The Lady in the Morgue (1938)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Otis Garrett

Writers:

Jonathan Latimer (novel)
Eric Taylor (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 April 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Mystery

Tagline:

A MYSTERY THAT ELECTRIFIED THE WORLD!..Solved by a detective with shock-absorber nerves...who crashed in where both angels and fools feared to tread!

Plot:

A detective investigates the disappearance of a girl's body from the city morgue. |

Plot Keywords:

Disappearance | Morgue | Body | Duplicity | Weapon

Cast

Preston Foster	...	Det. Bill Crane
Patricia Ellis	...	Mrs. Sam Taylor
Frank Jenks	...	Doc Williams
Barbara Pepper	...	Kay Renshaw
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Police Lieutenant Strom (as Tom Jackson)
Rollo Lloyd	...	Coroner
Bill Elliott	...	Chauncey Courtland (as Gordon Elliott)
Roland Drew	...	Sam Taylor
Joe Downing	...	Steve Collins (as Joseph Downing)
Archie Robbins	...	Frankie French (as James Robbins)
Morgan Wallace	...	Layman
Al Hill	...	Spitzy
Brian Burke	...	Johnson
Donald Kerr	...	Greening
Don Brodie	...	Taxi Driver

Also Known As:

The Case of the Missing Blonde (UK)

Runtime:

67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Universal was in dire straits in 1937-38 as it sought to plug the cash drain created by the Laemmles, who had been ousted during the costly production of Show Boat (1936). While none of these B-pictures was especially successful, the Crime Club deal is an example of the new regime's willingness to work creative marketing tie-ins.

Movie Connections:

Follows The Westland Case (1937)

fast-paced B mystery

Part of the Crime Club series, and based on an original by Jonathan Latimer, this nifty little mystery is often cited as a model of 30s B-movie adeptness. It was directed by the unjustly forgotten Otis Garrett (who died young), a former editor who uses flash-pan edits and other visual tricks to maintain a breakneck pace -- so fast that it's pretty difficult to follow the complex plot. Although a bit too reliant on dialog scenes, there are enough effective wisecracks, bizarre demimonde characters (shifty undertakers, dour taxi drivers, carefree taxi dancers) and risqué asides (apparently, the production code enforcers often neglected these low budgeters) to raise the quality well above the norm. One side benefit is an appearance by a young Barbara Pepper, sassy and sardonic as ever, but surprisingly lithe and seductive. Soon-to-be-famous Stanley Cortez provided the cinematography.