Find the Blackmailer

Like the Maltese Falcon, Warner Brothers "B" detective thriller Find The Blackmailer involves a search for a black bird. Here the resemblance ends. In this case the black bird, rather than a jewel-encrusted statuette, is absurdly a talking crow, which can put the finger on the detective's client for a murder. Honestly! Not as bad as it sounds, but not Golden Era Hollywood at its best either.

The principle attractions of this picture are the unusual and charming casting of Jerome Cowan in the lead role as the tough if somewhat bumbling detective and some stylish noir cinematography by James Van Trees. Cowan is ably supported by the ever reliable Gene Lockhart as his blackmailed politician client, Margorie Hoshelle as his breezy, underpaid secretary, and second-billed Faye Emerson as a nasty femme fa-tale. The script is muddled, ridiculous, and padded out with a lot of meandering, unnecessary action. It looks as if director D. Ross Lederman was struggling to squeeze out the required 55-minute running time. If his picture had been tightly edited, it could have easily run only 40 minutes without losing anything. Dialog is cliché-ridden, but fun. Just about every wise-crack and every colorful slang term from every detective, mystery, cops-and-robbers picture from the previous decade as been gathered for recycling in Find The Blackmailer. Surly this picture was meant to be a spoof. Big hint -- the detective's name is Trees, same as the cinematographer. Or does that just mean they were making up the script as they went along? This suspicion will creep in from time to time as you watch the strange proceedings. Never mind, just relax and enjoy. You can't be expected to figure it out if it doesn't make sense. And it most assuredly does not. Cowan's character is more humorous that tough. Cowan didn't have a muscle in his body, but he still manages to get tough when needed by keeping his hand on the .32 automatic in his coat pocket. But mostly he just cracks wise and grins through his trademark pencil-line mustache.

But not so bad for all that. As yours truly has stated elsewhere about other, better second features, the big studios of Old Hollywood could turn out good-looking, entertaining pictures while only half-way trying. In Find The Blackmailer it looks as if they didn't try much at all, yet it still turned out a watchable, even enjoyable picture -- if you're in the right mood.

Politician Gene Lockhart is being blackmailed, so he enlists the help of the most unknown detective (to keep it quiet and out of the news) to get him out of the scrape. Enter Jerome Cowan (Bogart's murdered partner in "The Maltese Falcon"), who has a very likable disposition as a unscrupulous and somewhat sleazy detective. It seems they need a crow that repeats what it hears and it heard the last words of a murdered man, implicating Gene Lockhart. Through a series of twists and turns and interrogations of suspects and run-ins with hoodlums, Jerome tries to get at the truth. What begins very pleasantly and simply turns very complicated quickly with some zippy and witty one-liners. This film was in fact very funny, and by the end I think you'll feel thoroughly satisfied. There's even a twist that you don't see coming. Or do you? Whatever the means to get his man, Jerome Cowan as D.L. Trees earns his money and gives you a good time for a little over an hour. Good job, big guy!

This one stars Jerome Cowan as a private eye looking for someone who's threatening Gene Lockhart's run for mayor. It is also a minor spoof of or inside joke on THE MALTESE FALCON as it involves a black bird -- a live crow.

Cowan is a little weak as a leading man, but director Ross Lederman keeps things moving at such a good clip that it's over in less than an hour.

... because you'll probably need to watch this one twice to figure out exactly what is going on. However, don't let that bother you since a fine-tuned plot is not the point of this little B mystery. With every able bodied male between 18 and 40 in the armed services, WWII gave older players such as Sydney Greenstreet and normally supporting players such as the lead in this film - Jerome Cowan as detective D.L. Trees - a chance at a starring role in major studio releases.

The story has to do with a not so successful detective, Mr. Trees, and his seldom-paid secretary and semi-romantic interest, Pandora Pines, getting a visit from the reform candidate for mayor, John Rhodes. It seems that Rhodes' girlfriend has a brother - Fred - that has been in prison. The girlfriend doesn't know about Fred's record and neither do the mayor's potential voters. Fred doesn't see his record as any source of shame. Instead he sees it as a money-making opportunity, and he's been putting the bite on John Rhodes ever since he got out of jail to keep quiet about his sordid past. The final straw is when Fred shows Rhodes a crow that has been taught to say "Rhodes killed me!". Apparently Fred did it for insurance so that Rhodes doesn't kill him, realizing the growing inconvenience he has become, but Rhodes is afraid that if something does happen to Fred he'll be implicated by the talking crow. He therefore pays Trees to steal the bird. And this is only the first ten minutes.

Things get wild, wacky, and down-right preposterous from this point forward. The film is loaded with action and the kind of 40's detective story dialogue that you often see parodied but hardly ever laid on so thick in one short film of that era. As for the not-so-well-known cast, they acquit themselves marvelously. Mr. Cowan must have been studying Humphrey Bogart closely during his brief role in "The Maltese Falcon", because he is the personification of the cool-headed P.I. with questionable scruples 40's style.

I'm sure this little film helped audiences forget the seriousness of the war for a short period of time back in 1943, and I think you'll find it good escapist entertainment today.

"Find the Blackmailer" stars Jerome Cowan as D.L. Trees, a snappy-talking private eye. It's funny, but although Cowan has well over 200 credits on IMDB, he almost never starred in anything but was a supporting character actor. It's really a shame, as he was great in the film and I would like to see more performances like this. He looks like a normal everyday guy...but comes off well as the snappy private detective.

As far as the plot goes, there is the problem. Although Cowan and all the other actors did a great job, they were saddled with a silly plot...really, really silly. It seems that a new client wants Trees to find a talking crow that has been taught to say that he had murdered someone. Now perhaps I am naive, but I cannot see a crow coming in to court to testify. Fortunately, after a while the talking bird angle becomes less important when bodies start to pile up. But still...a case to find a talking crow?!

Overall, watchable but a bit silly as well. Not surprising when you consider that it's a quickie B-movie...and sometimes plot holes and silly plot devices aren't major concerns by the directors or studios.