The Crosby Case

1934's "The Crosby Case" is among Universal's finest whodunits (on par with "Bombay Mail," both superior to "Secret of the Château"), beginning quickly with the murder of a shady doctor, staggering in front of a moving cab, but later revealed to have been shot. There are no superfluous subplots, as even the comic relief is supplied by Warren Hymer's cab driver suspect, with others essayed by Onslow Stevens, Edward Van Sloan, and John Wray. The solution may come as a surprise, but seems perfectly logical, a fast moving, satisfactory 60 minutes. Top billing goes to forgotten actress Wynne Gibson (whose last film came in 1943), whose scarlet woman character apparently received an abortion through the late doctor, a plot device soon to disappear from cinema screens with the new censorship laws just going into effect when this feature was released. Alan Dinehart does well as the witty Inspector, and unbilled roles are played by Walter Brennan, Leon Ames, Harold Huber, and Paul Fix. Never part of Universal's SHOCK! television package from the late 50s, "The Crosby Case" nonetheless appeared twice on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, Sept 17 1977 (following 1943's "The Mad Ghoul") and June 18 1983 (solo).

This oldie plays real well today. Good script with a treasure trove of 1930s character actors having a good time. Only a hour long but worth a look.

This is a late and shakily Pre-Code murder mystery that talks a better game than it shows. A shady doctor is shot and run over, so inspector Alan Dinehart rounds up the usual suspects, including Wynne Gibson, the doctor's mistress, suddenly taking ship to Europe; Onslow Stevens, Miss Gibson's old lover; and some potentially interesting actors, including Edward van Sloan, William Collier Sr., Edward Wray, J. Farrel MacDonald... and then director Edward L. Marin proceeds to move things along at a glacial pace, pulls clues out after announcing the murderer.

the Pre-Code touches are limited to our first glimpse of Miss Gibson, when she is dressed in her slip, but after that. there's far more implied than frankly stated. Given the lack of a well-constructed mystery and no salacious or frank amusements, this one looks like they tried to fix it for the small-town theaters without being asked, and butchered it in the process.

... with the original "The Crosby Case" being a completely different movie made in the very early talkie era. The only thing they have in common is that both are murder mysteries.

The film opens on a man stumbling into the street and being hit by a careless cabbie, played by Warren Hymer. When the cabbie sees the man is dead he drives away, thinking he killed him.

Meanwhile the homicide detectives, headed by Police Inspector Thomas (Alan Dinehart), is trying to solve the murder of Dr. Crosby, who apparently was shot before the cabbie hit him. Whoever shot him must have been in a hurry because that person threw the gun on Crosby's desk. In Crosby's apartment the police find a single bedroom slipper....with a name on it? So pretty soon the police have rounded up the last patient to see Crosby alive based on an appointment book (Edward Van Sloan), the woman belonging to the bedroom slipper (Wynne Gibson), a random small time crook (John Wray), and the man who according to their records owned the gun that killed Crosby (Onslow Stevens). Each of these persons has something that they are trying to hide that has nothing to do with the murder, and so each is acting terribly guilty. So who did it? Watch and find out. It is briskly paced at only sixty minutes, and everybody does a good job. There are just some issues as to direction and police procedure that are weird.

When the police find out Crosby was shot, not just run over, they put his body back in his office. Do they plan to do the autopsy there? They mention Crosby is a "shady physician" known for malpractice more than practice, yet they never say what is meant by that. It might have been a more compelling drama if Crosby was not a corpse for the entire film. Finally there is some reporter hanging around in the inspector's office, so at home he puts his feet on the inspector's desk, yet he doesn't seem to want to scoop the murder and plays no part in solving the mystery at all. After the murder is solved he is STILL hanging around. That's pretty poor use of Skeets Gallagher, who was great with the clever biting quips over at Paramount.

What did I get about the era of 1934 by watching this film? First, police don't seem to use search warrants and have no problem with recording private conversations with no court oversight and nobody seems to care that they don't. Oh, and if you go blind in 1934, with no social safety net, some people at that time might think that they are better off dead. Shocking but true.

There are some likeable characters in this even though they're not quite of the straight and narrow kind. There's Lynn Ashton (Wynne Gibson) who is on her way to Bermuda before a Dr Crosby starts squawking about some jewels she might be taking with her. There's the cab driver Sam Collins (Warren Hymer) who is prepared to do a hit-and-run when he accidentally knocks down the same Dr Crosby on a kerbside. And there's nervous crook and squealer Willie McGuire (John Wray) who wants to be locked up by the police for his own safety. The story begins with the death of a shady doctor called Crosby. At first it seems as though he has been killed accidentally by a cab. Then a bullet wound is found in him. Professor Lubeck and a doorman both witness Lynn's ex-boyfriend on the spot at the time which makes him the chief suspect. Lynn is taken off the boat bound for Bermuda with some jewels and is under suspicion also. The plot includes mobsters and drug dealing and frame-ups. Edward Van Sloan plays a more feeble character than usual. He's Professor Lubeck who has a secret guilt and a disability that he tries to hide from others. My favorite funny moment is when Lynn is asked to open up her jewel box and she finds a switcheroo has been done on her by a tearful friend. There's nothing really outstanding about this Universal mystery but I enjoyed some of it's shady characters.