By Whose Hand?

On a runaway train, there's an escaped killer on his way to prison, a jeweler killed and his pieces missing, a dumb cop to try to figure out what's going on: good thing Ben Lyon, the best reporter in town is on the train!

It's a high speed mystery from Columbia which takes advantage of some good players, like Kenneth Thomson, Ethel Kenyon, Dwight Frye, and Nat Pendleton. Pendleton is far from his comic persona, and quite good as the killer. The real star of the movie, though, is Teddy Tetzlaff Jr's lighting. Most of it is shot in cheap interiors, but a good proportion of it is shot outside in the dark, with only the light from the rigs to illuminate. And those focused shots against a vast, black background are dramatic and often weirdly beautiful. There's also a fine shot of the engine of the train, a maze of pipes in which the engineer and fireman are lost to the audience. There's an ok script, but that's not what makes this one interesting.

Murder mystery B-movies are a dime a dozen and they must have made thousands of them in the 1930s and 40s. Because of this, I had low expectations for "By Whose Hand?"....fortunately, my first instinct was wrong!

The story begins with a man being murdered while aboard a train. Soon, you see newspaper headlines announcing that 'Killer' Delmar, the escaped maniac, is responsible! The scene then cuts to a train station and a bunch of different folks and their stories are introduced...much like you'd see in a film like "Airport". This would seem to indicate that Killer Delmar will strike on this train. But what you don't realize is that there are more evil people aboard. There's the convicted criminal being taken to prison as well as several career criminals who are hiding out among the many passengers.

The reason why I enjoyed this Columbia movie so much was the excellent writing. I almost gave the movie an 8 but decided against it due to a couple cheesy things I saw in the film (such as the comic relief drunk)...but otherwise an excellent film. In particular, the finale is marvelous and makes such a humble picture seem bigger and better.

This is a beautifully crafted murder-cum-jewel heist-cum-romance with some great stunt work on a train. We see the characters assemble in Los Angeles station ready to board the train to San Francisco. As we meet them we get shown the various ways they could come into conflict. There's the jeweler with an eye for the ladies, a lady with an eye for the jewels and various others of differing degrees of respectability. Not shown, though it is clear he will pop up some time is the mad murderer on the run.

The love interest comes from Jimmy, a reporter who gets on the train at the last minute and Alice.

The first killing shakes everything up, turning people out of their dormitory style beds as the police try to catch the killer.

It's very hard to make a bad film set on a train unless it's the Orient Express, but the action in those one is great.

Pure joy from start to finish.

A Little Spoiler - Every pre-code fan should catch this movie, "By Whose Hand?". It was a very entertaining and rare 65 minute classic movie that was shown on Turner Classic Movies. This movie is another example of pre-code greatness. Crime, Love, Betrayal, and Murder all takes place on a train ride. Slick and Smooth Ben Lyon plays Jimmy Hawley, a newspaper reporter who is always got his eye out for a story. He gets kissed accidentally by pretty Alice (Barbara Weeks) and because of that he follows her to California on a train where a big story evolves right before his eyes. The train ride has plenty of suspects with a shady past, a jewelry distributor (Kenneth Thomson), a gorgeous moll named Eileen (Ethel Kenyon), a criminal, a bitter man, and the wife of a criminal who's going to help her husband get even with the man who framed him who's on the train. The jewelry man is killed and the beautiful moll is suspected because of her being seen with him and because of her past, the bitter guy who the jewelry man fired is suspected of killing out of revenge. The convict and his wife are suspects too even Alice (Barbara Weeks). Ben Lyon plays detective and points out the guilty and innocent. I won't give all all the details in case some of you haven't seen it.

There is mention of dope cigarettes - weed - which was given to the man to fall asleep so he could be killed. There is also plenty of sexual innuendos that pre-code movies were known for. The newlywed couple was cute, especially, the blonde, little cutie. During the drama, the funny part is when the detective tells everyone to come out of their sleepers and he ask the newlywed couple what they were doing during the murder and the newlywed couple starts to blush and look guilty and giggles because they were having sex during the murder - they didn't say that but their face told it. That's what I like about pre-code, pre-code didn't have to be filthy and vulgar to be entertaining and sexy like movies today. Movies today should learn something from pre-code movies. This movie has everything and it's jam-packed for being just a 65 minute movie. That's what I love about pre-code, pre-code proved a movie doesn't have to be 2 hours long to be entertaining or to tell the story fully. There was a beginning, middle, and end, the pre-code movies get to the point without a lot of unnecessary parts which is good for an impatient person like me. Pre-code is entertaining all the way through. Please see this movie, I personally recommend it!

This often neglected programmer is filled with suspense and mayhem aboard a fast-moving train and well worth a watch, even though the acting is often overwrought, a holdover from the silent film days when histrionics were sometimes necessary to compensate for the lack of sound. Being an early sound production, the dialog too is often stilted. But the crisp photography, at times reminding the viewer of a Hitchcock picture, and apt direction more than make up for the movie's shortcomings. Sometimes as exciting as today's action hits, especially during the runaway train sequence at the end, "By Whose Hand?" proves a winner all the way.

Though Ben Lyon was a fine actor, he did much better as a second lead. He never had the charisma nor the looks to play top banana as he does in this film. The drunk played by Tom Dugan was probably a laugh riot to audiences in 1932 but by today's standards becomes a bit grating after a few minutes. Intended mainly for comic relief, the part should have been whittled down considerably. Otherwise, the casting is first rate with standout performances by the vivacious Barbara Weeks, the always delightful Dwight Frye, William V. Mong as a crotchety old man, and the versatile Nat Pendleton. The racial stereotyping that was rampant in Hollywood at the time is omnipresent, but if the viewer keeps an open mind this aspect is also tolerable.

The plot involves a hotshot reporter, Jimmy (Lyon), who takes a train ride to scoop a story on Chick Lewis (Frye), the man who plea-bargained with the police and is therefore the target of an escaped killer, Delmar(Pendleton), who stabs his victims. And there are two steak knives missing from the kitchen! Jimmy accidentally meets Alice (Weeks) and falls madly in love with her (who wouldn't!). All the while the locomotive speeds full throttle toward San Francisco.