The Mysterious Mr. Valentine

Sometimes compelling, often confusing private eye flick from Republic. What is or isn't noir is debated a lot by classic film fans. You can see some of that in the reviews here. It's a bit like the horror vs thriller debate I guess. I don't see that it matters all that much. There's nothing in this that screams film noir to me but I could say the same for a lot of crime pictures that are widely accepted as staples of the genre. This is a so-so B movie from a "lesser" studio that could surprise you from time to time with real gems. This is not one of those times. If you're like me and you sometimes feel like you've seen everything from the 40s, give it a shot. It won't likely become a favorite but maybe you'll enjoy it for what it is.

Linda Sterling's car has a blow-out in front of a chemicals company. She goes in to use the phone, only to have the partner's wife rush in with a photographer to snap incriminating photos. She runs out, steals a car to drive home, gets into another accident and soon finds herself confronted by William Henry, who says 'you can use me, and I can use you..... as a client' and hands her a business card. He's a private investigator. When she gets a blackmail letter from 'Mr. Valentine', she realizes Henry was right.

It's one of those movies that seems to depend a lot on Henry stumbling around until he falls over the clues, but int the hands of B director Phil Ford -- son of Francis, nephew of John -- it's suffused with a light, breezy sense of humor that kept me amused throughout. Miss Sterling is lovely dressed in modern clothes, and Thomas Jackson is there, playing a police detective, as he had been since the 1920s.

I admit I lost the thread of this plot after its powerful first ten minutes of this film from Republic Studios.

A young woman, Janet Spencer (Linda Stirling) has a blowout. She walks to a nearby chemical company to use the phone. The chemist inside (Tristram Coffin) is a distracted wreck. Turns out there's a body in the back room, except it's gone.

Just then, the chemist's wife Rita (Barbara Woodell) walks in with a photographer, claiming to have found her husband in a compromising position with Linda.

Linda beats the hell out of there, jumps into a car, and takes off. Then she hits a body. Two men emerge from another car and tell her it wasn't her fault; she was probably blinded by their headlights. They offer to take the man to the hospital.

Linda doesn't know it, but the body was that of the dead man who disappeared from the lab. Soon, she finds herself being blackmailed about the accident by a "Mr. Valentyne" who sends her notes demanding money.

Other people seem to have enjoyed this noirish film better than I did. It does start out as a noir but ends up as a fairly normal crime drama. Linda Stirlng is very pretty and as the detective who helps her, William Henry does a good job. Nice to see Virginia Christine as such a young woman in this. She later became the Folgers coffee lady, Mrs. Olsen.

Not as good as Charlie Chan or Bogey, but entertaining for an hour with an interesting plot. Other than that; cliche performances with stereotype roles. Dialogue corny.

Linda Sterling (Janet) seems to be caught up in a big, complicated mess that involves murder, blackmail, adultery and theft and we see it all in the first 10 minutes or so. William Henry (Steve) is the private investigator who helps to solve the case and keeps her protected. He gets involved with various characters but you need to pay attention as no time is wasted in this fast-paced offering.

The acting is good although we get a few lame comedy attempts, eg, Linda Sterling pretending to be a secretary and wearing big glasses that means that she can't see properly. Yes....very funny. Actually, Linda Sterling is quite funny on another occasion, albeit unintentional. When William Henry is taking a beating and fighting for his life in the same room as Linda Sterling, she phones the police and does absolutely NOTHING to help him. And then, when the bad guy runs off, she shouts at Henry to get after him. WHAT? Get after him yourself, you silly bitch. Like I said, it is actually quite funny.

This film is a fun way to spend an hour but make sure you pay attention or you will lose the plot. And I doubt you'll guess who is behind it all.