Man from Headquarters (1942) User Reviews

Another enjoyable know-it-all reporter B-movie.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 3 February 2022]

When you've seen as many old films as I have, you notice that there were a TON of B-movies in the 30s and 40s which featured a know-it-all reporter who is also an amateur crime fighter. And compared to the others I've seen, I'd say "Man from Headquarters" is about average...but enjoyable.

The story begins in Chicago and Larry Doyle (Frank Albertson) has just received a commendation for helping the police indict a gang of criminals. Inexplicably, his boss soon fires Larry...and generally behaves abominably through the film....which really makes no sense.

In the meantime, the rest of the Pardoni gang and its leader are angry at Doyle and want revenge. So, a couple thugs bash Larry over the head, take his money and dump him on a train headed to St. Louis. When he arrives, he is jobless and broke and tries to get a job...and his old boss lies and tells his prospective employer the guy ISN'T Larry. See what I mean by his character not making any sense?!

In the meantime, Larry meets up with a damsel in distress (Joan Woodbury) and stumbles onto more crimes by the Pardoni gang. And so, like any B-movie reporter, he decides to investigate...and nearly gets himself arrested in the process. What's next? See the film.

Despite being a low budget Monogram film, I somehow found the movie more than just a time-passer...it was enjoyable. Sure, a bit of it made little sense and it had a few cliches...but still, it was entertaining and worth seeing.

By the way, if you do watch you'll likely be shocked by a line about wife beating.... PRO-WIFE BEATING!! My how times have changed!!

A drama, a crime and a comedy film.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 29 May 2011]

I won't say anything about the story, our friend Long Horn has already told it, in the summary line. I will only point out that this film is not charmless, typical of the early forties, not boring to watch, a good Monogram time waster. But certainly not a real noir gem, as I could expect. Anyway, I am pleased to have seen a Jean Yarbrough film, so rare, and also so pleasant to catch. It sometimes sounds like a comedy, but it is not a really one either. Many movies were this way over the years, especially till the fifties. Afterwards, this kind of mix up was more rare to see. There still was some crime comedies, but not this way, of course.

One of those films that you've forgotten the plot about an hour later.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 4 April 2018]

I had to look back at the synopsis to remind myself what this was actually about other than a reporter (Frank Albertson) out of town on a case whose boss (Dick Elliott) lies when asked about him, saying that he's there with him, preventing the law to suspect he's involved in fraud as well as identity theft. Along with new girlfriend Joan Woodbury, he is in proximity to a nightclub robbery, and evidence points to him for being the guilty party. This doesn't as much have a memorable plot as it does memorable comical moments, mixing in intrigue as well. Nicely paced and intermittently amusing, I wouldn't call this at all totally memorable (hence having forgotten a good detail of the plot), but there are some stand-out moments, particularly when Albertson and a group of his drunken reporters talk about the portly Elliott who is listening from a hidden spot and uses that as his excuse to fire Albertson and later teach him a lesson by not helping him verify his identity. However, much of the plot is preposterous, even if it is one of Monogram's rare excursions into comedy, mixing in their usual percentage of the criminal element, played by a supporting cast who gives their best to a Z grade film that is as fluffy as an overstuffed feather pillow.