Time Out for Murder (1938) User Reviews

First Of Three Films Starring Trombone-Playing Reporter Michael Whelan

[boblipton · 6/10 · 29 January 2022]

Ruth Hussey is murdered while getting the time from the telephone operator -- the girl running the switchboard will swear to it. Ace reporter Michael Whelan and his photographer pal Chick Chandler try to get the story, figuring night-club owner Douglas Fowley is the natural suspect -- she was stiffing him on a big gambling debt. Along the way they rope in top-billed repo girl Gloria Stuart.

In a murder mystery where almost everyone is known by a nickname, I immediately suspected the three characters who went by their proper names. Once you threw out Miss Hussey, that made it two. But there were some curve balls thrown along the way, and everyone talked as fast as they used to in a Warner Brothers pre-code movie. There's absolutely zero social content; interest in bringing a murderer to justice seems to be completely a matter of getting some headlines for the paper, but this zips along. This being a Twentieth Century-Fox B movie, there's an amazing assortment of performers playing small roles, from Jane Darwell to Brooks Benedict to Edward Gargan.

This spawned two sequels?

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 16 June 2011]

Time Out for Murder is the first of three mysteries about a reporter, his photographer and the repo girl who is assigned to get his trombone back (don't ask). They get sucked into the case of a woman supposedly killed by a bank messenger who is in love with a woman who tells the time on the phone (hey it's from 1938).

I don't think the plot makes a great deal of sense. You can kind of figure who is behind part of it instantly because of what he is supposed to have said about the accused alibi. But the film makes things even more complicated by adding a second villain to the mix. It allows for some interesting bits towards the end but mostly it really seems like it was thrown is so things weren't so obvious.

Over all the film is more a distraction rather than anything of substance. I came I saw I moved on to the next thing.

I can't believe that there are two more films in the series.

At the tone, it will be time to get silly!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 16 April 2020]

This second-rate B comedy is enjoyable for its cast but not much else. The cliched script and trade characters are typical of this type of murder mystery comedy, and they are involved in a ridiculous plot line involving a murder that is somehow tied in to a telephone operator (Jean Porter) who tells the time.

Michael Whalen is a saxophone playing reporter who shows up at her office just to listen to her voice say the time over and over again (with the help of Porter's supervisor Jane Darwell), and he ends up being arrested for the murder of Ruth Hussey which leads him and photographer Chick Chandler to go out of their way to prove his innocence. Along the way, they become involved with collection agent Gloria Stuart and a group of mobsters, and from there the plot just gets more and more convoluted.

It's nice to see a young Gloria Stuart 60 years before she had her legendary performance as old Rose in the blockbuster "Titanic". She's pretty and spiky and the perfect ideal of a 1930's screwball comedy heroine. Whalen and Chandler basically play truly silly characters. There are far too many red herrings and plot twists designed to confuse the viewer, and characters tossed in at the last moment do nothing but add to the chaos. Still, the frantic pacing and like humor makes it enjoyable in spite of the ridiculous goings-on, and at under an hour, this is a decent but forgettable time-filler. This definitely did not warrant two sequels which film audiences probably did not realize worst sequels because the original was simply lost in the back of their mind, that is if they had seen it.

Comedy thriller

[searchanddestroy-1 · 12 February 2023]

Not that bad this little comedy thriller made by Bruce Humberstone, in his early part of career, for Twentieth Century Fox, where he spent most of his time. He gave us light hearted or musicals yarns, Charlie Chan stuff, an excellent thriller I WAKE UP SCREAMING, a western FURY AT FURNACE CREEK, before quitting Fox and making TEN WANTED MEN for Columbia Pictures and some Tarzan films. This one is very agreeable, light hearted at the most, not a pure drama, but typical of this late thirties period. Fast paced, never boring, even if you don't like comedies, you'll be enjoyed by this one. Don't bother the topic, just the overall atmosphere, and the very dynamic directing.

Time out for murder

[coltras35 · 5/10 · 26 November 2023]

A bank runner is accused of killing a woman for whom he deposited a large amount. Reporter and bank official investigate and learn that a gangster could be involved. Luckily, the reporter is friends with the gangster, but that friendship might not last ...

Time for Murder is a breezy comedy mystery that moves at a click pace, and though the main reporter's sidekick ( photographer) can be annoying with his jokes, the characters are quite likeable, especially Gloria Stuart. She keeps things together and is full of energy. The reporters appear to place headline news above getting justice, but they -with the help of Gloria- get the job done.