Monday, October 28, 2024

FORGOTTEN FILM: I'LL NAME THE MURDERER (1936)

On the plus side, there's some singing and dancing.

On the minus side.. well, your mileage may differ for this quick little film that seems to land on many of the cliches prominent in 1930s mystery quickies.

Tommy Tilton (Ralph Forbes, Piccadilly Jim, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Frenchman's Creek) is a fast-talking gossip columnist enjoying a night out with his photographer/assistant/perhaps girlfriend( -- who can tell?) "Smitty (an underutilized Marion Shilling, The Westerner, Captured in Chinatown, The amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand )," when one of the nightclub dancers is murdered in her dressing room.  The police are morons.  Suspects abound.  Tommy decides to flush out the murderer by declaring, ""I'll name the murderer tomorrow" in his newspaper column.  And, by golly, that ploy worked.

A lot of joking.  Some talented, unsung actors.  The cheapest sets this side of Captain Video.  All in all, still an entertaining way to spend ann hour and eight minutes.

Directed by Raymond K. Johnson (Special Agent K-7, Two Gun Troubador, Daughter of the Tong), and scripted by Phil Dunham (who wrote a bunch of Calford "school" silents, as well as Feud of the West, Stormy Trails, and Ridin' the Trail; he also has 268 acting credits on IMDb) and  Edwin K. O'Brien (this is his only writing credit).  Produced by C. C. Burr productions, a company which produced 53 films between 1924 and 1932, plus one outlier from 1939; nine of the films were in the Torchy series (not to be confused with the Warner Bros. Torchy Blaine series from 1937 to 1939).

Enjoy this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUh-NdViZmY

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