The Mystery Man

It's not annoying or boring, but plot point by plot point it makes little sense. And yet is a fun and breezy little film, so I give it 6/10.

This was made by poverty row stalwart, Monogram and directed by Ray McCarey, younger brother of famed director Leo McCarey. Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) is a Chicago reporter who drinks heavily and gambles heavily, always annoying his boss, the city editor. Early on the police department gives Larry an award for cracking criminal cases as part of his job as a crime reporter. And they give him as a gift - a 45 caliber police revolver??? Then Larry resigns from his job and goes to St. Louis in the middle of the Great Depression with no money and no job.(???) There he meets a jobless broke girl, Anne, and although he acts like a total creepster and hits on her, she agrees to - check into an expensive hotel with him posing as his wife and order a large expensive meal for which they cannot pay??? Strangely enough, Larry stops treating Ann like an object as soon as they are alone in a hotel room, registered as man and wife.

Larry thinks he can get and keep a job with a local paper as a crime reporter if he can catch a local serial robber, "the eel". But instead he winds up accused of being the eel with a complicating factor that every time somebody calls his old managing editor and asks him to verify Larry's identity he claims that Larry Doyle is still in Chicago. Complications ensue.

The first half of the film moved quickly enough, but it is all over the map and contains lots of pointless scenes that appear to be filler to get this to feature length. Things pick up in the second half once Larry tries to catch The Eel and is then accused of being him, with Larry needing to catch the actual Eel to keep from being charged with murder. I saw a very good print of this film on youtube that looks like it has been restored with both the audio and video being quite crisp.

I like Monogram movies - you can generally be sure of two things - (1) the movies will be entertaining and (2) there will be either a silly plot or a plot with big enough holes in it to drive a truck through. And this movie is no exception. Robert Armstrong's Larry Doyle is a cock-sure but good reporter for a Chicago newspaper. The police respect him (indeed, they give him a gun to show their appreciation for his help with a case) but his editor can't stand him. Larry spends his $50 bonus on treating his pals to a night on the town. His editor fires him but Larry goes on celebrating and winds up in St. Louis where he befriends a down and out but spunky young woman, Anne Ogilvie (played by Maxine Doyle). One of my favorite bits in the movie is where Larry secretly pays for the Anne's coffee and donut when she finds out she doesn't have enough money. Larry sees himself as the Anne's protector and because of Larry's moxie, they end up staying in a hotel suite (with two bedrooms). In spite of his former editor's trying to prevent it, Larry eventually gets a job on the St. Louis News. He is soon hot on the trail of the notorious criminal known as "The Eel." The rest of the movie doesn't make much sense but all's well that ends well. Armstrong does a good job but does not do the snappy reporter type as well as Chester Morris or Wally Ford. However, he does such scenes as that at the coffee shop better than they so it all evens out. I had never heard of Maxine Doyle and she did a somewhat surprisingly good job as Anne. A pleasant enough way to spend an hour.

The Mystery Man (1935)

Well this is a fast hoot, and not a good movie by any means. It has a chipper tone and some comic twists, but the acting, the acting.

The core idea is good--a news reporter with a thankless editor gets caught up in a story while on leave from his Chicago paper. But the St. Louis newspaper won't believe he's a reporter, and he gets stranded and eventually accused. Luckily his buddies back home help out, and even better, a pretty girl is also stranded and helpless and good for moral support and some cleverness in the nick of time. Coulda been something.

It's not like 1935 is too early for a snappy, intelligent crime detective caper film. We've already had a string of absolute classics from Warner Bros. in the early 30s, and we're seeing the beginning of the "Thin Man" series with its high level of sophistication. But this is a B-movie through and through, and I guess there is only so much talent to go around.

You would do better plodding through the worst of the Mr. Moto or the Charlie Chan films than this one.

This really seems to be two movies in one. The first is a sweet romantic comedy that takes up the first 40 minutes of the film. Reporter Larry Doyle from Chicago gets $50 for breaking an important story and does too much celebrating. He ends up broke in St. Louis. He sits down at a lunch counter with beautiful Anne Oglivie (Maxine Doyle). She finds that she only has 10 cents to pay for her 20 cent coffee and donut. Larry secretly pays for her. Realizing that a young girl broke in the city could end up in trouble, Larry follows her around to help her out. Having no place to stay, he gets a hotel room for the two of them. Anne is reluctant, thinking he wants sex in return, but Larry reassures her that he's a square kind of guy. He orders an expensive $35 a day hotel suite which has two bedrooms with separate keys. He explains that Anne is as safe with him as she would be anywhere in the city.

This part of the movie seems to inspired by Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" which came out also in 1935. Suddenly with about 25 minutes left the movie turns into a more typical Monogram murder mystery. Larry, remembering that he's an investigative reporter, goes after a slippery gangster called "the Eel." As all Monogram murder mysteries are, its silly, cheap and quite a lot of fun.

Robert Armstrong (King Kong, Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young) gives a really strong performance. He's a sweet tough guy with a heart of gold. Maxine Doyle is excellent as the broke virgin in the city. Twenty years old at the time, this was one of her first starring movies. Over the next two years, in 1936 and 1937, she starred in about a dozen low budget movies and that was pretty much the end of her career. She did do some bit parts in the 1940's.

Monogram generally made "C" or "D" movies. This one is actually a solid "B" movie.

Cinematic archeology is what this is all about. The film has lost all its appeal as the hooks have gone out of style. But we can see major chunks that have evolved to what we have now.

The basic setup is the fold of a reporter as a detective, a miraculously simple concept in narration, as his job is to 'get the story.'

He has an easy hookup with a perky girl, though cleanly post-code.

Our reporter is an adventure-loving party man (which then meant an occasional drunk) who cannot keep money and who hates authority.

The environment is one in which police are inept and essentially invisible, and 'the paper' runs the town behind the scenes. You can easily see the seeds of noir here.

Oh, and we have a stereotyped villain, a mystery man who calls himself The Eel and who calls to taunt police (represented by the DA).

Good digging here, if you have the patience.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.