Nick Carter

Walter Pidgeon is cast as detective Nick Carter, whose mission is to find out who is behind plans to steal blueprints for the enemy in this pre-WWII yarn. Rita Johnson is teamed nicely as leading lady. Her presence is so welcome that it's a wonder she never had a bigger career on screen.

With a supporting cast that includes Frank Faylen, Henry Hull, Donald Meek and Stanley Ridges, it's a neat programmer that crams a lot of plot into a one hour time slot. The only sore spot is Donald Meek in his bumbling role as a bee-keeper who aids Carter. Usually a very reliable character actor, this time his role is so unlikeable, unlikely and annoying that it's more of a distraction than a help. Whatever humor is supposed to be gathered by his involvement in the plot, never quite makes its mark.

But in its brief running time, this one passes the time pleasantly enough with the handsome Pidgeon marking his time at MGM before he became a big star.

Based on the popular Nick Carter pulp stories, this detective B movie should have been a real winner with Walter Pidgeon as Carter and a host of excellent character actors. But instead it's only average. The movie takes place a couple of years before America entered WWII and involves a plot to steal blueprints for a new aircraft design by foreign spies from an unnamed country (duh, maybe Germany?). There is an attempt to bring humor to the film with the role of Mr. Bartholomew, the master beekeeper played by Donald Meek. While the character is occasionally amusing, he is just as often irritating. What was nice was the Rita Johnson role of the stewardess/nurse who actually helps Carter in his investigation. While this is good enough that it makes one want to see the other two entries in the Nick Carter series, it is not in the top tier of B detective movie series entries.

Nick Carter, Master Detective was the first of the two movies about a very popular fiction detective Nick Carter, which were directed by Jacques Tourneur for MGM, the other one being 1940 Phantom Raiders.

Nick Carter was created in 1886 and since the times of silent cinema had several times been chosen as a protagonist of various films made in France and United States prior to this 1939 Jacques Tourneur version. This time Nick Carter is played by Walter Pigeon in his first starring role. He is chosen to conduct an investigation in the case of industrial espionage on one of the American factories that manufactures warplanes. The film quite memorable especially because of the very remarkable plane chase sequence at the end and because of the comic relief given by Bartholomew, the Bee-man, wonderfully played by Donald Meek, a Nick Carter's partner in investigation who always appears when less expected to give help or to free a number of bees.

Overall Nick Carter, Master Detective is a quite pleasant 1930s B detective film, with its memorable moments, worth to take a look at. 6/10

Walter Pidgeon is breezy, clever and tough as master detective Nick Carter in this spies-in-the-airplane-factory adventure that contains plenty of laughs and a couple of good action scenes.

An exciting opening sequence features a pilot setting down his plane in the middle of the desert, snatching up some valuable plans, and dashing off on foot to meet his waiting cohorts. Passenger Nick Carter—on the plane incognito—races after him, rescues the plans and jumps back on the ship as the flight nurse starts up the plane and flies it away to safety. It's all pretty far-fetched but it's well staged and the actors give it plenty of zip.

Rita Johnson is fine as flight attendant, nurse, sometime pilot and possible spy named Lou. Unfortunately, her character isn't given quite enough to do after the daring plane ride, but she and Pidgeon are good together, their characters initially suspicious but eventually rather fond of each other.

Donald Meek is bizarre but irrepressible as an amateur detective who calls himself "Bartholomew the B Man." He keeps bees in his hat and follows Carter around offering theories and advice. The two exchange standard but likable enough B movie dialog: "What made you say murder?" "Because it looks like suicide."

A decent plot moves along briskly—bad guys are smuggling out top secret airplane plans—but it's really the stars who hold our interest. Walter Pidgeon is actually a lot of fun: "If I'm wrong, I'll apologize," he smirks whenever proposing a new theory.

Very Entertaining-----Walter Pigeon was charming as the lead and Rita Johnson was excellent as his leading lady. The plot is a bit sophomoric, but the leads make this an A film. Although some of the humor is lost with the beeman, the movie is rather fast paced, albeit short-length with a rather abrupt ending. The special effects are rather good for that time, and the line, " If I am wrong, I will apologize" serves as a great tagline for Pigeon's Carter. Ultimately you watch a film like this for the chemistry of its two main stars, and this film delivers. Walter Pigeon and Rita Johnson are no William Powell and Myrna Loy, but they are perfectly matched for each other and cover some of the plot holes amicably. This is a great movie to see on AMC or TNT one late night.