Nine Lives Are Not Enough (1941)

Director:

A. Edward Sutherland

Writers:

Jerome Odlum (novel)
Fred Niblo Jr. (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 September 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Boy crusader Matt works for the Daily News and always breaks the big story. The only trouble is that...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Inquest | Boarding House | Partnership | Gangster

Cast

Ronald Reagan	...	Matt Sawyer
Joan Perry	...	Jane Abbott
James Gleason	...	Sgt. Sam Daniels
Howard Da Silva	...	J.B. Murray, City Editor (as Howard da Silva)
Faye Emerson	...	Rose Chadwick
Edward Brophy	...	Police Officer 'Slats' Slattery
Peter Whitney	...	Roy Slocum
Charles Drake	...	'Snappy' Saunders
Vera Lewis	...	Mrs. Slocum, the Landlady
Ben Welden	...	Moxie Karper, a Gangster
Howard C. Hickman	...	Col. Andrews (as Howard Hickman)
Cliff Clark	...	Police Lieutenant Lou Buckley
Tom Stevenson	...	Charles Sanburn, Jane's Chauffeur
Paul Phillips	...	Hot-Foot, Moxie's Henchman
Joseph Crehan	...	C.W. Yates

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7456) | Australia:G

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Quotes:

'Snappy' Saunders: Oh, some day I'm gonna get even with you. I'm gonna dance on your grave. I'm gonna lock you in a burning building and record your screams on a phonograph record.

Who-dunnit? Reagan is just the reporter to find out.

Mr. President aka Ronald Reagan plays reporter Matt Sawyer, who needs to get a big story, and get it right after bungling up the last story. Viewers will recognize James Gleason as Sergeant Daniels, the thin, blustery, over-confident cop who means well, and usually lucks into the right solution. He was in all "The Falcon" movies, and Arsenic and Old Lace. Sawyer and a reporter for the competition play tricks on each other to get the stories in first. When a famous businessman turns up face down, its Sawyer's job to find out what really happened, even when he's thrown off the paper. Story moves along pretty quickly, except that at one point, Reagan looks into the camera and seems to talk to the viewer. Joan Perry plays the dead man's wife, and that was the last role she did, after marrying Harry Cohn in 1941. Ed Brophy is Officer Slattery, sidekick to Sgt. Daniels. Sounding like one of the Three Stooges, he had ALSO been in the "Falcon" series of films. With gangsters, mistresses, and the mentally challenged, this comedy/whodunnit has a little of everything. Listen closely when J.B. the editor speaks - that's Howard DaSilva, who played Louie Mayer in Mommie Dearest. Has a very distinctive voice. One of Reagan's more fun films, this is from the novel by Jerome Odlum, who had written several novels turned into movies.