Murder with Pictures (1936)

Suspected crime boss Nate Girard beats a murder rap, and newspaper photog Kent Murdock is on the story. Girard and lawyer Redfield throw a party for the news men where Murdock romances a ... See full summary »

Director:

Charles Barton

Writers:

George Harmon Coxe (screenplay), Sidney Salkow (screenplay),

Stars:

Lew Ayres, Gail Patrick, Paul Kelly

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lew Ayres	...	Kent Murdock
Gail Patrick	...	Meg Archer
Paul Kelly	...	I.B. McGoogin
Benny Baker	...	Phil Doane
Ernest Cossart	...	Stanley Redfield
Onslow Stevens	...	Nate Girard
Joyce Compton	...	Hester Boone
Anthony Nace	...	Joe Cusick
Joe Sawyer	...	Inspector Tom Bacon
Don Rowan	...	Siki
Frank Sheridan	...	Police Chief
Irving Bacon	...	Det. Keogh
Purnell Pratt	...	Editor

Storyline

Suspected crime boss Nate Girard beats a murder rap, and newspaper photog Kent Murdock is on the story. Girard and lawyer Redfield throw a party for the news men where Murdock romances a mystery woman who confronted Girard in front of him, but Murdock's fiancée Hester shows up. After they return to his apartment, have a fight, and she leaves, the mystery woman slips in and begs for his help. Police Inspector Bacon and the cops show up, looking for the mystery woman; Murdock hides her. Murdock goes with the cops to discuss the murder the woman is suspected of. Bacon explains (in flashback) how some photogs were setting up a shot with Girard and Redfield. When the flashbulbs popped, Redfield keeled over dead and the woman, Meg Archer, fled while the newsmen ran out to phone their papers. The newsmen (who were rounded up later as thoroly as possible) are taken into police custody, except for Murdock (who wasn't at the scene), who is given a cap on the sly by rival McGoogin. Altho ...

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Plot Keywords:

criminal | camera

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Calibre ton 9 m.m.

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

69 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Goofs

At the newspaper photo shop department, when Meg comes looking for Murdock, she drops a key, presumably from Murdock's apartment. It was for Room 318, but in more than one shot, Murdock's apartment door clearly showed he lived in 315.

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Quotes

Kent Murdock: Aw, come on. Skin back your ivories. You're as limp as spaghetti. You're the saddest group of courtroom victors I ever trained a lens on.

User Reviews

Mystery/ Comedy doesn't work.

Two questions arise when watching a film mixing these 2 genres. First, what makes anyone think these 2 can be compatible or symbiotic? On the contrary, they are mutually exclusive except in rare cases - "Home, Sweet Homicide" is an exception which comes to mind. For the most part the components of the one nullify those of the other.

Second, what were the qualifications for a screenwriter in the 30's? This picture had some of the lamest dialogue and contained so many non-sequiturs that much of the plot was unintentionally funny and many gag lines fell completely flat. On the whole it made little sense and was a chore to watch.

Saving grace here was the surprisingly able cast and better-than average screen credits which signified a superior production - but which was wrecked by and uninteresting final product. I gave this one a rating of 3 and it was richly deserved.