Go-Get-'Em, Haines (1936)

This is from back when movies were more about script and story line, when movies were movies. Classic romantic little guy against rich big guy and the girl in the middle. Haines is a reporter who believes that's powerful rich guy is not on the up and up, illegally profiting off others. Very cute movie and decent quality given its age.

Despite the unusual title, GO-GET-'EM, HAINES is in fact a murder mystery set on board an ocean liner for most of its running time. It's notable for starring William Boyd, a later popular TV actor, playing the titular reporter who follows a rich businessman on board a cruise in the hopes of sniffing out a story. Well, he certainly gets one when somebody turns up dead...Despite Boyd's likable lead performance, this film is generally unremarkable and feels surprisingly slow given the extra-short running time. Many of the dialogue scenes are quite padded and the more suspenseful and exciting aspects of the narrative are played down rather than up. It's a pity, as in the right hands this could have been a tight little movie along the lines of PURSUIT TO ALGIERS.

This should only be a genre-film "6 of 10" stars, but I've given it an extra star on the basis of William Boyd's performance. Although Boyd always entertained as Hopalong Cassidy, His eventual identification with that role alone essentially tunneled him out of any notice as the highly talented naturalistic actor that he was. He really shines in this film as a headstrong but clever reporter trying to discover why there would be two different murders of the same man.The rest of the film is typical of "Poverty Row" efforts of the time,although above average in its pacing - and once the mystery kicks in, it is surprisingly effective, playing with and against audience expectations in a way that leaves the discovery of who-done-it a surprise.As to the narrative that leads up to the mystery - it's breezy and not without its entertainment value. I admit considerable continuity lapses, but th pacing rushes us past them, so I won't complain.Most reviews I've seen complain of the musical number in the middle of the film, but anyone who knows the comic song tradition that came out of Vaudeville like "Second Hand Rose" or "Harrigan") will recognize it as a novelty song, and rather a charming one at that.But at any rate, at only about a hour's run, it's worth it to see Boyd in grand form as someone other than the cowboy savant, Hopalong.

Movie almost split in 3 it seems, the first almost is a comedy of manners, you know, those 1930's things with lots of characters, really no plot, and just sort of glides along. SO a whole whack of people get on a boat, a banker (or is it?) who has swindled a lot of money, an actress, her brother and other people are also on board too. Oops, and a reporter, who is trying to uncover the banker's saga. During the voyage, it is suggested that some of the passengers put on a show, which they do. This leads up to the 2nd part of the movie, where the musical takes place, and it's just nothing short of bizarre. It leads to a murder mystery play, where the banker is a last minute replacement for one of the actors. Anyways, the banker's character gets shot in the play - only of course SOMEONE has switched the guns and he's really dead! So then the third part comes up.. who did it? The captain and the reporter lead the inquest to find out the dirty secret! Honestly, I wasn't really absorbed in this movie at all, it wasn't really interesting, musical or suspenseful. The only weird thing that captivated me, was the very strange hair the reporter had, which looked like a sort of grayish blonde thing.