The Man Who Wouldn't Die

Lloyd Nolan is Michael Shayne, private detective in "The Man Who Wouldn't Die," a 1942 entry into this short series from Twentieth Century Fox.

A friend of Mike's, Catherine (Marjorie Weaver) gets him to pose as her husband while investigating a shooting at her family home. Her father (Paul Harvey) is in government and under investigation by the Senate, and one night, Anna is shot at. Mike finds plenty to investigate. He also has plenty to explain when Catherine's real husband shows up unexpectedly.

There's lots of humor and "dark stormy night" atmosphere in this neat programmer, which also features Henry Wilcoxon and Helen Reynolds as Anna, Catherine's stepmother.

Nolan is a delight as a singing, happy but very clever Shayne. I'm surprised that Marjorie Weaver didn't get further in her career, though by all accounts, she loved the career she had - she's very pretty and vivacious.

Very enjoyable.

Detective Shayne helps out an old girlfriend, following some mysterious happenings at her family mansion.

That Gothic opening is a real grabber. So what's going on with guys that are digging a nighttime grave in the middle of a storm with a sinister mansion in the background. It takes the rest of the 60-minutes to find out. Speaking of spooky effects, there're also the two glowing eyes in the dark looming over an hysterical Cathy (Weaver). No wonder she screams bloody murder.

But these creepy effects, along with the ever-reliable Lloyd Nolan as Shayne are probably the best parts of a sometimes murky narrative. The whodunit part is treated rather casually; at the same time, maybe you can figure out the solution-- I got lost. But that's okay, because the Shayne series depended more on characters than mystery. Here, Nolan and Weaver spark the proceedings with some lively dialog, including some surprisingly suggestive bedroom banter. Include Olin Howland as the addled hayseed sheriff, plus an ambulatory corpse, and it all adds up to an entertaining, if unexceptional, series entry.

I ended up catching this on the Movies!network-the digital TV channel broad-casted by a lot of fox affiliates. I thought it was a fun movie. Lloyd Nolan was great. I knew him more from his character bits on TV in the 1970s. I really enjoyed him in the McCloud episode of the western cowboys that rob an armored car. This movie had a nice mix between comedy and a nice if not ground breaking mystery story. Great chemistry between Nolan and his costar. I had not seen others in this series but would not mind checking it out. The style reminds a little of the Thin Man series or some of the better written Abbott and Costello movies (I always liked their two mystery type movies Who Done It and Meet The Killer Boris Karloff).

None of these actors sounded familiar to me but for some reason I was drawn to check out The Man Who Wouldn't Die and am so very happy that I did. For starters there's the cast: at first the Michael Shayne character played by Nolan is kind of obnoxious but through Nolan's unrelenting charm and humor I grew to really like both the character and the actor. Then there's Weaver who is instantly likeable and quite attractive as well. Really the entire cast does a swell job, it's a very solid ensemble. The twists and turns of the ever evolving plot are great fun and even though at one point I had no idea where all of it was going, it came together quite wonderfully in the end. The Man Who Wouldn't Die is a surprise gem worth checking out.

Mike Shayne is back with us in The Man Who Wouldn't Die, one of the last of the seven Shayne movies Lloyd Nolan cranked out in a three-year period. While the acting for the most part is no better than you'd expect in a quickie B, it's got the old dark house cliché down pat. Mike Shayne is called upon to pretend to be the new husband of the daughter of a wealthy businessman, now under investigation back in Washington. The man has a lush, young wife, an obsequious male secretary, an older and discrete butler and a live-in, tall and handsome doctor/scientist. Most of all, the man has a huge, isolated mansion with lots of corridors and rooms. And at night, the shadows are dark, the grounds are scary, a murderer creeps about and a buried corpse has trouble staying buried. Shayne's job is to find out why someone took a shot at his female friend in her bedroom, and why everyone, including her father, insists that it was her imagination. Things get even more dicey when the young lady's real husband shows up.

Lloyd Nolan brings all of Michael Shayne's wise-cracking confidence to life as he puzzles out a murderous mystery that involves revenge and slow breathing. Except for Nolan, the acting is B level clunky. Still, it's always fun to see Olin Howland do his gullible hayseed routine, this time as Police Chief Meek. In a small part as the town's coroner is Jeff Corey, a good actor when given half a chance. To see him at his best, watch his performance as Blinky Franklin in The Killers.

Like all the Michael Shayne mysteries Lloyd Nolan made in the early Forties, nowadays the reason to watch them is Lloyd Nolan. Shayne's good-natured confidence and shrewd thinking is a perfect match for Nolan.