Displaying items by tag: Phil Silvers

JUST OFF BROADWAY

US, 1942, 65 minutes, Black-and-white.

Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, Phil Silvers, Janis Carter, Richard Derr, Joan Valerie, Don Costello.

Directed by Herbert I. Leeds.

The fouth in the Michael Shayne series starring Lloyd Nolan. Based on a character created by Brett Halliday, various screenwriters have elaborated stories of private detection, murder mysteries, a rather comic treatment of most of the characters, including Michael Shayne.

A this short film opens, there has been a murder, witnesses interrogated in court, Lloyd Nolan’s Michael Shayne appear 10 minutes after the opening, and then as a member of the jury. Marjorie Weaver, appearing in her third film with Lloyd Nolan, is the leading female character but not continuity of characters from the previous films. This time she is an eager reporter, collaborating with Shayne, his leaving the jury lockup, taking a knife from under the lawyer’s table after one of the jurors was murdered in the court by a knife thrower.

The various escapades include visiting the club where the knife thrower performs, taking another of his knives, getting the phone number of an address of a mysterious call, following it through, finding the knife thrower dead, the police called, chases, a visit to the jeweller who made a bracelet found on the dead knife thriower, the writing of information and getting his associate to mail it to one of the lawyers in the case.

In the meantime, Phil Silvers plays an eager photographer, thinking he is on a good case with finding the juror outside, but thwarted by the visit to her edited by the journalist and banning the development of the photo.

When Lloyd Nolan returns to his room, he pretends to be a janitor with an accent, eludes the sheriff and the photographer, back in bed.

During the case the next day, he controls the movements of the lawyers, does some interrogating himself and, while the audience has thought that the owner of the cafe in liaison with the singer is the murderer, there is an extraordinary 180° twists with the defence lawyer as the murderer!

And then on to the next Michael Shayne comedy adventure.