Car 99

Although early Paramount programmers are something of a rarity in DVD stores, "Car 99" (1936) does not exactly fill us with super enthusiasm, despite the superb presence of super-charismatic Marina Schubert, who easily steals the acting honors from suave "innocent", Sir Guy Standing, homey Ann Sheridan and brash newcomer, Fred MacMurray. Ostensibly a thriller, the movie more often turns into a slapstick charade. In fact, director Charles Barton (in this, his second film, he is obviously out to duplicate his excellent debut with "Wagon Wheels") utilizes his comparatively large budget by trying to pack in too much material too fast for comfortable viewing. The blustering performances of William Frawley, Charles C. Wilson and even MacMurray himself on occasion, don't help. The film actually improves on second sight where one can appreciate the more leisurely approach of players like Ann Sheridan, Dean Jagger, James Craven, Robert Kent and John Howard to this uneasy blend of farce, frolic, high-speed bike and car chases, mild detection, alluring moll, stop-at-nothing gangsters and crime.

1935 was a big year for Fred MacMurray. After a brief walk on in a movie the previous year, he had featured roles in seven movies, including the lead in this.

This movie about recruits in the Michigan State police is clearly a B effort, Charles Barton's second as director, but it has a typically solid Paramount cast, including Ann Sheridan as MacMurray's love interest, William Frawley as the by-the-book sergeant in charge of the recruits, Guy Standing as the villain, and Dean Jagger, Frank Craven, and Charles C. Wilson. It also has some fine stunt sequences, making it a nice little flick to take the bottom half of a double bill, and showing that MacMurray could be more than someone for a female star to hold hands with. If he seems a little bland here, it's because, as he later noted, no one except Billy Wilder ever called on him to do any acting.

Cars, motorcycles, airplanes, and even a bicycle all show their mettle in this high tempo crime thriller! The piece plays out in some ways like a recruitment video for the department before police departments were recruiting via video at all. The depiction of police technology, training, and procedure was spot on for the time period, and I am fairly certain that much of the filming took place in actual, operational Michigan State Police facilities.

The plot is well put together for a movie of this length, and the director brings the audience along in such a way that creates suspense. There is quite a bit of humor in key places that lighten the mood, somewhat, and actually reflects quite well the way law enforcement generally react to difficult situations by making light of themselves. It doesn't have nearly the production value of modern thrillers, but the driving and the chases are top-notch. There's even a car that could have served as inspiration for James Bond's first car, before Fleming even wrote his first novel, I believe.

I serve as a volunteer chaplain in the department, currently, and was loaned a copy of the film by a local retiree. I don't know if it is ever broadcast like many other movies of that era, but if you get a chance, watch it. Something that stands out to me in the film is the unflappable character of each trooper depicted; something that lives on in the troopers who currently serve the State Police and the people of Michigan.

... is a strange plot device used in the B action picture from Paramount.

This is the first year Fred MacMurray was playing lead roles, and he starred in a number of vehicles at Paramount in 1935, including this one about the Michigan state police. MacMurray is a new recruit, Ross Martin, on the police force whose girlfriend, Mary (Ann Sheridan), is the local telephone operator. He's learning the ropes, based out of a rural area, when he encounters and brings in the leader of a high tech bank robbery gang. He rather undoes that deed by letting the leader escape. As a result he's put on suspension and really doesn't want to fight being thrown off the force until he gets a second chance to bring in this gang. It is part documentary, part comedy, part crime film.

The story is pretty routine to the point that watching it wouldn't hurt you if you were recovering from a nervous breakdown. There are two things that recommend it. First is the fact that there are some future big stars in it. Of course there is MacMurray, but there is also a very young Ann Sheridan and also Dean Jagger as MacMurray's partner on patrol. Then there is the big coincidence of William Frawley who will be MacMurray's Uncle Bub in the TV show My Three Sons as the trainer of the fresh group of recruits that include MacMurray. He is supposed to be the irascible older presence, but unexpected is his character continually telling the new recruits to stay away from women. He seems to be MGTOW 75 years before its time.

The second thing to recommend it is that high tech gang of bank robbers. They're not just the armed muscle like they might be over at Warner Brothers. These guys have a sophisticated plan and high tech equipment to go with it. An odd part of that sophisticated plan is that they blow up a church to lure the state police away from the bank that they plan to rob! I don't think I've ever seen that happen in a crime film before.

All of the things I've mentioned - the rather tame rustic atmosphere, the unexpected casting, and the high tech robbers make it worth watching.