative but ethically challenged studio boss, Mr. Hart, bear any resemblance to real life studio execs? I could not say.

Overall, it's an enjoyable enough picture for viewers willing to let its good-natured and unassuming air overshadow its many weaknesses.