Murder with Pictures

Part of the Treeline/Reel Media 50-Movie Mystery Classics Collection from 2003, the sound quality is a little shaky, which probably explains why we NEVER see this one on Turner Classic Movies. Director Charles Barton had helped on a couple of silent movies, but had only been directing for 2 years when he did "Murder with Pictures". Given some quick one- liners by the writers, Lew Ayres stars as photographer Kent Murdock, trying to navigate around everyone involved with the trial he is covering. The part is quite generic, and anyone, like Bogey or William Powell could have played it. Co-stars Gail Patrick and Paul Kelly. Pretty short, at 69 minutes, it was probably considered quality at the time, since Edith Head did the costumes. Lots of cops- and- gangster type threats, guesses, and intrigue, and the bodies start piling up. Lots of car chases and the usual murder mystery antics, but pretty good. Liked Ayres better in "Holiday", which he would make two years later with K Hepburn and C Grant.

While there are enjoyable parts to this film, they have most to do with the wisecracking performances. There is just too much suspension of disbelief to work very well. The characters seem bound and determined to fit into the plot, even if the plot is particularly strained. The byplay between the stripper who has a contract to marry him, doesn't play very well, in my opinion. I know what comic relief is, but I really can't take anything seriously once she shows up. This is about murder, and yet there is little care taken to protect those who are victimized. Cameras come into play frequently and the provide us with the clues we need. There is so much evidence and such carelessness by the authorities that it really detracts. I may be taking this too seriously, however; it's not much of a heavyweight film. The conclusion left me utterly cold.

Murder With Pictures finds Lew Ayres and Paul Kelly as a pair of breezy reporters who are tracking the same story, namely the acquittal of murder by gangster Onslow Stevens. It seems as though a key witness Gail Patrick is located and arrives too late to testify. Stevens is giving a bash and he invites the press to the party.

Where his high priced defense attorney Ernest Cossart is shot to death after apparently recognizing someone in the room. Suspicion falls on Patrick, but Ayres shields her and starts his own investigation with Kelly dogging his every move. A couple of murders later and it's all solved.

Ayres gives a nice account of himself in a film which if done at Warner Brothers would have starred James Cagney with Kelly in the Pat O'Brien part. The how is not terribly original, this particular murder gambit was used before and after still it is done with style. As for the motives, Murder With Pictures is a story of greed and revenge.

One cliché seems to be present a lot in these kind of films. The cops are always wrong and the hero always sorts it out. I've seen it in God knows how many films, but in real life I've seen it to be true. Not that the police are dumb, but what people have a problem being is flexible. More than cops will get wedded to a certain notion and then just won't change no matter how the facts are explained to them. In solving cases that's a natural barrier. In my former job with New York State Crime Victims Board I've seen it happen more than once.

It was also nice to see Gail Patrick for once not playing the second lead or the other woman. Murder With Pictures is a nice, fast moving and entertaining film and it's a pity it seems to have dropped into obscurity. The fact that it also has dropped into the public domain may gain it new viewers and fans who've not seen it as of yet.

Lew Ayres and Gail Patrick both give good performances, and the two of them plus a fast-paced story make this an enjoyable B-feature. The crime/mystery story is often implausible, but it provides some interesting developments and it creates some good action.

Ayres and Patrick were both pretty talented performers, and their roles offer each of them some good material. Ayres plays an easygoing news photographer who gets involved in a murder case, in which Patrick's strong-minded character plays an uncertain role. It's good to see Patrick get a more prominent role than usual, even in a low-budget feature, and her elegance fits in well.

The story uses a number of offbeat details to keep things moving, and this helps to hold your interest in the story as well as in masking some of the low production values. This is not bad at all for a movie of its kind, and it provides an hour or so of good light entertainment.

In a nutshell, Lew Ayers is a newspaperman who tries to scoop all others in his field. Gail Patrick as Meg (nick-named NutMeg in this film) is wonderful as a daughter out to avenge a wrong done to her father. Gail Patrick is a much under-rated actress, and one wonders why she didn't get better roles in big budget A-movies. If you really like Patrick, I recommend that you see: "Quiet Please, Murder", which is a far superior B-movie mystery than is this film.

This neat little suspense yarn is quite atmospheric, with courtroom dramatics, fast gunplay, and a tight little mystery that can only be solved by a picture photographed by one of the newspapermen present when a high-priced criminal lawyer falls over dead. Of course, the picture disappears. Did the killer take it? Only one way to find out!