A Tragedy at Midnight

A ripoff of The Thin Man series, but entertaining in its own right. But the TV prints (like the one used by Netflix streaming) slash about 15 minutes out of this 69-minute movie! There's a big chunk missing at the beginning, which is apparently where the relationships with the neighbors is set up and who is sleeping where (an important fact). And there's another few minutes eliminated about halfway through the film.

In the early days of TV Republic would edit its movies down to about 53 minutes so that TV stations could run them in an hour time slot (back then they only had 3 minutes of commercials per half hour!). So beware the edited TV prints of this title.

In the best of circumstances, meaning complete and uncut, "A Tragedy at Midnight" still could not be called a good movie. The writing is awful, the direction slipshod--shots rarely match, and in some scenes the actors don't seem to realize they're on camera; they stare down until their cue comes, at which time they suddenly leap into character--and the acting in many cases is pure burlesque. Most Abbott and Costello movies are more realistic. The goal was obviously to do a screwball mystery, ala "The Thin Man," with a little "Ghost Breakers" thrown in, but the characters here act like imbeciles. Having said that, the version of this film that is readily available on Netflix makes matters even worse by having had about one-quarter of its original running time chopped out, so as to fit into an hour time slot for television. This 53 minute version makes no sense--none--since the eliminated footage was apparently all exposition. What's left of the film involves a radio sleuth who makes the cops look like idiots (no big task here), and wakes up one hungover morning next to the corpse of a woman, not his wife. Can he solve the mystery, clear himself, elude the police, appease his wife, and still make his Wednesday broadcast? John Howard and Margaret Lindsay have very little chemistry, and Keye Luke's servant role makes the work of Mantan Moreland look dignified. There is also a huge cast of solid solid character actors, mostly wasted in virtual extra roles. Republic should have stuck to serials.

Greg Sherman (John Howard) is hated by the local police. It's because Sherman has a radio show about crime...and he often solves the crimes...leaving the police looking foolish. So, when a woman's body is found in his bedroom, the cops are deliriously happy. Whether he did it or not, it will likely hurt Sherman's popularity. So, Sherman does the standard cliche in a case like this...he slugs the cop who discovers it and sets about trying to solve the case himself (Note: kids, do NOT try this at home!). Can he manage to extricate himself or will Sherman end up in the hoosegow?

In this story, Sherman is assisted by Beth (Margaret Lindsay) and Ah Foo (Keye Luke)...a ridiculously named lackey-type character. This is pretty sad, as Luke had a lovely voice and was a good actor, but here he talks like he just got off the boat from China. Fortunately, Luke did have a few good film opportunities apart from this film, such as a recurring character in the Dr. Kildare series.

So is this B-mystery any good? Well, it's at least a very TYPICAL B...with the usual cliches and formula. Now to many viewers, this won't matter. But idiot cops, a body planted in the guy's room and his running from the law has a real 'been there, done that' quality about it for those who love B-movies. Because of this, I certainly don't think it's a must-see...though it is reasonably well made despite the rather lazy and by the book script.

John Howard is a radio broadcaster whose programs solves crimes the police can't. This annoys the boys in blue, so the local Police Commissioner orders the force to find something on Howard. They can't, but he does: a dead woman in his bed. He and feuding wife, mystery-writer Margaret Lindsay go on the run to find the real killer before the cops shoot them down, aided by their houseboy, Keye Luke, whose character rejoices in the name of Ah Foo.

It's one of those movies that are supposed to be filled with snappy patter, but the jokes are like Rice Crispies that have been soaked in cottage cheese for a week. Miss Lindsay does her best, delivering her lines in a nitwitted, high-speed manner, but even director Joseph Santley can't make anything interesting out of this mess of a script.

"A Tragedy AT MIDNIGHT" was a very entertaining mystery romance. John Howard and Margaret Lindsay made a great romantic detective team. Keye Luke, was also good as their ingenious servant, always on the spot to get them out of trouble.They were always one step ahead of the police in solving crimes and broadcasting solutions of crimes on their radio program, thereby frustrating the police who then wanted to get them off the air by finding something they could be arrested for.this appeared to be solved when our hero woke up one morning and found a woman with a knife in her back in his wife's bed.They then proceed to unravel the mystery. In some ways this picture is similar to the Thin Man series.

I had a VHS copy of this film that I made off the air but the tape oxide eventually went bad. I hope the last remaining copy on nitrate based film is restored before the nitrate turns to powder. it would be a shame if the picture were lost.