Displaying items by tag: Cheryl Walker

MURDER IS MY BUSINESS

US, 1946, 64 minutes, Black-and-white.

Hugh Beaumont, Cheryl Walker, Lyle Talbot, George Meeker.

Directed by Sam Newfield.

One of a series of private detective stories, featuring Hugh Beaumont as Michael Shayne. There are several sequels. Hugh Beaumont had a number of short feature roles in the 1940s, his private detective but audiences also seeing him as both charming and psychopathic in the brief film noir, Money Madness. But, he was famous for the long-running series, Leave it to Beaver as the father of the family.

This film is both serious investigation as well as often being played for laughs. Michael Shayne is very happy-go-lucky, casual in his treatment of his assistant, Phyllis, relying on his friendship with his journalist friend, Eddie. And, clashes with of the police, especially Ralph Dunn as Rafferty, who appeared in a number of the films, wanting to get the better of Michael Shayne.

Beaumont plays Michael Shayne as rather happy-go-lucky, enjoying his detective work, a lot of oneupmanship, his being knocked out quite a lot, imposing on his secretary who wants to join in the investigations and has a crush on him, chewing a lot of peanuts and scattering the shells, a lot of littering, this time a woman wanting his services, being killed by her husband, a robbery arranged, and, for a time, Shayne considered a suspect.

And this pattern continued through the succeeding for Michael Shayne, Detective films.

LARCENY IN HER HEART

US, 1946, 68 minutes, Black-and-white.

Hugh Beaumont, Cheryl Walker, Ralph Dunn, Paul Bryar, Douglas Fowlie, Gordon Richards.

Directed by Sam Newfield.

The second in a series of private detective stories, featuring Hugh Beaumont as Michael Shayne. There are several sequels. Hugh Beaumont had a number of short feature roles in the 1940s, his private detective but audiences also seeing him as both charming and psychopathic in the brief film noir, Money Madness. But, he was famous for the long-running series, Leave it to Beaver as the father of the family.

This film is both serious investigation as well as often being played for laughs. It is like a short story with the action taking place over two nights.

About to go on holiday, Shayne and the secretary are approached by wealthy man to take on a case to find his missing stepdaughter. Then, a young woman, drunk, comes into his office. Shayne is friendly with the police as well as a journalist, played by Paul Bryar. And there is the detective out to get him, played by Ralph Dunn. These two characters appear in several of the episodes.

There is the case of the dead body, its being removed, reappearing, disposed of in the garden of the wealthy man, found in the bay, identified in the morgue. Plenty of complications – and, finally, Shayne getting himself committed to a centre for alcoholics and his discovery of the truth. Some serious investigations, quite a lot of shenanigans and touches of comedy – and a rather more complex solution than the audience might have anticipated.

THREE ON A TICKET

US, 1947, 65 minutes, Black-and-white.

Hugh Beaumont, Cheryl Walker, Paul Brayr, Ralph Dunn, Louise Currie, Gavin Gordon, Douglas Fowley.

Directed by Sam Newfield.

The fourth in the series of five brief Michael Shayne detective films from the mid-40s. (In the early 40s there had been the series with Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne.)

By this stage, Shayne’s easy-going character had been established, his casual attitude towards his secretary and his secretary’s devotion to him, his intervening in cases, his being knocked out (twice in this film), the continual act that antagonism of police chief, Pete Rafferty, his friendship with the reporter, Tim.

The film opens with a man coming into his office and collapsing dead, shot, Shayne finding a ticket for storage at a railway station. Then comes a blonde wanting him to help her with her ex-husband and their divorce. Later, Shayne is abducted and threatened for the ticket. Then there is a government agent from Washington because the ticket leads to a container with a scientific development and possible espionage. And, at one stage, his secretary is also kidnapped.

Fast moving, Shayne not shot, gradually accumulating information, the rivalry with Rafferty, even Tim losing some faith in him, some unmasking of criminals, the shooting, the rescue of the secretary and a happy ending.

Fairly standard material but entertaining in its short running time and plenty of complicated plot.