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.
Review of Murder Is My Beat
