It Couldn't Have Happened (But It Did)

It Couldn't Have Happened, But It Did casts Reginald Denny as a playwright who is among many people suspected of murdering the two producer partners who are putting on his play. He just wants to stay away and let Detective Robert Homans do his job. But the producer's secretary Inez Courtney who has a thing for Denny wants him to solve the mystery. After all it certainly worked for Jessica Fletcher for years. And think of the publicity.

Like Nick Charles who in several Thin Man films would feign indifference but in the end was drawn in and solved the mystery, Reginald Denny has the additional motivation of being a suspect. Courtney is a little bit more annoying than Myrna Loy was, but in the end she proves a useful ally.

Denny takes a leaf from the Bard and Hamlet like writes a play to catch the conscience of the killer. It Could Have Happened might easily have been a whole lot better at a major studio, but it's all right film in any event.