London by Night

It is all too obvious after the first five minutes who the master criminal, "The Umbrella Man" is. Nevertheless, it is a charming, lighthearted mystery with some very good performances.

George Murphy (long before he became a U.S. senator from California,) plays the lead part, Michael Denis, with a great deal of charm and a large dose of tongue-in-cheek. Truth be told, our late U.S. senator was quite a handsome man.

A small side note: back in 1964 I worked at General Service Studios in Hollywood as a messenger. Among other shows that were filmed there was "The Beverly Hillbillies" starring Buddy Ebsen. Ebsen and Murphy were good friends. After Murphy won his U.S. senate seat, he visited Ebsen in his dressing room. There was some talk that Ebsen (who to me, at my lofty age of 18, seemed to be an insufferable snob) might run for office himself.

I had bicycled up to Ebsen's dressing room to deliver some mail. I misjudged the distance between the curb and the dressing room. I hit the curb straight on, knocking all the mail out of my basket. Just as I was maneuvering that very graceful slam, Sen. Murphy came walking out of the dressing room. I was a bit surprised to see that he was about my height. I was, and still am, at 5'9", far from a giant* "What seems to be the trouble, son?" asked the affable Murphy. "I dropped my mail, senator," I managed to mumble and stumble out. "Here, let me help you," said Murphy, whereby this dignified, handsome, and immaculately dressed United States senator got down on his hands and knees, and helped me shuffle the mail back into my basket.

I have been a life-long Democrat, but if I had been old enough to vote for Republican George Murphy, I certainly would have.

What a guy!

*other "cutesie" names (which I learned to despise) were, "squirt," "pipsqueak," "shorty," (which the school bully always called me) and my all time favorite, "shrimp boats."

By way of explanation of that last one, there was a very popular song being sung at that time called "Shrimp Boats are A-comin'"

London By Night (1937)

** (out of 4)

Mystery film from MGM has London being stalked by a mad killer who uses an umbrella as his disguise to prevent being seen. A local reporter (George Murphy) links up with a rich woman (Rita Johnson) to try and figure out who the mysterious figure is. Apparently the working title of this film was THE UMBRELLA MAN was the working title for this film and that probably would have fit it a lot better. I've seen so many mysteries like this over the years to the point where I'm feeling there aren't too many out there left for me to watch. This one here is about middle ground as there's nothing too bad but there's nothing too good either. The one thing the director does get right is the atmosphere as the film has a very dark and fog filled look to it. This here is a major plus as is the casting of George Zucco in the role of a good guy. You don't get to see that very often so it was nice to see it here. He's pretty good in the role as is Virginia Field and Leo G. Carroll in their parts. I wasn't too interested in either league, which was one of the film's faults and I'd also say the identity of the killer was given away rather early even though the "secret" is held to the end. I think most will be able to figure things out. If, like me, you've seen the majority of these types of movies then you might as well check this one out as well. If you haven't seen too many of what the genre has to offer then there are many others you should check out before catching this one of TCM.

This decent but unremarkable programmer has George Murphy sliding occasionally into his Irish brogue, as a reporter in foggy London who wants to go on vacation, but he needs to solve the mystery of 'the Umbrella Man' and court Rita Johnson -- doing a Billie Burke imitation -- assisted and hampered by his dog and Scotland Yard.

As you can tell from that description, it has occasional screwball overtones, but it's largely carried by Murphy's Irish charm. MGM didn't do many of this sort of movie once you descended from the heights of the THIN MAN series, and so it needs to be compared to the RKO programmers of the type. It comes off well in most departments, but it does lack focus and depends on the charm of Mr. George Murphy.... later U.S. Senator. That's one way of getting there, I suppose.

Here is a film that brought waves of nostalgia to an old movie buff who usually never forgets a film but often cannot remember the titles of something I have not seen in 50 years. I viewed it by chance on TCM and as soon as I saw the Umbrella Man I knew it was an old favorite from childhood. I am constantly drawn to any film about London and this was no exception. It contains much of the usual elements of period London, the constant fog, Big Ben, elegant town house, eerie Thames River, bumbling police, pub, two lovely ladies and a semi-comical newspaper man protagonist. However it was the bone-chilling Umbrella Man that made the indelible imprint on my young mind years ago. Now the film seems silly and outdated and not the least bit scary, oh but what fun to see again.

The film contained credible performances with a somewhat predictable plot. With a little bit of rewriting and a skilled director I think this film would be a great candidate for a serious remake.

There's not much to this. A reporter is detained from a trip to Paris due to a series of murders he initially has not interest in. He gets hooked up with a rich girl who likes adventure and this almost gets her killed. The murderer runs around with an umbrella which identifies him but also keeps him from being apprehended (it is foggy, after all, and everyone seems to have the same umbrella). There are some pretty good performances by Leo G. Carroll and George Zucco. George Murphy pulls things off pretty well, but the whole plot is too transparent. There is also an interesting romantic development between the two leads. The ending leaves a bit to be desired, but it does have some plausibility. Nevertheless, the film is interesting, atmospheric in places, but pretty unremarkable.