The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Herbert I. Leeds

Writers:

Brett Halliday (character)
Clayton Rawson (novel)

Release Date:

1 May 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Tagline:

An Empty Grave... A Cunning, Gunning Ghost... And Michael Shane!

Plot:

A private detective gets mixed up with a phony spiritualist racket.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Skeleton | Conspiracy | Bullet | Cook

Cast

Lloyd Nolan	...	Michael Shayne
Marjorie Weaver	...	Catherine Wolff
Helene Reynolds	...	Anna Wolff
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Dr. Haggard
Richard Derr	...	Roger Blake
Paul Harvey	...	Dudley Wolff
Billy Bevan	...	Phillips, the Butler
Olin Howland	...	Chief Jonathan Meek (as Olin Howlin)
Robert Emmett Keane	...	Alfred Dunning
LeRoy Mason	...	Zorah Bey
Jeff Corey	...	Coroner Tim Larson
Francis Ford	...	Caretaker

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #8127)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Quotes:

Chief Jonathan Meek: [referring to Peggy, the cook, a former girlfriend] She's been sore at me ever since I took her to that Halloween dances last year.
Michael Shayne: Yeah?
Chief Jonathan Meek: Yeah, she forgot her mask. All I said was "You don't need one." Women's funny ctitters!
Michael Shayne: [laconically] You know I can't understand why she should be sore.

Movie Connections:

Follows Sleepers West (1941)

Soundtrack:

I'll See You in My Dreams

Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne...and a case that may involve the undead

Mike Shayne is back with us in The Man Who Wouldn't Die, one of the last of the seven Shayne movies Lloyd Nolan cranked out in a three-year period. While the acting for the most part is no better than you'd expect in a quickie B, it's got the old dark house cliché down pat. Mike Shayne is called upon to pretend to be the new husband of the daughter of a wealthy businessman, now under investigation back in Washington. The man has a lush, young wife, an obsequious male secretary, an older and discrete butler and a live-in, tall and handsome doctor/scientist. Most of all, the man has a huge, isolated mansion with lots of corridors and rooms. And at night, the shadows are dark, the grounds are scary, a murderer creeps about and a buried corpse has trouble staying buried. Shayne's job is to find out why someone took a shot at his female friend in her bedroom, and why everyone, including her father, insists that it was her imagination. Things get even more dicey when the young lady's real husband shows up.

Lloyd Nolan brings all of Michael Shayne's wise-cracking confidence to life as he puzzles out a murderous mystery that involves revenge and slow breathing. Except for Nolan, the acting is B level clunky. Still, it's always fun to see Olin Howland do his gullible hayseed routine, this time as Police Chief Meek. In a small part as the town's coroner is Jeff Corey, a good actor when given half a chance. To see him at his best, watch his performance as Blinky Franklin in The Killers.

Like all the Michael Shayne mysteries Lloyd Nolan made in the early Forties, nowadays the reason to watch them is Lloyd Nolan. Shayne's good-natured confidence and shrewd thinking is a perfect match for Nolan.