Midnight Manhunt (1945)

In a cheap hotel room in New York City Jelke shoots gangster Joe Wells, takes a package from his pocket and flees.Wells staggers into an alley. On her way to her apartment above a wax ... See full summary »

Director:

William C. Thomas

Writer:

David Lang (original screenplay)

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

In a cheap hotel room in New York City Jelke shoots gangster Joe Wells, takes a package from his pocket and flees.Wells staggers into an alley. On her way to her apartment above a wax museum, Sue Gallagher, a reporter for the Chronicle, finds Wells' body and hides his corpse among the wax-figures in the museum and calls her paper to send a photographer so she can get a scoop on the killing of Wells, who had a $5,000 reward for his capture, dead or alive. Meanwhile, Henry Miggs, the museum owner find the body and is ready to call the police but his handyman, Clutch Tracy tells him to conceal it and avoid suspicion. From this point on it is a game of where-is-the-body....and the stolen South American diamonds Wells was carrying.

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Plot Keywords:

wax museum | reporter | gangster | corpse | apartment | 

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Taglines:

She hid the body they all wanted in a wax museum! (original poster)

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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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Quotes

Sue Gallagher: Ah, don't mind me tonight, Mr. Miggs I'm just mad at the world.
Henry Miggs: She's a reporter.

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Connections

Featured in Home (2017)

User Reviews

Stagy crime reporter flick

Diamond-thieving gangster Joe Wells winds up dead in a gangster wax museum where the jokers who run it not only recognize him but also happen to be pals with a couple of rival crime reporters. The reporters want the scoop. The cops want the corpse. And the old man just wants to go home because he's "so tired." Leo Gorcey provides a bit of comic relief with malapropisms and a troublesome cigar. The reporters cooperate and betray each other as it becomes convenient, regardless of how many laws they're breaking or how much danger they're in.

The acting is generally good, not great, but the direction is very stagy. With so few sets and so little camera movement, this could easily be a stage play. It's the kind of movie where people tell each other to stop beating their gums and to go soak their heads, offer each other stiff drinks, and light a lot of cigarettes.

The killer's explanation of why he hasn't just fled is ridiculous. And the shenanigans with the corpse are just bizarre.