Displaying items by tag: Douglas Fowley

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.