Sky Murder

Prior to America's entry into WWII, two Fifth Columnists are in a car wreck while carrying a load of pamphlets that read "Don't let them dope you with democracy pills." That's catchy. Not. The action takes place in and near Washington D.C. and Senator Monrose and his aide, Cortland Grant, ask Nick Carter to investigate. As a sweetener, Grant has invited five "models" to entertain Carter. One of the models is a German refugee who the bad guys try to recruit as a Fifth Columnist by telling her that her family is in a concentration camp ( now that's an interesting reference). Escorting the models is the dumb and ditsy private detective Chris Cross. Sometimes dumb and ditsy can be amusing but not in this case; Joyce Compton as Chris is more annoying than funny. And that Nick Carter fell for her is just not believable. On the other hand, Donald Meek as Bartholomew the beekeeper is less annoying and more amusing that he was in the first film in the series. For me, the most interesting supporting actors were Chill Wills and Tom Conway. Conway went on to play The Falcon in an entertaining B detective series. There is one great line in the movie. Carter asks Senator Monrose if he would be willing to do something a little dangerous that might involve getting a knife in the back. Monrose replies, "Son, I've been a politician for forty years and a knife in the back is an old story to me." The movie is entertaining enough and worth a watch if for no other reason than it stars Walter Pidgeon.

Master detective Nick Carter as played by Walter Pidgeon tangles with fifth columnists in Sky Murder. During the course of the film a murder does take place in a millionaire's private plane and at the climax another is attempted, but foiled.

United States Senator George Lessey tips the famous private eye to this nest of traitors, but the leaders are an illusive group. His Senate investigating committee is looking into this and he'd like Carter to work for them.

Of course Walter Pidgeon does things in his own way with sidekick Donald Meek with his ever present bees. They key seems to be refugee girl Kaaren Verne who is being pressured and not quite leveling with Pidgeon or anyone else about her situation.

Once again Donald Meek whom I usually love as a character actor is downright annoying in this as he was in the other Nick Carter films as the bee man. Sometimes he's more of a danger to Pidgeon than the bad guys.

Take note of Dorothy Tree in this film, she plays a hardcore Bundist type and well. Tree who later had blacklist troubles saw the other side of the struggle as the underground leader in the famous camp classic, Hitler - Dead Or Alive.

There's a little more MGM type gloss to these Carter films which is also a bit out of place. But MGM didn't know how to do it any other way in the days of Louis B. Mayer.

This film is a real treat! People expect a major "film noir" edge and that was not the intent here! Whine all you want but this is for fun! One "critic" said it was fit for "eight year old boys". I disagree. It's witty, fast paced, well acted and directed! Perhaps some of these armchair Siskel and Eiberts should watch a similar film made a year later at Warner's, called "All Through the Night" with Bogie! A humorous spin on fifth columnists at work in the US. I find Donald Meek to be a real riot here. A goof who was remarkably resourceful. 1940 was a tumultuous time in the US, what with the war raging for a year in Europe. A film like this, while avoiding the usual flag waving makes it's point in a humorous light! Pidgeon has Bill Powell's easy going nature as he slowly gets to the bottom of the plot. A pity there weren't more in the series with Pidgeon at the forefront. A great cast of character actors makes this a stand out! Don't miss it!

The most interesting and entertaining of the three films that opened up a little and went outdoors and included a heavy plot of spies and Nazis on the home front. There is that dreaded printing press that the subversives use to peddle their poison with fliers like "Don't be Doped by America".

There is also quite a bit of gun-play and this one is as serious as the series ever got. But it is not without the standard flaws. The Detective as a relentless womanizer (in all its overdone cringe inducement here), the almost ever present Beeswax his always irritating sidekick, the cute ditsy, dumb dame, and the German-American included so we can understand America's tolerance (but not after Pearl Harbor) for all Nationalities despite their governments evil ways. Did we really have to be reminded we are the good guys in such a heavy handed manner?

Sure we did, because repetition works, and this series was just another palatable picture used as a delivery device to a yet to be convinced public that we are about to join the fight against fascism. A noble cause. That is also the best that could be said about the Nick Carter Series.

When I heard "Nick Carter," I was expecting a dark, noir-ish hard boiled detective story, along the lines of Sam Spade or Philip Marlowe. "Sky Murder" is anything but.

I thought the first few scenes of the movie were so bad, I was going to give it a 3 and turn it off. (No movie can score higher than a 3 with me if I can't stand it till the end.)

For some reason, though, and it wasn't any sudden change in plot or acting, I kept with it. It was more than three quarters of the way through, more than 45 minutes into the film, that I suddenly realized this is a rollicking adventure story aimed at eight-year-old boys, with no pretensions of being anything but a good time. It is a comic book come to life, sort of like the old Superman TV show from the fifties.

Once I realized that, the movie became much more enjoyable.

I don't know if an eight-year-old would enjoy it today, though. It's not full of fast action, has no gunfire, and of course it has no CG.

So, without modern kid appeal, and, as other reviewers have shown, it doesn't hold much for adult viewers, I'm afraid this well-done and entertaining film is probably destined for obscurity.