The Missing Juror (1944)

Director:

Budd Boetticher

Writers:

Charles O'Neal (screen play)
Leon Abrams (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

16 November 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot Keywords:

Hospital | Juror | Antique Dealer | Wrongful Conviction | Diner

Cast

Jim Bannon	...	Joe Keats
Janis Carter	...	Alice Hill
George Macready	...	Harry Wharton / Jerome K. Bentley
Jean Stevens	...	Tex Tuttle
Joseph Crehan	...	Willard Apple aka Falstaff
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Anderson	...	Wharton Attorney (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin	...	Town Sheriff (uncredited)
Trevor Bardette	...	Tom Pierson (uncredited)
Al Bridge	...	Depuity Sheriff Ben (uncredited)
Nancy Brinckman	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Cliff Clark	...	Inspector Davis (uncredited)
Edmund Cobb	...	Police Detective Cahan (uncredited)
Danny Desmond	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Sam Flint	...	Judge (uncredited)
Jack Gardner	...	Reporter at Trial (uncredited)
Jesse Graves	...	Train Porter (uncredited)
William Hall	...	Officer Garrett (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Bailiff (uncredited)
Dell Henderson	...	Train Conductor (uncredited)
Ernest Hilliard	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes	...	Juror (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Joe, Train Engineer (uncredited)
Pat Lane	...	Court Clerk (uncredited)
Carl M. Leviness	...	Police Detective (uncredited)
George Lloyd	...	George Szabo (uncredited)
Carole Mathews	...	Marcy aka Cherry Blossom (uncredited)
Mike Mazurki	...	Cullie - Masseur (uncredited)
Forbes Murray	...	District Attorney (uncredited)
William Newell	...	Wally, Counterman (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Train Conductor (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Priest (uncredited)
Shelby Payne	...	Marie 'Sugar' Chappel (uncredited)
Jack Perry	...	Albert Leonard aka Lichter (uncredited)
Edwin Stanley	...	Prison Warden (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Police Sergeant Murphy (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Chief of Detectives at Line-Up (uncredited)
Victor Travers	...	Clem Poskins (uncredited)
John Tyrrell	...	Sergeant Regan (uncredited)
Cecil Weston	...	Ellen Jackson (uncredited)
Charles C. Wilson	...	Mac Ellis, Newspaper Editor (uncredited)

Directed by
Budd Boetticher		(as Oscar Boetticher Jr.)

Writing credits
Charles O'Neal		(screen play)
Leon Abrams		(story) &
Richard Hill Wilkinson		(story)

Produced by
Wallace MacDonald	....	producer

Cinematography by
L. William O'Connell		(as L.W. O'Connell)

Film Editing by
Paul Borofsky

Art Direction by
George Brooks

Set Decoration by
George Montgomery

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ivan Volkman	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Jack A. Goodrich	....	sound (as John Goodrich)

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	musical director (as M.R. Bakaleinikoff)
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
W. Franke Harling	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Werner R. Heymann	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Friedrich Hollaender	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
John Leipold	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
William Grant Still	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Juanita Lopez	....	research director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• Hosh Posh Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Hosh Posh Video (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (USA) (DVD) (DVD-R)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

66 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Harry Wharton:Was I presumptuous to have let myself in?
Sergeant Regan:Do you know this man?
Alice Hill:Yes, this is Mr. Bentley. He's a customer of mine.
Sergeant Regan:I'm sorry, Miss Hill. I saw him enter the apartment, but I thought...
Alice Hill:That's all right, Officer. I've known Mr. Bentley for some time.
Harry Wharton:I found Miss Hill's key in my own pocket of all places, and dropped in to return it. I must have picked it up off your desk this morning by mistake.
Alice Hill:Thank you so much. I'm glad to have it back. I'm always losing it.
Harry Wharton:I also brought these, in case my unexpected visit should have displeased you.
[He hands her a small bouquet]
Alice Hill:Oh, not at all. Thank you. You know Miss Tuttle, and this is Mr. Keats and Officer Regan. You remember Mr. Bentley. He was foreman of our jury.
[...]

I wanted to like it - but ...

NOTE: Don't read the cast credit on IMDb or this movie won't even be a mystery for the first 15 minutes.

For the first 15 minutes I thought this movie was not bad (not good, but at least a reasonable example of the B mystery movie genre). The problem occurs in minute 16, or thereabout, when the movie starts to telegraph it's punch so clearly that only an idiot wouldn't see who is who, who the killer really is, and what the wrap up is going to be. After that you can turn the movie off, except that stopping is like ceasing to watch a bad accident that you know you shouldn't be looking at. Actually, a bad accident is a lot more interesting than this movie.

I won't give away the "surprise". Instead I'll let you participate in the contest to see if you can guess what I was able to figure out by the time of the fire in the mental hospital. It was so obvious that you would have be from Mars to not figure it out.

I like a good bad movie, but this isn't one of those. Try some other movie with "Juror" in the title - any other movie with "Juror" in the title.