Michael Shayne: Private Detective

A very enjoyable film, with Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne. The supporting cast is also a joy to watch, with Elizabeth Patterson stealing it away in every scene she is in!! She is a hoot to watch. About the only cast member not really giving a good performance is Joan Valerie. She is too sullen, but then maybe that is the way the character is supposed to be played, but she sort of dulls this film down a bit. It is always a treat to see Lloyd Nolan in a film and this one is another good one in his list!!

Fun start to a fun series of B detective movies starring Lloyd Nolan as the titular private eye. Probably my pick for most underrated classic detective series. This film, like the rest, is driven by Nolan's screen presence and memorable character actors in supporting parts. Here we have the extremely likable Elizabeth Patterson giving a standout performance. Marjorie Weaver does her best Ann Rutherford. Donald MacBride is also fun. The mystery here is pretty good but the comedy and likable characters are what really works. All in all it's an entertaining picture that moves along quickly. If you're a fan of detective movies from the 30s and 40s I'm sure you'll enjoy this one.

"Michael Shayne Private Detective" (1940), is an unexpected charmer: a delightful hardboiled private eye movie that will have you chuckling to the very last frame while trying to figure out the murderer before Mike Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) does.

Starring that thoroughly likable no-nonsense pro, Lloyd Nolan ( who appeared in the first seven of a dozen Shayne movies), and set in the last peaceful days before World War II, "Michael Shayne Private Detective" – the first in the series -- is an enjoyable gift box of welcome surprises: a period piece where the cars are both boxy and racy, men's suits are double-breasted and boxy, and the private eyes think best when they're boxed in.

Private detective Shayne, broke as usual, suddenly gets a juicy assignment. All he has to do is nursemaid a spoiled rich girl (Marjorie Weaver), who has the gambling bug and all the wrong friends. Mike's attempt to show her a lesson backfires, and suddenly he's the chief suspect in a murder.

A little thing like that's not going to stop Mike Shayne. Ingenious and inventive, fast-thinking and fast-talking, he has to dodge the cops while finding the real murderer. And now he's acquired a zany assistant, a proper old lady with a surprising taste for blood.

Aunt Olivia: It was the great piano mystery. The body was found under the piano, his throat was strangled with piano wires, the soft pedal was found embedded in his neck, and somebody had completely severed the head from the body. He was dead!

Michael Shayne: (dryly) Oh, suicide, hmmm?

Mike's proficient with both a riposte and a pistol. ("Hey, that brooch is as phony as a mother-in-law's kiss!") And he's not bad with badinage.

Cop: When are you gonna start talking straight?

Mike: Not until my attorney gets out of law school!

Shayne may have a quip for every question; but he's also sentimental, full of malarkey and blarney, whimsical, perpetually broke and a sucker for a pretty face.

Add a batch of odd characters played by a superb supporting cast: Douglas Dumbrille, Elizabeth Patterson, George Meeker, Walter Abel and Irving Bacon; and you've got a screwball comedy with smooth ensemble acting, an ample supply of corpses and a solution that actually makes sense.

An appreciation of Lloyd Nolan: "The actor who was generally credited with 'A' performances in a decade-long series of 'B' films became so good, in fact, that he permitted himself the luxury of turning down work, a privilege that ordinarily falls to far better known stars." -- The Los Angeles Times.

Mix murder with mystery and add a few drops of humor. Remove it -not shake it. The result? An excepcional, fun, entertaining movie that happens to be the first of a series of Michael Shayne mysteries. And what an entry!

Lloyd Nolan shines playing a charismatic, smart, dynamic Michael Shayne with brains and lots of resources to solve any mystery - including counting on aunt Olivia's help!. Nolan really excells in this role.

The script (by Stanley Rauh, Manning O'Connor and Brett Halliday) is very well done with constant twists and tricks and a frantic rhythm. Dialogues are brilliant and funny (see trivia section). Shayne messes everything and constantly tricks police providing false evidences and turning everything upside down with the invaluable help of aunt Olivia (great characterization by Elizabeth Patterson), a murder mystery fan.

Sets are effective and beautifully designed. All the actors play at their best and the mystery is trully effective.

All this makes this movie a highly enjoyable and very entertaining film.

When I began researching Lloyd Nolan in preparation for writing his biography, I had seen him in only two roles -- as the crusty doctor in the TV series JULIA, and as the compassionate policeman in the 1940s movie A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. Then I got a DVD of some of his Michael Shayne movies and was blown away by the first one, MICHAEL SHAYNE: PRIVATE DETECTIVE. It was so refreshing to see Lloyd as a young man and playing such a lighthearted character! Since then, I've watched videos of much of his work, and he's totally believable no matter what kind of character he's playing. I think this movie will always be my favorite, though.