Storia d'un detective

So this is the film version of the radio series by Dashiell Hammett called The Fat Man - obviously a whimsical referencing of his more famous novel, film and TV series The Thin Man. But this is more than just a gimmick. The corpulent gentleman in question is the masterly J. Scott Smart, whose excess poundage adds much to his screen presence as an unusually charismatic private investigator (with gourmet tastes and a mighty appetite), to whom the rest of the cast really don't measure up. Except for the quite unknown Rock Hudson, in his first major role as Roy, an ex-convict whose teeth play a significant part in the story (and not just because of his famous sunny smile). He speaks his lines convincingly, and we can already see what the production teams meant when they said "the camera loved him". Photogenic wasn't the word.

Otherwise the film is showing both its age and its B-film budget. The dialogue is generally weak, and the continuity not too sharp. We can't always keep up with who's who in the zoo. The dental assistant gives her scream of alarm long before she could possibly have worked out that her boss has been defenestrated. And the over-long sequence of the payroll robbery leaves us unsure whether this was before or after Roy's jail sentence. (You can overdo flashbacks). Also the puritan lobby will wince at Smart's habit of calling every woman 'sweetheart', as well as one brief glimpse of blackface theatre-comedy. Still the ending, which we can't reveal, reminds us of the myriad sub-plots that can emerge when a circus comes to town.

I recently caught this film, and inspire of its ...slightly above middle-range rating, I decided to watch it.

After all, it's an early Rock Hudson film,but, for me, the real clincher was it had a rare film appearance by the incomparable Ms Julie London.

I'm too young to have experienced the age of radio (but, I did grow up listening, nightly, to CBS Radio Myster Theater to understand just how great it could be), and an eclectic group of actors, as well as directed by Mr William Castle made this too intriguing to not give a chance.

I'm very happy I did.

The story's a classic, 'whodunnit', and it's got all the 'bells and whistles' of a really good noir film (aside from inky-black scenes shot in various locations), including a couple of character actors who should be familiar to most - if not by name, nor appearances, but, by their singular voices, and mannerisms (Messers William Castle,and Marvin Kaplan, as the 'fat man's' assistant, bill, and as 'pinkie', an uncredited role as a delivery truck assistant/brother-in-law).

I never knew Mr Castle had made any noir films, a d after enjoying this one, I really wish he had, because, he knows how to use his abilities in this genre, and have them work to their fullest.

This is a real hidden gem!

Economy was obviously a concern for Universal and Mark Hellinger. The clip of the man falling to his death is taken right from 'The Spider Woman' (1944) one of Universal's classic Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies.

The second economy was the dress design for Julie London's character (starts at about 26:15). Film noir lovers will instantly recognize it as Kitty's famous evening gown (worn to perfection by Ava Gardner) in Universal's 1947 classic 'The Killers'.

Economies notwithstanding, the solid story and reliable performances (Jerome Cowan (long time Warner Bros. Contract player), Jayne Meadows, and a young Rock Hudson) make this oldie a goodie.

When I was growing up, pre-television, we used to listen to many radio shows. One of these was The Fat Man, starring J. Scott Smart. This, as with some other radio shows, was made into a movie. The casting of Smart in the title role was good, since he looked the part and the sound was identical to the radio program.

In virtually every radio show, Bradford Runyan is hired to solve a crime; the film carries on the tradition. However, the radio program lasted for only a half hour, and even though there was a "time compression" effect, there was time to do significantly more in the film. As an example, Runyan asks a lady to dance, and when she accepts, he acquits himself well. That could never have worked on the radio program, to be sure.

For those of us who remember the program, there's a lot of nostalgia in the film. For those who never heard the show (such as my wife), it's still okay, but probably not as valued.

Of course, this film has nothing to do with the Thin Man series over at MGM, but it does give us a detective with a similar moniker - "The Fat Man" AKA Brad Runyan who is doing plenty of gourmet cooking and eating when he isn't solving mysteries.

Things start with a bang as a man enters the hotel room of a dentist attending a convention, knocks him unconscious, throws his body out of his high rise room to make it look like an accident, and steals a dental plate the dentist was planning to show at the convention. So the dentist's assistant (Jayne Meadows) goes to Runyan and tells him she feels like she is being watched, plus the dentist had made an appointment with Runyan for reasons unknown. When someone tries to attack the assistant, Runyan decides to stick with this case, whatever it is.

He starts with the man whose x-ray plate was stolen - Roy Clark (Rock Hudson). The assistant talks about how when he first showed up he was poorly dressed, didn't even have enough money to make a complete payment on his dental work. When he reappeared at his follow-up dental appointment, he was dressed to the nines and gave the dentist a generous tip for doing the original work on credit. He drove off in a nice car as opposed to being on foot before.

And from that sketchy information, the Fat Man solves the mystery. This is far from a top drawer noir, and in fact it has a 50s TV show feel about it. The Fat Man was a popular radio show, and maybe this feature film was a way to transfer it from radio to television, but it never really took off.

J. Scott Smart is good and convincing in his role as "The Fat Man", and he should be since he played that part on radio. He even shows himself light on his feet on the dance floor! Rock Hudson, even in this early and rather small role really stands out as far as screen presence.

The film does have a rather interesting and unexpected ending, and is worthwhile if you are interested in the noir cycle of American film in the 40s and 50s. With an original story penned by Dashiell Hammett and direction by that master of the macabre, William Castle. Also with Clinton Sundberg as Runyan's right hand man, mainly on the culinary front.