O Mistério da Cascavel

Edmund Lowe stars with John Litel, Marguerite Chapman, Bruce Bennett, and Esther Dale in Murder in Times Square.

One thing this film has that you won't see elsewhere is a reptile zoo in Times Square.

Edmund Lowe plays a now successful playwright/actor with a hit on Broadway. All we know about the plot is that it concerns snake venom.

Lowe manages to make an enemy of some old Broadway hanger-on (Dale) who is considered a lucky charm by many of his contemporaries.

He no sooner tells her to get lost than he lightly punches someone in a fight and the man dies - of snake venom poisoning. The cops can't find any evidence on him so he's released.

Lowe then learns that his fiance (Veda Ann Borg) is in love with someone else. He winds up dead due to guess what.

A strange film concerning blackmail and someone who isn't quite what he seems. It also has the most abrupt ending I have ever seen.

Marguerite Chapman is lovely as a press agent, and Gerald Mohr has an early role.

Not great.

An egotistical playwrite (Edmund Lowe) write a play wherein snakes play a vital part. He becomes infamous (and wanted by the police) when several of his close friends die of "snake bite".

This is an interesting, intriquing story, but MUCH is left unanswered; for example, the weapon that simulates "snake bite" is never shown OR explained and the murderer was nowhere NEAR his first victim!

Forget the "logic" and just enjoy this film!

We start with a play closing to a standing ovation on Broadway. Suitably proud, playwright "Cory" (Edmund Lowe) heads out for some after show drinks and that's where he encounters "Longacre Lil" (Esther Dale). She's a local "character" who is after a few dollars. He tells her to get lost and she reciprocates with a curse. Bunkum, thinks he - until later that evening when his is being arrested by the police for murder after accidentally causing a man to fall. Luckily for him, "Supai George" (Bruce Bennett) is on hand and points out that the man was poisoned by a dose of deadly snake venom. The cops are still wary of "Cory" but off he goes into the night determined to find out just what old "Lil" is up to. Oh, and did I say - his fiancée is already married to someone else! Anyway, it seems that this kind of poison is the preferred weapon of choice for someone as soon the bodies start piling up and our writer's future is looking distinctly gloomy. It's a bit all over the place this, but the story has loads of twists and turns and "Lil" turns out to be quite a savvy piece of work as we slaughter our way through an hour towards a denouement that is almost incidental to the story. Indeed, this is more of a collection of mediocre individual acting performances this - rather than a coherent attempt to tell a story and though nobody is ever really quite sure what the reasoning is behind the crimes, that doesn't stop us having an amiable enough ping at the theatre types. Instantly forgettable, but not dreadful.

Edmund Lowe plays a now successful playwright/actor with a hit on Broadway that has a plot concerning snake venom. Lowe manages to make an enemy of some old Broadway bag (Dale) who is considered a lucky charm by many of his contemporaries. After he tells her to get lost, he lightly punches someone in a altercation and the man dies - of snake venom poisoning. The cops can't find any evidence on him so he's released. Lowe then learns that his fiance (Veda Ann Borg) is in love with someone else. He winds up dead due to guess what. Yes, snake poison. Eventually the police arrest him but he escapes and turns detective to find the real culprit.

I found this 1943 mystery quite unusual, mainly due to the characters such as the old lady seen as a lucky charm and Lowe's character. He's plays a hammy actor and acts arrogant and superior, but this, as he tells a friend, that this is an act just to stay in the limelight and fit in with luvvies. Makes a change from a straightforward suave hero you usually find as a hero. It's intriguing little b-mystery that has some nice twists and a suspenseful finale.

After a lifetime of struggling, Edmund Lowe's "I am an obnoxious genius" act has finally paid off, and he's looking at a long, prosperous run. However, as he confesses to Texan Bruce Bennett, there to act as his sounding board, it is just an act, meant to keep his name in the papers. When a corpse turns up, everyone on Broadwayis happy to pin it on him, especially when pay-off racketeer Esther Dale doesn't get her cut.

It's a look at Runyonesque Broadway from the sleazy side, and the mystery is all right. It also gives a bunch of minor players a paycheck, including James C. Morton's last. With a plethora of youngsters at the starts of their careers, including Veda Ann Borg and Gerald Mohr, it offers a cramped, uncomfortable view of the crossroads of the world.