Joe Powell, movie studio publicity man, visits Susan Cooper, Hollywood reporter, at her apartment. He proposes, she laughingly refuses, Joe takes a phone call from the boss
and suddenly there's a scream from across the hall! A young actress is found murdered in her room. Who did it? And where is Mona Harrison, the studio's biggest star? Mr. Hart, studio producer, is going to be out $300,000 if Mona doesn't show up to finish her work on their latest picture
.
It's a Hollywood mystery that makes no sense and contains no great suspense yet somehow manages to be quite entertaining. Lyle Talbot and Glenda Farrell are enthusiastic as Joe and Susan; Farrell is fine as the spunky and quick-thinking reporter, while Talbot makes a game effort at portraying a smooth talker with a winning wit—a task made difficult by a script that is sorely lacking in originality and cleverness.
Since it's a pretty silly movie, Ralph Sanford probably comes across best as the very silly police detective Hoffman. Big and dumb, Hoffman is supposed to say idiotic things—and indeed he does, often amusingly. Ralph Sanford does look like he's having fun.
A typical exchange occurs when Farrell pretends to confess to the murder and meets Hoffman's objections: "But I had a motive, Hoffman, I had a wonderful motive." "Yeah? What?" "Well, you see, Ellen bought a dress exactly like one of mine. Now you know what that does to a woman " --Is that funny? Not exactly. But delivered by actors who look like they're convinced that it is funny it is actually kind of humorous. And that's pretty much true of the film as a whole.
The Hollywood setting is interesting .On Talbot's studio office wall is a movie poster for another PRC production, The Panther's Claw. Presumably the film's "Motion Picture Associates" is a studio not unlike the genuine Producers Releasing Corporation. So does the film's creative but ethically challenged studio boss, Mr. Hart, bear any resemblance to real life studio execs? I could not say.
Overall, it's an enjoyable enough picture for viewers willing to let its good-natured and unassuming air overshadow its many weaknesses.
It's a Hollywood mystery that makes no sense and contains no great suspense yet somehow manages to be quite entertaining. Lyle Talbot and Glenda Farrell are enthusiastic as Joe and Susan; Farrell is fine as the spunky and quick-thinking reporter, while Talbot makes a game effort at portraying a smooth talker with a winning wit—a task made difficult by a script that is sorely lacking in originality and cleverness.
Since it's a pretty silly movie, Ralph Sanford probably comes across best as the very silly police detective Hoffman. Big and dumb, Hoffman is supposed to say idiotic things—and indeed he does, often amusingly. Ralph Sanford does look like he's having fun.
A typical exchange occurs when Farrell pretends to confess to the murder and meets Hoffman's objections: "But I had a motive, Hoffman, I had a wonderful motive." "Yeah? What?" "Well, you see, Ellen bought a dress exactly like one of mine. Now you know what that does to a woman " --Is that funny? Not exactly. But delivered by actors who look like they're convinced that it is funny it is actually kind of humorous. And that's pretty much true of the film as a whole.
The Hollywood setting is interesting .On Talbot's studio office wall is a movie poster for another PRC production, The Panther's Claw. Presumably the film's "Motion Picture Associates" is a studio not unlike the genuine Producers Releasing Corporation. So does the film's creative but ethically challenged studio boss, Mr. Hart, bear any resemblance to real life studio execs? I could not say.
Overall, it's an enjoyable enough picture for viewers willing to let its good-natured and unassuming air overshadow its many weaknesses.