I Killed That Man

I'm beginning to find that the poison dart must have been quite popular in early mystery films. This is at least the fourth such movie I've seen. This one involves one of these darts cheating the hangman. A convicted murderer is about to enter the death chamber when he collapses. There are news people and an array of characters in the room, so one of them must have done it. After that it's the usual stuff. There is the aggressive young female reporter who would rather be married than continue her career. She gets in a bit over he head, of course, and sets things on edge. This is better than most. The acting is fine, there are some famous character actors, and the movie has a sense of humor. You can tell the production value is pretty good. If you don't think too much you can sit back and enjoy this like a bad TV show.

Newspaper reporter Joan Woodbury sails up to her editor's desk. The editor is on the phone. "Get me the state prison," he says. Woodbury doesn't miss a beat: "Making a reservation so soon?" This is the kind of snappy dialog that makes this an enjoyable lightweight film.

Plenty of movies from this era featured the crime-solving reporter. Many others starred the assistant district attorney tracking down a murderer. I Killed That Man has both—Woodbury as the reporter, and Ricardo Cortez as her boyfriend who also happens to be the assistant D.A. working on the case.

Other familiar elements also abound: rival reporters envious of Woodbury's connections, the poison dart as murder weapon. George Breakston is entertaining as the D.A. office's receptionist and switchboard operator—besides reading crime non-fiction and proposing inspired solutions to this particular mystery, he offers knowing deductions based on Woodbury's appearance as she sits in his waiting area. (How did he know she got dressed in a hurry that morning? "You got your left stocking on inside out.")

There's only one thing I really want to know after watching this picture: What card catalog numbering system did they use at their local library?

This starts off quite intriguingly as we witness the dying moments of a felon heading to the chair. Only thing is, he never actually makes it - amidst his final confession in which he is about to implicate his paymaster, he is felled by a toxic dart and the police have rather an embarrassing mess to clear up. For some reason, the elderly "Lanning" (Harry Holman) is front and centre for the blame, but soon the assistant district attorney "Phillips" (Ricardo Cortez) and girlfriend reporter "Geri" (Joan Woodbury) conclude that's a red herring and are soon on the trail of the real criminal. It's hardly the best acted nor written drama you'll ever see, but Phil Rosen does manage to keep the tight cast all rowing in the same direction and the story mixes some light-heartedness - especially from switchboard operator/eavesdropper "Tommy" (George P. Breakston) with just enough mystery to amiably pass an hour or so.

This film features some snappy dialogue and a decent performance from Ricardo Cortez.

The film opens on a bizarre note, as we see a group of people shooting dice, drinking coffee, and having an all-around good time. Cortez arrives. Then they all move into the next room to witness an execution! The condemned man starts to blab, and just before he is about to name the brains behind the operation (whatever the operation is), he collapses in a heap. The prison doctor discovers a dart in the guy's neck (probably due to an errant throw by either Basil Rathbone or Lionel Atwill). Assistant D. A. Cortez immediately takes charge, ordering everyone to take off their clothes. Fortunately, the scene changes before we get to the cavity search.

Cortez immediately cracks the case and arrests a suspect. He then explains to his boss (John "Perry White" Hamilton) that he knows that the suspect is innocent. Makes perfect sense to me. He then sets about to find the real killer.

Now the dead guy's girlfriend (Iris Adrian) goes belly-up, and Cortez immediately cracks the case, arresting the last guy who was with her. Oh, he turns out to be innocent as well.

Meanwhile, Cortez' reporter girlfriend gets several clues, and immediately cracks the case.

Worth a look, if only to hear everyone ironically referring to John Hamilton as "Chief," and to see how many laws Cortez violates.

I Killed That Man is a fairly typical Poverty Row mystery film. It tells the tale of a man on his way to execution on Death Row who is suddenly killed by a poison dart by an unknown assailant while in a crowded room. The remaining film details the investigation into who is responsible.

To be honest there's nothing new here. It delivers what anyone familiar with Poverty Row productions will have come to expect, i.e. not too many thrills, not too many sets and not too many surprises. The film does pick up pace towards the end but it takes it's time getting there unfortunately. I've seen another obscure film from director Phil Rosen – Man With Two Lives – and that one was quite a bit more entertaining in my opinion. Having said that I have seen a lot worse than I Killed That Man, it's not exactly a bad watch for a rainy weekend morning.