Director: ROY DEL RUTH. Screenplay: Robert Presnell. Based on the book Missing Men by John H. Ayers and Carol Bird. Photography: Barney McGill. Film editor: James Gibbon. Art director: Robert Haas. Producer: Henry Blanke.
Copyright 14 September 1933 by First National Pictures. A Warner Bros release. New York opening at the Strand: 8 September 1933. U.S. release: 2 September 1933. U.K. release: 3 March 1934. Australian release: 10 January 1934. 75 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Most missing persons cases brought to the Bureau's attention are routine police work but some requiring special attention are turned over to the chief, Captain Webb (Lewis Stone) who believes that police resources, deductive reasoning and patience will usually resolve every dilemma. His assistant, Butch Saunders (Pat O'Brien), is a thick-headed detective transferred from the strong-arm squad because he has been excessively brutal. Saunders considers it working in "the kindergarten of the Police Department." His discontentment suffers the additional harassment of having Belle (Glenda Farrell), his ex-wife, show up periodically at his office to collect her alimony payments and make caustic comments about his new job.
One day Saunders meets a young woman (Bette Davis) who has applied for help in locating her husband, Therme Roberts, missing for several weeks. Completely taken in by her story, he makes a date with her and promises to look into her case personally. After Webb reads his report on the girl's case, Saunders learns her name is Norma Phillips and she is wanted by the Chicago police for the murder of the man she claims is her husband. Webb orders Saunders to keep his appointment with her and bring her in.
COMMENT: A short (75 minutes), snappy, character-filled essay into the work of New York's famous Missing Persons Bureau. The treatment is, of course, wholly fictitious and there is, when you come down to it, very little action. The climax is especially tame, but it is certainly more realistic than the usual shoot-out, and the pace is so fast the lack of the usual brawls and slug-fests, gun duels and high-speed car chases (there is one chase but is a comparatively sedate follow-that-cab affair) is scarcely missed.
Pat O'Brien is perfectly cast as the fast-talking, strong-armed detective though his perpetual shouting tends to get on our nerves. Bette Davis is particularly skilful in a role that is more difficult than it appears on the surface. The subtle way in which she conveys her nervousness and hesitation during her first interview with O'Brien, leads us to believe that she is not telling the truth; and later on she is able to put across an absolutely fantastic story with a certain measure of credibility (it is not her fault that the script has holes in it, e.g. how did she know the dead man was the twin brother when she had only seen him once and the twins were identical? And in any event, in view of the secrecy - which it seems even the police were unable to penetrate - it seems most unlikely that she could ever have encountered the twin in the first place? And what about hospital records and what about the deceased man's estate?).
Whilst this basic story is serious, most of the other encounters and sub-plots at the Bureau of Missing Persons are treated in a comic fashion. The material isn't really all that amusing but it is delivered at such a brisk, machine-gun pace by such a goodly array of character players like Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly and Hugh Herbert (here repressing his giggling laugh trademark), that it comes across with a fair amount of amusement.
Lewis Stone (billed as Lewis S. Stone in the credit titles), looking much younger than Judge Hardy, is not altogether happily cast as the bureau chief. He is too sententious and lacks sparkle, but the rest of the support cast is fine and there are some pleasing, unbilled cameos by such performers as Dewey Robinson (as an incongruously polite tough) and Hobart Cavanaugh.
Roy Del Ruth's direction is unobtrusive and could by no means be described as imaginative. But he does belt the refreshingly realistic, pre-censorship script across with such a punch and pace that despite its age the film has dated very little. It is mainly the women's costumes that look dated and laughably dowdy. Other production credits are first-rate and by double-bill standards, this is certainly a superior offering.
SYNOPSIS: Most missing persons cases brought to the Bureau's attention are routine police work but some requiring special attention are turned over to the chief, Captain Webb (Lewis Stone) who believes that police resources, deductive reasoning and patience will usually resolve every dilemma. His assistant, Butch Saunders (Pat O'Brien), is a thick-headed detective transferred from the strong-arm squad because he has been excessively brutal. Saunders considers it working in "the kindergarten of the Police Department." His discontentment suffers the additional harassment of having Belle (Glenda Farrell), his ex-wife, show up periodically at his office to collect her alimony payments and make caustic comments about his new job.
One day Saunders meets a young woman (Bette Davis) who has applied for help in locating her husband, Therme Roberts, missing for several weeks. Completely taken in by her story, he makes a date with her and promises to look into her case personally. After Webb reads his report on the girl's case, Saunders learns her name is Norma Phillips and she is wanted by the Chicago police for the murder of the man she claims is her husband. Webb orders Saunders to keep his appointment with her and bring her in.
COMMENT: A short (75 minutes), snappy, character-filled essay into the work of New York's famous Missing Persons Bureau. The treatment is, of course, wholly fictitious and there is, when you come down to it, very little action. The climax is especially tame, but it is certainly more realistic than the usual shoot-out, and the pace is so fast the lack of the usual brawls and slug-fests, gun duels and high-speed car chases (there is one chase but is a comparatively sedate follow-that-cab affair) is scarcely missed.
Pat O'Brien is perfectly cast as the fast-talking, strong-armed detective though his perpetual shouting tends to get on our nerves. Bette Davis is particularly skilful in a role that is more difficult than it appears on the surface. The subtle way in which she conveys her nervousness and hesitation during her first interview with O'Brien, leads us to believe that she is not telling the truth; and later on she is able to put across an absolutely fantastic story with a certain measure of credibility (it is not her fault that the script has holes in it, e.g. how did she know the dead man was the twin brother when she had only seen him once and the twins were identical? And in any event, in view of the secrecy - which it seems even the police were unable to penetrate - it seems most unlikely that she could ever have encountered the twin in the first place? And what about hospital records and what about the deceased man's estate?).
Whilst this basic story is serious, most of the other encounters and sub-plots at the Bureau of Missing Persons are treated in a comic fashion. The material isn't really all that amusing but it is delivered at such a brisk, machine-gun pace by such a goodly array of character players like Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly and Hugh Herbert (here repressing his giggling laugh trademark), that it comes across with a fair amount of amusement.
Lewis Stone (billed as Lewis S. Stone in the credit titles), looking much younger than Judge Hardy, is not altogether happily cast as the bureau chief. He is too sententious and lacks sparkle, but the rest of the support cast is fine and there are some pleasing, unbilled cameos by such performers as Dewey Robinson (as an incongruously polite tough) and Hobart Cavanaugh.
Roy Del Ruth's direction is unobtrusive and could by no means be described as imaginative. But he does belt the refreshingly realistic, pre-censorship script across with such a punch and pace that despite its age the film has dated very little. It is mainly the women's costumes that look dated and laughably dowdy. Other production credits are first-rate and by double-bill standards, this is certainly a superior offering.