Quiet Please: Murder

This was a perfect vehicle for self-professed cad George Sanders and he found a gal more than his match in cold blooded Gail Patrick here. They share some surprisingly frank and witty badinage about criminal psychology along with their mutual oily distaste for humanity which transcends the occasionally breezier aspects of this quasi noir and gives it a nicely crusted edge. The movie veers back and forth between crime drama and something a bit lighter but overall, it hits a lot of good notes and has dated surprisingly better than many far more famous movies from the same era. The library antics are amusing enough, but the real selling point of this movie is Sanders, whose effortless cool is right up there near his best and far more recognized roles.

"Quiet Please, Murder" is an odd movie that grows on you. Notice I didn't say Noir, or even Mystery - it's more of a drama/ romance in the 'B' mold. There must have been a headline movie billed over it because it couldn't stand on its own.

Having said that, it's a fast-paced, compelling picture with an interesting cast that takes place mainly a city library. George Sanders, Hollywood's most polished bad guy, is a forger of priceless manuscripts and Gail Patrick is his legman (woman). They make the mistake of selling one to Sidney Blackmer, a frontman for the Nazis, who were trying to corner the market on rare art and literature. Richard Denning is a private eye who is hot on Sanders' trail.

There is an undercurrent between Sanders and Patrick of some Freudian psychological aberration regarding sado-masochism which may or may not be an interesting plot twist. I thought Denning lacked gravitas and the part needed someone else. Byron Foulger, who must have made a thousand movies, is on hand as a librarian - you would recognize him immediately.

And just when you think the picture is becoming a little far-fetched, it is over, as it is only 70 minutes long. All it would have needed was one more plot contrivance or loose end and I would have lowered my rating. This film played on TCM the other morning.

John Larkin being a director I had never heard of, I checked up his details on IMDB and learned that he did more TV than cinema work. In fact, to kick off with he fittingly titled this opus QUIET PLEASE: MURDER - as pretty much the entire action takes place inside municipal library premises.

To add to the claustrophobia, this is 1942, WWII rages on, and alllights have to be switched off so that the building does not turn into a target - which I find rather odd, as I do not believe that any US mainland city has ever become the target for any aircraft bombing raids.

The action opens with Jim Fleg (superbly portrayed by the mellifluously persuasive George Sanders) icing the guard of a unique first edition of Shakespeare's Hamlet (people still read plays in those days!) and then forging copies of it to sell to not so up to speed collectors.

The scheme, implemented with the aid of sultry Gail Patrick as slippery, serpentine Myra Blandy, who reportedly has Nazi connections and keeps declaring her fake love to Sanders and Richard Denning (apt choice for the role of copper Hal McByrne) works well until Martin Cleaver, a more knowledgeable collector, happens on the scene to snap up one of the forged Hamlets.

The script boasts some highly literate dialogue - particularly in the sequences involving Sanders - and some sharp one-liners from Denning.

Sadly the blurred copy that I watched hurt the quality of the cinematography... but not the film's dark, closed atmospheric ambiance.

Well worth a watch! 7/10.

George Sanders ("Fleg) is up to no good in this light-hearted tale of theft and forgery. He has pinched an original Shakespeare folio and has been subsequently flogging copies. Unfortunately for him, his selling agent "Myra" (Gail Patrick) is none too bright and when she inadvertently sells one of his copies to a Nazi - their very lives are soon in peril, and it might actually be policeman "McByrne" (Richard Denning) who comes to their rescue! The acting is good, the writing quite pithy and it packs quite a lot into 70 minutes. Maybe the production is a touch basic; the settings are all a bit too static, but unlike so many of these cheap and cheerful B features, this one has a decent story that is actually quite enjoyable to watch.

Another reviewer suggested a better, more realistic ending (but one that would've been acceptable in 1942, when good had to triumph over evil at the movies). So I can see how some might prefer a more postmodern version.

But I think the clichés of this film are good campy fun. It's been a very long time since I found a movie this good that I've never seen before. So I see it as a superb relic to be treasured.

It's a charming film noir crime caper, stagy and clumsy at times, but with a very smooth George Sanders as the rather mild villain, and surprisingly smart banter throughout. It has a good formulaic story that doggedly ties up all loose ends into a neat package. It moves very quickly for its age, and is pretty easy to follow, despite the plot being somewhat complex.

I'm very excited to have stumbled across it.