Larceny on the Air

One of the last Republic films produced by the great Nat Levine, of Mascot Pictures fame, this stars Robert Livingston (The Three Mesquiteers) as a crusading young doctor out to smash the influence of quack doctors pitching their dangerous pseudo-scientific treatments over the radio waves. Obviously, the film is based on doctors such as the infamous Dr. John Brinkley, the "goat gland surgeon" who had a thriving radio-based business in the 1920s and 1930s (the quack doctor here, with an army of attorneys just like Brinkley had, as called Kennedy). Directed by Irving Pichel (maker of the classic QUICKSAND, among many others), LARCENY ON THE AIR plays like a medical version of a standard crime film, but like any Levine production or Pichel film, it's well-paced and wastes no time getting started. The leading lady is Grace Bradley, who married William "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd this same year, playing a character much more complex than she at first seems to be. There are a lot of little-known but fine non-western, non-serial films made at Republic in the pre-World War II era. This is one of the many that are worth rediscovering.

I decided to watch this B-movie because I liked the premise--people selling quack medicines and a radio doctor who crusades against them. Imagine--so-called 'medical professionals' making their medicines out of radium (a highly toxic substance) and selling it to dying people as a miracle cure!! This caught my attention early on and that is why it was so disappointing when the plot degenerated from this noble idea to a pretty standard (and silly) detective-type film. That occurs when the crusading doctor infiltrates the mob responsible for this quackery--something that made absolutely no sense at all--especially because everyone knew he was this crusader. In addition, why did they put a B-western sidekick (Smiley Burnett) in this film? It was a serious topic yet Burnett kept popping his goofy face in scenes where it made no sense at all. Overall, despite a nice premise, the film turned from a good film to a stupid film very quickly. Watchable...but that is all.

Robert Livingston is a research doctor. He's set his eyes on quacks and unregulated nostrums, and lectures on the air about them. He has just completed experiments that prove that Pierre Watkins' radium tonic is not just pointless; it's deadly. Watkins' business, however, is so successful that he can get Livingston pulled off the air, and efforts to stop his sales are blocked by lawyers. So Livingston teams up with 'testing expert' Granville Bates and his daughter, Grace Bradley, only to find that they're running a racket soaking the quacks.

Although the copy I looked at was trimmed from 67 to 52 minutes, it held together pretty well, and director Irving Pichel directs a fine cast that that includes Smiley Burnette and Byron Foulgar in a story that has some nice curves in it and something real to say about its subject. The last few minutes fall into standard B movie tropes, but even those are decently handled.