Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940)

****SPOILERS*** The first of the Michael Shayne Private Detective movie has our hero Michael Shayne, Lloyd Noland,about to get evicted from his office with all the furniture taken off his hands for him being behind in his monthly payments. That's when fate shines on him with Michael being given the job by money man and race horse connoisseur Mr. Brighton, Clarence Kolb, to look after his out of control daughter Phyllis, Marjorie Weaver, and keep her away from any gambling establishment like casinos and race tracks that she's hopelessly addicted to.Not much of a job at first for Michael but later in trying to scare Phillis stiff and straighten her out after getting away from him and ending up losing $2,000.00 that she didn't have at the nearest casino things backfire on him. Michael ends up getting Phillis' boyfriend Harry Grange, George Meeker, smashed by spiking his drink after Michael clobbered him for taking Phillis there. Later Michael alter he kissed and make up with a barley able to stand on his feet Harry drives him out into the woods in Phillis' car and leaves him for dead spraying a bottle of catchup on him to make it look like blood.This joke soon turned out to be a disaster for Michael in that later, after he called the police to revive and sober up Harry, he as well as Phillis found him dead as a door nail by being shot in the head! With his chief protagonist in the movie Police Chief Painter, Donald McBrie, about to run Michael in for murder he turns the tables on him by planning to expose his crooked dealings, whatever they are, under the table that aren't exactly kosher!***SPOILERS*** Despite working on his own Michael gets help from Aunt Olivia, Elizabeth Patterson, a self styled gumshoe who gets her training in detective work from reading murder mysteries from cheap dine store novels she buys at the supermarket. It's here that Aunt Olivia shows that she's not the hair brained screwball that everyone thinks she is by helping Michael, who at one point ended up losing his pants, cover all the clues as well as his behind that he may have missed that exposed who Harry's killer really was. As usual it, the murder of Harry, had to do with money the killer expected to have won at the race track that was cashed by Harry, who put the bet in for him, before he got it! Which had to do with a scam the killer try to pull off by entering a "Ringer", a champion South American racehorse, in the race which he bet $10,000.00 on that he replaced a ready for the glue factory nag "Bonjo Boy" who went off at odds of 15 to 1!

When a wise-cracking detective takes on high society and is hired to keep an eye on an old friends' rebellious daughter, he finds out that such an assignment can lead to murder. Lloyd Nolan began his brief spell as detective Michael Shayne in this enjoyable detective drama which has a lot of elements of comedy and a few of that growing genre called film noir.At first, debutante want to be Marjorie Reynolds finds Nolan's presence an aggravation, especially when he spoils her fun by bringing her home from a gambling joint after she's used up all of her allowance. Her domineering father (Clarence Kolb) is so grateful that he employs Shayne immediately to keep an eye on her while he's away on business. He's grateful because his office has just been cleared of its furniture. Her dotty aunt (Elizabeth Patterson) is intrigued because she's obsessed with murder, and when a real one does occur (following an unfortunate joke that Nolan tried to perpetrate on the unknowing Reynolds), it is Patterson who will aid him the most, although a lot of her advising chatter is based on nothing more than "True Detective" magazines she's read.The mystery takes the viewer to the races, to a gambling house, and to the countryside where Nolan left the victim after he slipped him a mickey. It is all a rouse to try to keep Reynolds in line (she was romantically involved with the man), but everything turns haywire when the ketchup on the man's shirt is joined by the blood gushing from his head. Among the others involved are Douglas Dumbrille as the gambling house owner, Joan Valerie as his hot-tempered daughter, and Donald MacBride as an initially seeming smart cop whose idiotic partner could fry anybody's brain cells. It's all entertainingly presented, decently acted, and well produced, resulting in a "B" mystery where the laughs come just as frequently as the thrills.

The first film in the (quite prolific) Michael Shayne series, and also the first one I watched. There is nothing much above the ordinary in the direction or the production values (which may account for the film, and perhaps the whole series, being largely forgotten today), but the plot is dense (so dense, in fact, that you'll need to watch the final explanations by Shayne AT LEAST twice to get everything straight), Nolan makes a likable Shayne, Marjorie Weaver is a perky and appealing leading lady, the supporting cast is full of familiar faces (if not necessarily names - I'm sure I've seen the guy playing the gruff inspector before - playing, again, the gruff inspector!), and there is the occasional clever line ("This thing is as phony as a mother-in-law's kiss"). I think fans of the genre will go for this. **1/2 out of 4.

"With your nerve, I'd hate to have a tooth pulled!" That's Phyllis Brighton speaking indignantly to Mike Shayne, who has just intervened to keep her from betting a bundle she can't afford on a possibly rigged horse race. It doesn't help minutes later when the nag wins. Michael Shayne, Private Detective was the first of seven Shayne movies starring Lloyd Nolan. He crammed them all in a three year contract period. These are comedy-mysteries, all B movies, made quickly on tight budgets by journeyman directors, writers and actors, then shot out for quick play on the lower half of double bills across America. Sad to say, at least with this one, take away Nolan and we don't have much except nostalgia.Lloyd Nolan was one of those first-rate actors who had plenty of charm, energy and charisma, with confidence to spare. He always came across as smarter than he might seem, whether he played good guys or, more often, tough good guys. He seldom played bad guys. Nolan didn't have the Hollywood-handsome looks that would convince a studio head to make him into a big star. Because he had such a dynamic effect in most of his roles, I think it probably called for very confident leading heroes to agree to play with him in major movies. He was one of a small group of actors who could be so emphatic on screen because of their personality and style that they became memorable...actors like Chester Morris, Lee Tracy, Paul Kelly and, of course, James Cagney. Some made it big, some faded away. They're all great fun to watch in action. Even in old age Nolan could command a screen. He was 83 in his last movie, Hannah and Her Sisters, and is one of the best things about that fine movie. He'd had 50 years of making movies when he died of cancer shortly after finishing his part. As Michael Shayne, Nolan gives us a character who is tough, resourceful and cocky. He's usually good natured and usually impertinent. Shayne is a private eye who is impressed with no one. He has a sense of skeptical humor. He runs rings around the cops, who are usually portrayed as dunderheads. He's attractive to the the ladies but never seems to get too romantically involved. In Michael Shayne, Private Detective, the mystery is complex but not, unfortunately, all that interesting. The script has Shayne deal with inconveniences by simply tossing away evidence, his gun, into a field, or stripping down two revolvers to exchange gun barrels, or just lying with a smirk. It's never wise to expect good acting in most B movies, and this B movie doesn't disappoint. Besides Nolan, the only actors who show skill are Donald McBride as the police chief doing his frazzled double takes, Douglas Dumbrille as a confident crook, Walter Abel as a weak crook and Elisabeth Patterson as a crime-loving aunt. These are acting jobs the four of them could do in their sleep. They're skilled professionals, however, and they make their roles interesting. Oh, yes...the mystery. It has something to do with gambling debts, fixing horse races, a love that's too intense and a sleazy gambler.