Crime by Night (1944)

Yes, some B movies can be complex and work on every level, and for this supposedly light hearted comic mystery/thriller, enough is more than plenty. Amusing character actor Jerome Cowan gets his chance for a lead, playing a detective handling more cases than Sam Spade could hope to handle. With rising star Jane Wyman as his amusing girl Friday, he's got a lot to handle, even though Miss Wyman gets top billing. What he's lacking is structure, and the problem there lies in the convoluted script and plot that would darken a film noir to a blackout.If Wyman isn't lovely enough in the female lead, there are also Faye Emerson and Eleanor Parker in supporting roles, both leads in B's for several years up to this point, and wasted in femme fatale roles. The plot moves all over the place in a 72 minute span, and if you nap for one second, you could find yourself missing an important detail. Just a year away from her star making role in "The Lost Weekend", Wyman was very busy at Warners in 1944, comically becoming Gracie Allen in "The Doughgirls", singing and dancing with Jack Carson in "Hollywood Canteen" and sparring comically with him in "Make Your Own Bed" (as well as "The Doughgirls"). Between that and being married to Ronald Reagan and volunteering for war services, she had quite a busy year, which I pray wasn't as convoluted as this plot that has plenty of funny lines and even a few suspenseful moments, but often goes off on secret missions of its own that don't have an easy way back to the general story.

***SPOILERS*** Confusing murder mystery involving a one handed pianist Larry Bordon who claims he's been framed in his father-in-law's murder. Larry himself was almost shot and killed as soon as the movie opened by an unknown assailant while Larry was on his rowboat. Fearful for his life Larry got in touch with famed New York private eye Sam Campbell to not only save his neck from the person or persons who are trying to murder him but from his being arrested and tried for the murder of his father-in-law Harvey Carr whom he found axed to death in his rowboat. In fact t was Mr.Carr who chopped off Larry's left hand in a fit over his strained relationship with his daughter, and Larry's wife, Irene.The movie gets even more complicated that it already is when the boathouse caretaker is found by Campbell brutally axed, but still alive, by the very same person who murdered Mr.Carr. The fact that the caretaker is still alive is very good news for Larry in if he's telling the truth the caretaker can prove that Larry's innocent by not identifying him as his attacker. That all later turns sour for Larry with the caretaker not coming out of his coma and dying. That leaves Larry on the hook in not only killing Mr.Carr but the caretaker as well. As Campbell begins to follow the trail of evidence in both Mr.Carr and the caretakers murder it becomes evident to him that the double murders were really an effort to cover up a far more sinister crime.***SPOILERS*** All that leads to both Ann Marlow and her boyfriend singer Paul Goff who are staying at a hotel not far from the crime scene who seemed to have had some kind of special dealings with the late and murdered Mr. Carr. And it was Mr.Carr's suspicions of them that in fact may well have lead to his murder. Or better yet could it have been Mr.Carr's former son-in-law Larry Bordon who had it in for Mr.Carr ever since he destroyed his career as a concert pianist! It was Campbell and his secretary Robbie "Candy-Lamb" Vance who by setting up a trap at the local horse stable who got Mr.Carr's killer to trip himself up. In him thinking that the stable owner Dad Martin, whom one of his horses was used by the killer to make his escape, had spotted him and then tried to murder Martin as well! As for the real reason behind Mr.Carr's murder it had to do with what was going on the other side of the world, Europe, at the time, 1944, and the super secret formula that Mr.Carr was working on that those who murdered him were after.

Sam (Jerome Cowan) and Robbie (Jane Wyman) are called upon to solve a murder. We meet a cast of characters................and Sam solves it.It's a bland detective murder mystery with some guy that looks like William Powell in the lead role. It's complicated and although Cowan and Wyman are likable, there is never any tension or drama in the story. The best part of the film comes when Jane Wyman and Faye Emerson (who plays Ann) come face to face. This happens at the end of the film and it's the only memorably entertaining part of the film. Cowan calls Wyman "Candy Lamb" throughout the film, and whilst this is funny at the beginning, it becomes irritating as he endlessly repeats it. This is a story that is immediately forgettable like many others and it's only worth it for Jane Wyman's performance.....and she's hardly in it!

Crime By Night is a film that I discovered on TCM a couple of years ago. Although Jane Wyman receives top billing, Jerome Cowan (the ill fated Miles Archer from The Maltese Falcon) carries the film. As another poster commented, the film has some great dialogue. In addition to his interplay with Jane Wyman's character (Robbie, aka Candy Lamb), I really enjoyed Cowan's (private eye Sam Campbell) scenes with Cy Kendall. Kendall plays the sheriff, who's a bit on the shady side. I especially like the scene when the sheriff leaves Sam alone in the sheriff's office to ostensibly get a drinking glass and what happens immediately after that. Also funny was Sam's revenge later in the film towards the sheriff regarding the drinking glass incident. All in all, an excellent B film...check it out if you can.