The Crime Nobody Saw

"The Crime Nobody Saw" (1937) with Lew Ayres, Eugene Pallette, Benny Baker, Ruth Coleman, Vivienne Osborne, Robert Emmett O'Connor and others is a "B" trying to remain a "B" and not fall to a "C". The actors do their best to add spontaneity and a few laughs, but the story is forced and padded ad nauseum, though it's not hard to watch, even at all that. In the end, this "B" never rises above that grade, though it dips here and there. Still, my wife and I endured it without any pain - and we finished a glass of wine at the same time. The wine, from Coatia, was a "B" wine trying to get to A-, and, yes, it made it!

Three playwrights are trying to fulfil a contract they've entered with a producer, trying to create a murder mystery that'll keep the producer happy. Trouble is, they need to have a draft ready tomorrow! The ensuing trouble that comes about in the apartment they're in at the moment where they're trying to come up with an idea...well, as you might figure out without me even going on, the trouble ends up being perfect for the plot. And, of course, there's a girl in the mix. She doesn't have much to do. In fact, I've never heard of Ruth Coleman before. She made 6 films in the year this film was made, 2 the next year, and that was it. The IMDb doesn't even have birth or death dates listed for her. I will mention Colin Tapley who's in the show and plays a large part. I've been watching the Danziger Brothers' early TV show "Mark Saber" (1954-1958) lately, and Tapley plays a major part, a head of Scotland Yard, so I found it interesting to see him in this early film. Born in New Zealand, he appeared in film and TV on and off until 1969, and lived till 1995 when he died of old age at his cottage in the Cotswolds, England at 86.

This is a relatively interesting movie about writing a play that could have been a play itself - it is somewhat stage-bound. Three authors - Lew Ayres, Eugene Palette, Benny Baker) are trying to write a murder mystery for a producer that has already given them a 500 dollar advance to do so. The problem is, that the three have already spent the advance, their time is up, and they can't even get an idea off of page one.

They're facing jail if they don't get an idea, arguing among themselves, when in walks their neighbor from across the hall, Mr. Duvall. He is very drunk staggers around their apartment and passes out cold on their couch. The three find that he has a little black book on him, and that the book contains the names, phone numbers, and addresses of people who he is blackmailing.

Suddenly our trio arrive at a brilliant idea. They'll call the people in the black book, while impersonating the police, tell them that Duvall is dying, and that he wants to make a statement but insists they be present. They figure they can sweat a confession out of one of them, and whatever confession they get, that will be their play, already written by the murderer.

I'll let you watch and see how this all turns out, but there are some big plot holes here. The biggest one is that at this point, there IS no murder. Duvall was just drunk. They KNEW that. So why would an innocent person confess to a murder if they didn't commit one? Plus, nobody ever asks for these guy's police badges, or says "If I'm not under arrest I'm not staying", or even says that they are not coming over in the first place for that matter.

It turns out that Hattie McDaniel plays a big role in this, not as a criminal, but as somebody who has information about Duvall that the trio of authors don't originally have.

This one turns out to have quite a few interesting plot twists and I enjoyed it in spite of the plot holes, thus I'd recommend it. Plus watching Lew Ayres with a bowler hat on his head a few sizes too large while chomping on a cigar trying to act like a "tough copper" is worth the price of admission.

Lew Ayres, Eugene Pallette, and Benny Baker are trying to write a mystery play they've already been paid for, but find themselves stuck not just on page one, but on the first sentence. At this point, a man walks in, keels over, and later is found to be murdered.

It's based on a play co-written by Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee ("Ellery Queen"), and the nice cast does their best in this comedy-mystery. However, People keep wandering in and out, including Vivienne Osborne, Robert Emmett O'Connor, and Hattie MacDaniel, and no one seems to take the murder very seriously. This crazy comedy aspect of the show was not interesting as the writers keep coming up with scenarios that serve no purpose except to confuse the issue.

Horace Dryden (Benny Baker), "Babe" Lawton (Eugene Palette) and Nick Milburn (Lew Ayers)have been paid a large advance to write a play for John Atherton (Ferdinand Gottschalk), and after several months have not advanced past "Page One" at the top of a sheet of paper. Atherton wants his money back.

Then an intoxicated man wanders into their apartment, falls asleep on the sofa and $15,000 fall out his pocket. A search of his other pockets leads to the discovery of a black book that contains the names of many well-known men and a sum of money listed next to each name. They conclude he is a blackmailer and hatch an elaborate plot in which they will pose as policemen and police doctor, call on the men whose names are in the book and come up with the material needed to write a play.

They lock up the drunk and begin making their calls. Meanwhile, somebody deep-freezes the drunk with an icepick, and they are forced quickly from offense to defense.

Hattie McDaniel (as Ambrosia the Maid) solves this one.

As I watched "The Crime Nobody Saw", I was shocked how contrived and ridiculous the plot turned out to be.

Three writers are in an apartment trying to write a new play. But they face a minor problem...they have no plot idea (similar to the writers of this movie, actually). Out of the blue, a drunk neighbor stumbles into the apartment and he passes out. The three search the guy's pockets and find $15,000 and a book where he's written all sorts of names and dates. Nick (Lew Ayers) assumes the unconscious guy is some sort of blackmailer.

Now at this point, there are LOTS of possible directions for the plot...and it choses an insane one. Instead of calling the police, Nick insists he and his friends pretend to be police and they contact the people in the book...telling him that Mr. Duvall is dying and wants to make some sort of statement about them. Huh?? Soon each arrives and soon they realize that Duvall really IS dead...and he really was a blackmailer. So what's next? Good grief...there's no predicting with this film!

The story simply makes no sense at all. This is more than a small problem! The actors all try their best and put a lot of energy into their performances...but the story itself is just dopey and unbelievable. You have to wonder how the film even got made! Surprisingly, it was based on a successful play...which I assume had to be better than this film. A dopey time-passer and not much more.