Midnight Manhunt (1945)

A gangster is shot in his hotel room and manages to make his way to a nearby wax museum, where he dies. A female reporter discovers the body and determines to break the case, but she must ... See full summary »

Director:

William C. Thomas

Writer:

David Lang

Stars:

William Gargan, Ann Savage, Leo Gorcey

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Gargan	...	Pete Willis
Ann Savage	...	Sue Gallagher
Leo Gorcey	...	Clutch Tracy
George Zucco	...	Jelke
Paul Hurst	...	Murphy
Don Beddoe	...	Detective Lt. Max Hurley
Charles Halton	...	Henry Miggs
George E. Stone	...	Joe Wells

Storyline

A gangster is shot in his hotel room and manages to make his way to a nearby wax museum, where he dies. A female reporter discovers the body and determines to break the case, but she must maneuver around a rival reporter--who happens to be her boyfriend--who also wants to break the case and the killer himself, who wants to find out where the body is.

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Plot Keywords:

gangster | wax museum | reporter | dead end kids | east side kids | 

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Taglines:

A Weird, Whacky "Who-dun-it" in a Wax Museum!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 July 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

One Exciting Night

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pine-Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

64 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

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Goofs

When Gallagher removes the 'wax' figure to replace it with Joe Wells, one hand flops around too supple to be a wax figure.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Henry Miggs: Miggs: I'm so tired!

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Connections

Edited into Terror in the Pharaoh's Tomb (2007)

User Reviews

What's this guy been drinking? Embalming Fluid?

***Major Spoilers*** With free-lance hit man Jelke, George Zucco, tracking down his quarry diamond thief Peter Bernett, George E. Stone, from Uruguay South America to a mid-town Manhattan hotel he surprises and guns him down when he answers the door. Taking $250,000.00 in diamonds that Barnett had on him Jelke goes to call a cab to have Barnett's body taken and later dumped, by Jelke, in the East River.

There's also an alert for a New York gangster Joe Wells who's been either dead or on the lamb for five years and the state is willing to pay $5,000.00 to find and prove who he is, dead or alive. You see both Peter Barnett & Joe Wells are one and the same person. Wells badly hurt from being shot by Jelke struggles to his feet and staggers across the street from his hotel to the Last Gangster Wax Museum and collapses and dies.

Later girl reporter Sue Gallagher, Ann Savage, finds the dead Wells on the museum staircase and hides it so that she can later get the reward for proving that the elusive Joe Wells case has finally been solved. Unknown to her and the police and Sue's friends Jelke has a lot more to gain if Joe Wells stays lost then they do in having him found. Humorous crime/drama about a stiff, Joe Wells, who stiffed everyone looking for him by getting stiffed and hidden in the car trunk of police let.Max Hurley,Don Beddoe, who's been in charge of finding the stiff for five years.

George Zucco seems too refined and sophisticated to be a hoodlum in the movie, he's much better playing mad doctors and scientists. There's also that expert in the proper use of diction in the English language Leo Gorcey, Clutch Tracy, in the film playing an attendant at the wax museum who shows us how he can magically make a lighted cigar butt last for over an hour which was the length of the movie.