The Mystery Man

Just bearable, just bearable, that's what I have to say about this amusing and after all fast paced film from the thirties, a feature about which I did not expect anything special. And I was damn right. Plot offering something seen ten million times before but, I repeat, for those of you who crave about such films, you can proceed without problem. Those mystery yarns were galore in this thirties period. This is not a real crime film as I crave for, because you have a good hero for whom you can foresee the ending. You have gangsters, armed robbery yes, but that's not enough for me to qualify it as a crime movie. But it remains a good little B picture.

The Mystery Man (1935)

Well this is a fast hoot, and not a good movie by any means. It has a chipper tone and some comic twists, but the acting, the acting.

The core idea is good--a news reporter with a thankless editor gets caught up in a story while on leave from his Chicago paper. But the St. Louis newspaper won't believe he's a reporter, and he gets stranded and eventually accused. Luckily his buddies back home help out, and even better, a pretty girl is also stranded and helpless and good for moral support and some cleverness in the nick of time. Coulda been something.

It's not like 1935 is too early for a snappy, intelligent crime detective caper film. We've already had a string of absolute classics from Warner Bros. in the early 30s, and we're seeing the beginning of the "Thin Man" series with its high level of sophistication. But this is a B-movie through and through, and I guess there is only so much talent to go around.

You would do better plodding through the worst of the Mr. Moto or the Charlie Chan films than this one.

Newsman Doyle drinks himself out of Chicago job, wakes up on train to St.Louis, and meets penniless girl Ann. Together they get mixed up in murder case involving St. Louis's notorious The Eel. So, will Doyle revive his professional reputation, pay his many debts, and keep Ann out of jail. Stay tuned.

The programmer is about what's expected from cheap-jack Monogram. The sets are bare-boned, the script sloppy, and the direction pedestrian. But as the brashly fast-talking Doyle, Armstrong injects real spunk into the screenplay, maybe too much. No wonder he grappled with the legendary King Kong (1933). To me, however, it's really actress Maxine Doyle who shines. Catch how she goes from withdrawn street urchin to newsman Doyle's aggressive helper, and in convincingly agreeable fashion. Her talent really exceeded the matinee oaters she soon turned to. Anyway, the cast, including the supporting players, come off as much better than the material. Nonetheless, don't go out of your way for it.

This really seems to be two movies in one. The first is a sweet romantic comedy that takes up the first 40 minutes of the film. Reporter Larry Doyle from Chicago gets $50 for breaking an important story and does too much celebrating. He ends up broke in St. Louis. He sits down at a lunch counter with beautiful Anne Oglivie (Maxine Doyle). She finds that she only has 10 cents to pay for her 20 cent coffee and donut. Larry secretly pays for her. Realizing that a young girl broke in the city could end up in trouble, Larry follows her around to help her out. Having no place to stay, he gets a hotel room for the two of them. Anne is reluctant, thinking he wants sex in return, but Larry reassures her that he's a square kind of guy. He orders an expensive $35 a day hotel suite which has two bedrooms with separate keys. He explains that Anne is as safe with him as she would be anywhere in the city.

This part of the movie seems to inspired by Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" which came out also in 1935. Suddenly with about 25 minutes left the movie turns into a more typical Monogram murder mystery. Larry, remembering that he's an investigative reporter, goes after a slippery gangster called "the Eel." As all Monogram murder mysteries are, its silly, cheap and quite a lot of fun.

Robert Armstrong (King Kong, Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young) gives a really strong performance. He's a sweet tough guy with a heart of gold. Maxine Doyle is excellent as the broke virgin in the city. Twenty years old at the time, this was one of her first starring movies. Over the next two years, in 1936 and 1937, she starred in about a dozen low budget movies and that was pretty much the end of her career. She did do some bit parts in the 1940's.

Monogram generally made "C" or "D" movies. This one is actually a solid "B" movie.

I like Monogram movies - you can generally be sure of two things - (1) the movies will be entertaining and (2) there will be either a silly plot or a plot with big enough holes in it to drive a truck through. And this movie is no exception. Robert Armstrong's Larry Doyle is a cock-sure but good reporter for a Chicago newspaper. The police respect him (indeed, they give him a gun to show their appreciation for his help with a case) but his editor can't stand him. Larry spends his $50 bonus on treating his pals to a night on the town. His editor fires him but Larry goes on celebrating and winds up in St. Louis where he befriends a down and out but spunky young woman, Anne Ogilvie (played by Maxine Doyle). One of my favorite bits in the movie is where Larry secretly pays for the Anne's coffee and donut when she finds out she doesn't have enough money. Larry sees himself as the Anne's protector and because of Larry's moxie, they end up staying in a hotel suite (with two bedrooms). In spite of his former editor's trying to prevent it, Larry eventually gets a job on the St. Louis News. He is soon hot on the trail of the notorious criminal known as "The Eel." The rest of the movie doesn't make much sense but all's well that ends well. Armstrong does a good job but does not do the snappy reporter type as well as Chester Morris or Wally Ford. However, he does such scenes as that at the coffee shop better than they so it all evens out. I had never heard of Maxine Doyle and she did a somewhat surprisingly good job as Anne. A pleasant enough way to spend an hour.