Murder Is My Beat

Bargain basement filmmaker Edgar Ulmer offers up a fetish laden noir of probably a 10 day shooting schedule with reasonable facsimiles of moments from Laura, Shadow of a Doubt, Out of the Past and Chinatown to present the viewer with a rather breezy run through police corruption and procedural abuse. It's quite a bargain for the price.

Straight arrow homicide detective Ray Patrick is on a winning streak and up for a promotion when his next case gets compromised by a dame he feels he railroaded and now wants to clear. But she wears him down with her plea of innocence and they illegally set off to find the guilty party his commanding officer in pursuit.

In spite of the incredulous plot Ulmer once again, with little, works wonders with cast and crucial tight editing that offers momentary top tier suspense at fire sale prices.

As no nonsense dick gone rogue Paul Langton is no Mitch or Dana Andrews in Laura but he expresses the same veneer and a nebulous incertitude that bedevils them; in this case by a blonde fatale, no Jane Greer but the tragic Barbara Payton, a walking noir reality as convincing innocent. There's also some solid small bits with Kate McKenna as witness Miss Sparrow stealing both her brief scenes.

Ulmer for his part packs a tremendous amount of seedy backdrop to the story as Patrick steps on rights ( no one ever thinks to ask for a lawyer in the face of gross malfeasance) and goes through women's underwear draws with abandon in the pursuit of justice, making it clear he is not interested. Form wise Ulmer does not waste time and he offers up some fine montage, provocative inferences and enough subtle deceptions to make this a bit of an enjoyable overachiever.

The other reviewer did not have anything good to say about this movie. Well, it is cheaply made and obviously, Edward Ulmer didn't have much of a budget. He mostly directed B-movies anyway. However, this was one of his later films and his star was Barbara Payton. Her sad sad life was on the down-swing at the time she did this, her final film. She was only 28 years old and this marked the end of her career which had started only five years earlier. If you watch this film, you will see a very good performance by Barbara Payton. This may not be a true film-noir, but it is a dark, downbeat drama with a great musical score. I believe this is worth 77 minutes of viewing time. Enjoy!

Murder Is My Beat does not compare with Edgar G. Ulmer's masterpiece Detour. Judged on its own terms, Murder Is My Beat is a more than worthwhile little film. Cheaply made, it has several strengths including its interesting plot, believably hardboiled dialogue, tight direction, and good performances. Most of the story is told in flashback as police detective Ray Patrick (Paul Langton) recounts his investigation into the murder of the aging and wealthy Frank Deane. The man has been found bludgeoned to death, his body burned in a fireplace beyond recognition. Clothing and I.D. discovered on the corpse identify the murder victim. Ray Patrick is soon on the hunt for the suspect, a nightclub singer named Eden Lane (Barbara Payton). The name is obviously chosen to indicate a "bad woman" and the suspect's landlady, Miss Sparrow (Kate McKenna), underlines this when she comments disapprovingly on her tenant's "tight clothes" and remarks on how her first name connotes "original sin." Miss Tight Clothes/Original Sin is on the lam and the committed detective tracks her down, slogging through snow until he finds her hiding out in a cabin owned by the late Frank Deane. World weary and preoccupied, Eden Lane somberly observes, "The only way I can wake up from this nightmare is to go to sleep." However, she seems genuinely shocked to learn Deane is dead. She hit him with a figurine but was it really hard enough to kill him? It would seem that is was. Patrick soon has the job of escorting the convicted murderer to prison on a train ride. It is on the train that the story takes a sharp turn. "No!" Lane exclaims. "It's Frank Deane." She is absolutely certain that she just saw the man she was convicted of murdering alive and well out the train. Patrick is scared she is telling the truth and that he is taking her to an undeserved punishment. He agrees to a "detour" (I could not resist) and the pair jump off the train to devote a week to unraveling the mystery of the alive-or-dead murder victim. The plot takes several major twists and turns before a satisfying resolution occurs. One of the remarkable aspects of Murder Is My Beat is the prominent role played by ceramic figurines. Trains are also used very effectively in opposing ways. Performances are all around credible and praiseworthy. Paul Langton is suitably hard-boiled and courageous as the detective. However, the most noteworthy performance, in this writer's opinion, is that of Barbara Payton. Sadly, Eden Lane was her last role before the scandal ridden actress was blacklisted from the film industry and slid into alcoholism and prostituting herself for small sums. She did a fine job as Eden Lane. While some other reviewers have criticized her as seeming "bored" by the project, the truth is that she gave a deliberately restrained performance that was perfect for the role. Eden Lane appears haunted and that appearance means that we cannot know whether she is the murderer the jury found her to be or the unjustly convicted person she claims to be. What's more, there is a suggestion of vulnerability in her performance that makes it believable that Langton would find her first intriguing and then captivating. Murder Is My Beat is an interesting 77 minutes. For Barbara Payton fans, it is a must-see.

The best thing about this jumbled programmer is the intimidating snowstorm Detective Patrick (Langton) has to slog through. I almost went to the closet for my parka. The movie's main draw now, I expect, is Hollywood bad girl Barbara Payton's final movie. Too bad she couldn't work up some emotion. Outside of her sweaters, it's hard to see how veteran cop Patrick could fall for her so quickly, and jeopardize his career, to boot.

All in all, you may need a scorecard to track the convoluted plot—something about who's killed whom and whether the dead are really dead. It may also help to turn off your sense of disbelief when you turn on the movie. Anyhow, Patrick's got 77-minutes to figure it all out. Langton's fine in the lead role, while Tracey Roberts makes for an intriguing mystery woman. I wish Roberts had made more movies; she's definitely a distinctive presence.

Five years earlier and I expect cult director Ulmer would have delivered an atmospheric noir. But not here. The lighting and photography are strictly pedestrian, and it's anybody's guess why. In my book, the results amount to forgettable 50's crime drama.There are a couple of noir earmarks-- a compromised fall guy, a half spider woman-- but crucially there's no noirish mood that might implicate the ambivalent nature of reality itself.

Too bad the star-crossed Payton didn't go out on a stronger note. Still, she looks bored with the whole procedure, so maybe it's just as well.

Murder Is My Beat (1955) stars Paul Langton as a hard boiled police detective. He captures murder suspect Barbara Payton and she is convicted of murdering a man whose face wound up being off in a fireplace. Somehow, Langton is assigned to escort her to prison. On the train ride, she thinks she sees the supposed victim outside the train. Langton has already fallen for her so they jump off the train and start pursuing the supposed victim. Along the way, Langton's Superior, Robert Shayne (Inspector Henderson on the Superman TV series) finds them and decides to join them in their quest. How is that for believability? Only in Hollywood. Paul Langton had a long career as a supporting actor, mainly in authoritative roles. He isn't convincing as kind of a poor man's Charles McGraw. Barbara Payton was already on the skids and this was her last role. She appears bloated, especially her face, and just speaks her lines without emotion, as though she were reading them off cue cards. I just watched this on TCM and you will enjoy it only if you are a fan of 1950s police dramas.