Nancy Steele Desapareceu

Designed to showcase McLaghlen in another dumb-brute-Irishman role similar to the one he played in "The Informer," this little crime story is as clever and snappy as "The Informer" is pretentious, and McLaghlen's very good in it. Even better is Peter Lorre as a devilish little jailbird who tries to get the better of the big guy.

Watching George Marshall's "Nancy Steele Is Missing", I wondered if it was partly based on the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby (apparently one of the biggest news stories of the early '30s). Victor McLaglen puts on an intense performance as a man who kidnaps his boss's daughter in the hopes of keeping the US out of World War I. Sent to jail for an unrelated crime, he gets out years later and meets the girl, who knows nothing of what happened. But there's still more to come.

I interpreted the movie to mean that you can never fully predict how a scheme will go, especially when it involves something questionable. The dim lighting emphasizes the intensity; it's the sort of movie that makes you feel as if you're walking on eggshells. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but the performances and direction make up for any shortcomings.

Despite its fairly routine, convoluted and at times difficult to follow plot, Nancy Steele Is Missing! is a grand example of studio moviemaking at its best. The script is no great shakes, but the cast,--Victor McLaglen, Peter Lorre, Walter Connolly--is, and the art direction and shadowy photography are first rate, at times more suggestive pictorially of gothic horror than a realistic crime story. That the movie recounts the story of the kidnapping of a child also gives it, for me anyway, a horrifying aspect, albeit a real life rather than supernatural one.

Victor McLaglen's wife has died, and he broods over it and the scars he has accumulated. He settles on munitions manufacturer Walter Connolly and kidnaps his infant daughter, then hands him to his sister and brother-in-law, and prepares to leave. Before he can, he's picked up on another charge and spends twenty years in prison, with Peter Lorre as his puling cell mate. Released, he goes to find his sister long dead, his brother-in-law dying, and the kidnapped girl, June Lang, delighted with her father. Connolly, whom he runs into, is sympathetic, and offers him a job as a gardener on his Long Island estate. As his fondness for Miss Lang grows, he finds that Lorre has stolen his papers proving her identity and offered another woman as Connolly's daughter.

It seems a role tailor-made for the star of The Informer, even though the part was offered to Wallace Beery with Otto Preminger as director. Attitudes ensued, and. George Marshall wound up directing and.... well, something's wrong. Perhaps it's McLaglen's constant attitude of sullenness, perhaps it's Barney McGill's crime-drama cinematography. The story is still interesting, but what emerges on the screen is interesting, rather than compelling.

Another pleasant surprise in weekend of good dramas. The plot may have been convoluted at times but strong performances by the leads carried it through. Victor McLaglen (Variety called it his best performance since The Informer) plays a club waiter who is so against the entry of the United States into World War I that he kidnaps the baby of munitions manufacturer Walter Connolly. His plans are foiled when, after arranging to have the child watched by innocent friends, he is arrested and jailed for another, lesser crime. The friends believe McLaglen is a widowed sailor and raise the child as if it were truly his. McLaglen spends 20 years in prison trying to keep his secret from cellmate, creepy Peter Lorre. When finally released, McLaglen locates the girl and still plans to get money from Connolly. But before he can set up the pay off, Connolly recognizes McLaglen from his former job at the gentleman's club and offers him a job as caretaker of his estate. And to complicate matters the girl, now grown up, believes McLaglen to be her long lost father and loves him as such. McLaglen chooses to go straight as he begins to care for the would-be daughter he has never known. Lorre, now released from prison, reveals that McLaglen talked in his sleep and now he intends to collect the reward for turning in the kidnapper… Thank god for film festivals like this one that make rare films like this available and the folks who provide comments to IMDB for others to share. Please support the IMDB and early film festivals!