The Payoff (1942)

And Lee Tracy's thing was playing fast talkers. He was the original Hildy Johnson in The Front Page on Broadway.Here he's Brad, a fast-talking reporter again, looking into the murder of the Special prosecutor. A gambler is suspected, but he has an air-tight alibi. The publisher of his paper sends Brad to cover the murder along with his son Guy (Tom Brown).It's evident to Brad that the gambler, Moroni, did the murder. But he can't prove it. Moroni tells Brad that the prosecutor was getting a payoff, and that his assistant killed him. The assistant's daughter (Tina Thayer) says that her father is in danger from Moroni. Moroni is murdered. Brad knows there is someone above Moroni.This is one of those one-hour-plus second features that seems like it lasts a lifetime. It was no surprise who was above Moroni either, thanks to the dialogue.It wasn't great, but Tina Thayer was very pretty.Lee Tracy was a big Broadway star who, though a character actor in films, played a lot of leads. He went back to Broadway after a scandal diminished his film career, but returned to win an Oscar nomination for The Best Man in the '60s, for which he won a Tony award. Nowadays, of course, the scandal would have garnered a ton of publicity. There really isn't much of a mystery here, but if you like this type of film, which was common in the '40s, you may enjoy this.

Hot-shot newspaper reporter Lee Tracy is involved in a poker game when a prosecutor is murdered. Tracy was reporting on the DA's latest investigation, so he's called in for help. Instead he has to clear the prime suspect, John Maxwell, because he was also part of the poker game when the murder happened. Maxwell tells Tracy to look into the prosecutor's assistant Forrest Taylor, as he was on the take. Soon after Tracy meets Taylor's daughter Tina Thayer, and Maxwell ends up dead in Tracy's apartment. Tracy and Taylor need to find out the truth soon before more people end up dead, being targeted themselves as well by Maxwell's partner, casino owner Jack La Rue.A mystery/crime programmer done at PRC, the plot is overly complex and convoluted, and relies too much on conveniences and plot holes. But it also uses a most effective means to deal with this, it moves at a quick pace, so there's little room to think about the previous scene, as the current scene demands attention.Lee Tracy ('High Tide', TV's 'Martin Kane') was once a big name, but in the 40s he was a has-been, and relegated to these low-budget features. His talent for fast & sharp talking works well here, as it fits the character perfectly. Tina Thayer is also quite decent as the demure but determined daughter who wants to find out the truth about her father. She went into a different career, ending her short acting career. Jack La Rue ('The Story Of Temple Drake') also had a decent career in the 30s before losing steam. These has-been actors were a gift for the poverty row studios tho, as they offered decent acting skills and somewhat recognizable names. While IMDb classifies this movie as film noir, it is only remotely noir-ish. It is a much more straight-forward crime/mystery that also lacks the noir visuals. Director Arthur Dreifuss (a couple of Boston Blackie movies) does what needs to be done to get the story onto film and DoP Ira Morgan (lensing such classics as 'Criminal Investigator' and 'Sensation Hunters' aka 'Club Paradise') manages to sneak in a few decent shots, but all in all they handled the material as routinely as possible. Given it's a PRC production and they probably had no budget or time to experiment with setups, they can hardly be blamed. It's decent enough, but then again I am partial to these movies. 6-/10

Lee Tracy pretty easily carries the show in this fast-moving drama featuring fast talking and a set of familiar supporting characters ranging from the cub reporter to the police inspector needing help to the shady club owner to the girl whose father is in trouble. Evelyn Brent is the one other somewhat interesting character—as the wise female on the wrong side of the law, she's a challenge for Tracy to try and pull over to his side.Tom Brown is the publisher's son who doubles as the cub reporter trying to learn the business; he's not particularly exciting but eager and fresh-faced and he does throw one punch. Tina Thayer as the daughter of the missing suspect doesn't have much to do and isn't given much to say, but she wears a worried look the best she can. Many other familiar faces populate the rest of the cast—the usual assortment of cops, crooks and reporters.Oh, the plot? It's fairly complex, actually, having to do with a murdered special prosecutor investigating corruption and a $100,000 payoff that gets chased around for most of the picture.The script is full of snappy dialog, some of it having to do with the plot, some just clever filler (Brown asks Tracy what they're going to do now, to which Tracy responds, "Slight pause for station identification."). Tracy also tells Brent in the first moments after their meeting, "After one drink, I propose," which adds a little nicely-calculated tension to their future encounters.Worth a look for those of us who like rapid-fire dialog and don't mind a few clinkers or clichés.

I agree with many of the previous comments about "The Payoff", although I'm just not that enthusiastic about it.The film is a page straight out of the part-crime-mystery / part-comedy genre of the day. It's true that the dialog is snappy and if you're in the mood it can be quite engaging. But it's also true that "The Payoff" is really more of a theatrical-style of presentation than film. Lee Tracy immediately goes over the top, and stays there, with a very stage-style performance. Too loud, too gestural, too self-entertaining, just plain "too". The other characters are mostly cliché, too.I wouldn't avoid The Payoff if you enjoy 40's urban crime features. It's a terrific feature if you're home sick and need to fill an hour. But I wouldn't go to any extraordinary measures to see it, either.