Michael Shayne e il mistero dei diamanti

Detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) boards a Hawaii-bound ocean liner on the trail of stolen industrial diamonds and a Nazi smuggling ring.

I have never heard of the Michael Shayne series, and I know by starting here I am jumping in the middle. Hopefully I didn't miss much, but the story still makes plenty of sense. And actually, it is really, really good. I get the feeling this was something of a B-picture, but today (2017) it feels more fun and fresh than some of the A-pictures of the time.

It serves as an interesting blend of detective fiction and spycraft, and has the interesting distinction of being set at least partially in Hawaii. As I understand it, the film was released in 1942 but was probably filmed in 1941... thus they had no idea just how crucial Hawaii would be to the World War II story. In fact, if this was filmed prior to Pearl harbor, America was not technically even in the war yet!

Private detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) takes a job at an airplane manufacturing firm in order to look for saboteurs. On his first day, a load of industrial diamonds are stolen, and Shayne tracks them all the way to Hawaii and a gang of German crooks.

This is a fun, breezy mystery despite the heavier implications of the war. Nolan is funny and charming, and his detective is a morally ambiguous hero, such as when he defrauds his girlfriend (Hughes) out of a thousand bucks so that he can pay for a pleasure cruise to trail his quarry. Yeah, it was for a good cause, but most guys who do that to a girlfriend end up the subject of somebody else's murder mystery. The supporting cast is good, particularly Helene Reynolds as an old acquaintance of Shayne's, and Reeves as a shady Latin salesman.

Diamond smugglers lead detective Michael Shayne to shipboard intrigue and danger.

A lively cast, good production values, and an intriguing mystery, add up to a superior entry in the Michael Shayne series. Lloyd Nolan is so good as the brash detective, injecting real spark into his scenes. Ditto the brassy Hughes as his long-suffering girlfriend. But it's really Superman George Reeves who surprises as the mustachioed bon vivant, O'Hara. He's looser and more charming than I've seen him—no "Man of Steel" here. And I wonder what became of Helene Reynolds who also shows flair, as a shady lady, but appears to have left the business soon after. Too bad.

Anyway, it's a TCF production, which means even B-pictures get quality attention, as the well stocked crowd scenes show. Plus, the suspense part keeps you guessing, like who's trying to drown Shayne and O'Hara aboard ship— a really well thought out and nail-biting sequence. Then too, all the ingredients are wrapped into a neat fast-moving package by director Leeds. In passing-- note how the politics of the diamonds remains curiously unclear. It looks like the movie was produced around Pearl Harbor time, but no mention is made of the Japanese. Instead, Nazi's are mentioned as behind the diamond smuggling, even though America is not yet at war with Hitler. I wonder what the story is here.

Nonetheless, this energetic little programmer still manages a solid degree of entertainment plus.

This entry in 20th Century Fox's Michael Shayne series has Lloyd Nolan working on a case of espionage involving industrial diamonds. The war has eliminated mining them for a while and those we have now are guarded and prized by both us and the bad guys.

With the breezy insouciance typical of his character Nolan follows a lot of false leads and has to bamboozle his put upon girlfriend Mary Beth Hughes for money to follow his trail on an ocean voyage to Honolulu. The trail he's on is that of fashion designer Helene Reynolds.

Nolan also makes a big mistake in assuming something about passenger George Reeves ever the dapper playboy and Curt Bois the ever helpful ship steward.

I didn't particularly like the way the confrontation scene with the chief villain was handled in the end. On the other hand Nolan's final exit as the film closes is pretty funny.

Most entertaining B film from 20th Century Fox.

The Michael Shayne series was a great gig for Lloyd Nolan as he didn't get to play many leads. "Blue, White, and Perfect" from 1942 is a fun entry into the series, and for us boomers, another chance to see George Reeves without his Superman cape. The film also features Helene Reynolds and Mary Beth Hughes.

In this one, Shayne takes a job as a riveter, at first to watch for sabotage, but after a robbery of industrial diamonds, to ferret out the criminal. Actually the job is a great cover as his fiancée, Merle, is pressuring him to get out of the detective business.

The trail leads to Hawaii. Since this film was released in January of 1942, it looks like it was filmed before Pearl Harbor, so the placement of the story in Hawaii is interesting, plus the fact that we seem to be on the trail of not Japanese, but Nazis. In order to get money for passage on the ship, Shayne convinces Merle to make a $1000 deposit on a ranch. Clever if low! On the ship, he meets Juan Arturo O'Hara (Reeves) and an old client, Helen Shaw, who now owns a dress shop in Hawaii. It gets pretty dicey from there as someone tries to kill Shayne, by not only shooting, but drowning! Director Herbert Leeds keeps the action going at a snappy pace. Highly entertaining, with a lively performance by Nolan, and a charming one by Reeves, whose career never regained its momentum after his war service.

Very good.