QUIET PLEASE, MURDER (1942)

George Sanders’ character is another prime example of his trademarked, egotistic roles playing a cool, malevolent criminal. He not only steals the film but also a priceless Shakespeare manuscript. Having admired the work for some time, he half-jokingly asks the museum guard if he could take it home. "Over my dead body!" The request is granted. Of note is Sanders’ minuscule twitch of his upper lip as he fires. I imagine this little detail never originated at the director's suggestion. Working in tandem is Gail Patrick, who sells his forged copies to unsuspecting collectors while posing as a legitimate expert. One wonders how long this “partnership” will last. They appear to tolerate each other only for the monetary rewards of deception. An example is when Patrick enters his study and he senses she is in a mood, as he calls it. "Hello, Lady Dracula. How many butterflies have you tortured since lunch hoping one would turn on you?" A criminal psychologist would have a field day studying their askew occupations.

Unknown to Patrick, her latest sale went to a Nazi agent, Sydney Blackmer. She is flippant about this detail, but Sanders is livid knowing his reputation. Blackmer will recognize the forgery and the transaction used Nazi funds. Words get around. Enter Richard Denning, a detective with a witty script. He is dandy in the role. Confident, handsome, and charming, nothing fazes him. It is too bad more roles like this were not part of his resume. He is on his self-evident trail of Patrick, who equally pours on the charm. Denning welcomes that part but also suspects a double standard.

At this point, it gets a bit confusing for everyone involved, including the audience, with its character shell game screenplay. Patrick sets Denning up for a rendezvous with Sanders at a library. Within earshot of Denning, he passes himself off as a homicide detective. Keep in mind Sanders would not recognize Blackmer or Denning if he stumbled over them in the card catalog department. Blackmer gets a tip that Denning is Sanders and demands his money back. Sanders’ henchman, mistakenly assuming Blackmer is Denning, murders him, and the library is locked down on Sanders’ instruction. He is there to steal rare, valuable books, and the wrong murder is not going to waver his plan. Feel free to read this paragraph twice.

Sanders arranged for his operatives to pose as police investigators, and they let no one in or out. He improvises like the conniving pro he is and suggests the priceless books should be sent to “headquarters” for safekeeping, with one librarian offering him a valuable Thomas Jefferson document as well. By all means. Patrick informs Denning of Sanders’s real identity in her self-serving way. In a desperate need to do something, Denning escapes through a library window. He is quickly brought back inside. He supposedly went out to check the correct time. Denning marches down the hall and in mock revelation, “Ah, I’ve been here before!” Both Patrick and Sanders suspect some disloyalty is afoot due to the unraveling events.

An air raid blackout provides a bit of suspense. Still pressing Denning for the whereabouts of the priceless books, Sanders, assuming he and Patrick are an item, will inflict pain on her unless he talks. The arrogant thief then philosophizes about her thriving on pain and the adrenaline rush of possibly getting caught. Denning is more than happy to oblige on the pain front. The blackout is cut short by the detective's double-cross on Sanders, the books are discovered where Patrick hid them, and Denning gives her a verbal lesson about the dangers of ice in her veins. The film wraps with Sanders in handcuffs and Patrick fearing that another of Blackmer’s henchmen will find her.

This Twentieth Century Fox project was first released at the very end of 1942 in New York City, with a nationwide distribution a few months later. It was directed by John Larkin, who also penned the screenplay. The film noir vacillates between serious and humorous, making it a pretty fast seventy minutes, yet do not expect it to escape the clutches of a routine detective mystery. Not routine is that the movie is predominantly confined inside a library. This accounts for the “Agatha Christie” tongue-in-cheek title. The location provides plenty of doors to open and close and dark aisles to go down, creating some bad press for a library’s quiet spookiness, especially alone on the third floor. After sunset. To convince the viewer they are actually in a library, nearly every pistol is equipped with Hollywood’s phony “silencer.” The film holds its own as wartime encouragement. Things might have gone terribly wrong with a less competent lead cast or a different director.

Notes: The character actor, Byron Foulger, in an uncredited role, plays the persnickety library manager with a considerable amount of humorous anxiety. Especially as the air raid warden for the library. He is in total command, and the rules must be followed to the letter. He tells everyone to remain calm and not run as he sprints frantically, arms flailing, into action to retrieve his helmet. Another character of note is the bald mute aide-assassin in Blackmer’s service, played by Kurt Katch, who communicates through sign language and carries a rope that accommodates several neck sizes. Apparently, Peter Lorre did not get a casting call. A special note about Lynne Roberts, the helpful librarian to Denning. She stands out as the most genuine person in the movie, waiting for her guy to return from the war front.

FORGOTTEN FILMS: TV TRANSITION

Though typically overshadowed by Hollywood's A-list, there were respectable performances by numerous actors and actresses who never became major film stars. A common occurrence was their transition to the new medium of television, often becoming familiar faces in homes across America. These periodic posts offer insight into their transition.

Richard Denning: Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger, Jr. (1914-98)

Richard Denning got his start in Hollywood starring in a few popular radio programs of the 1940s and early 1950s. The most famous was being opposite Lucille Ball in the radio comedy, My Favorite Husband, which set the groundwork for her Lucy Ricardo character. But with no face for radio, the handsome Denning soon was singled out, first as a bit player then gained starring roles in mostly low-budget films. He was always fun to watch in spite of being cast in some forgettable films.

Denning was successful at garnering many supporting film roles during his early years in Hollywood as in the musical comedy, The Farmer's Daughter (1940), or The Glass Key (1942), and Black Beauty (1945) all the while rubbing elbows with some major film stars. He was the lead in numerous routine B-movies where he often played cool, easygoing characters able to hold his own in a fistfight. The 6’ Denning could deliver sarcastic quips with coolness in a Dick Powell fashion. Perhaps his most infamous role was in Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) supporting Richard Carlson and Julie Adams followed by his lead in another science-fiction cult classic, Target Earth (1954). He had a nice turn in The Crooked Web (1955) as an undercover government agent routing out a German war crimes officer.

Television credits began to pile up with the lighthearted crime show, Mr. & Mrs. North (1952-54). Denning played a mystery magazine publisher who—along with his wife—moonlight as amateur detectives, echoing the Thin Man film series of the 1930s. The show was also a follow-up to a decade-old film as well as a radio mystery program of the same name. Denning kept busy with lead roles in the series The Flying Doctor (1959) and as the private investigator, Michael Shayne (1960-61) tooling around Miami in a 1960 Oldsmobile convertible. Beyond his screen time, the show was a dud. The comedy dud, Karen (1964-65), was next followed by his being called out of retirement to play Hawaii’s governor in seventy-three episodes of the classic police show, Hawaii Five-O (1968-80).

Note: Richard Denning was born in Poughkeepsie, New York but his family moved to Los Angeles before his second birthday. He attended Manual Arts College earning a Master of Business Administration degree from Woodbury Business College in Los Angeles. Denning married horror film and B-movie actress Evelyn Ankers in 1942. Their marriage lasted until her death in 1985.

DOUBLE DEAL (1950)

This is the first picture produced by Bel-Air Productions, a studio known for B-movies and location shooting to retain a low budget. There is nothing unique here. Even the film's title was used before and since. There is the usual frame-up, someone getting beat up, yet nothing ever heats up. Richard Denning is easy to like and adds the only spark to this clichèd drama. Marie Windsor receives top billing in a role against type as a decent soul. Still, it is a pretty enjoyable romp thanks to a talented cast including a smarty-hurdy-gurdy monkey.

Out-of-work engineer Denning is looking for a job in Oklahoma oil country. Thinking he might at least triple his nine dollars, he joins a backroom gambling table after meeting hostess, Windsor. James Griffith wins most of the time because his dice are loaded. After losing, Denning calmly walks over and removes his nine bucks from Griffith's pile of cash. Windsor and her boss take notice of his bold move and learning of his engineering background, they hope to persuade him to help her boss's oil well turn a profit before it defaults to his sister, and Griffith's girl, Fay Baker, as per their father's will. Baker is a manipulator by profession, and there is no love lost between her and her brother. Using all her feminine wiles, she tries to get Denning to change sides. Griffith and Baker stoop low enough to make her will a reality, setting up Denning to take a murder rap. 

No sooner than Baker can say, "My will be done," she is shot and killed by, apparently, the cameraman, as the audience is left to guess who pulled the trigger. Thanks to the monkey's ninja move, Windsor's life is spared from any remaining bullets. The instantly sober attorney was planning to eliminate all family members, claiming the well for himself. Never trust a fake drunk. Windsor gushes over Denning as their oil well strikes a pose.

Note: Taylor Holmes plays the attorney who represented the father before he died. He lives with a talented, unemployed organ grinder monkey. His character is annoying because of his perpetual drunk routine. Since the beginning of Hollywood's double standards, stumbling drunks have been either harmless, lovable creatures or used for comic relief. In reality, alcoholics are pathetically in need of help. Even television's Otis Campbell. 

THE CROOKED WEB (1955)

Columbia Pictures released this Clover Production movie. The mid-20th century story and screenplay by Lou Breslow illustrate the reality of what the future Internet will be like. That not everything you see or read is true. It is a tale of clever deception so carefully planned that it has taken ten years to co-ordinate. Calling the premise a “con” is an understatement as seemingly everyone from America to Germany, on sea and land, has their role to play no matter how small, to capture Frank Lovejoy for his decade-old crime. Joining Lovejoy is handsome Richard Denning along with Mari Blanchard, California’s oldest carhop. This seventy-seven-minute drama was directed by Nathan Juran.

What the poster has to do with this film is a mystery. That lady is not in this movie. Lovejoy and Blanchard plan to wed and the audience is neatly strung along for thirty minutes until Denning shows up as her ne’er do well “brother,” establishing the crooked part. He has the scheme to unearth “buried treasure” left behind at the end of WW2, located within a current Army reservation. Just the amount of resources Lovejoy needs for a comfortable life in another country. Plenty of twists and deceptions to make this a pretty fun outing.

As trained government agents, Denning’s cleverness and Blanchard’s attractiveness come into play numerous times to regain Lovejoy’s confidence and quell his suspicions. Lovejoy comes off rather bland, to the point of almost being a bit dense. Hopefully, that was the way he wanted to play it. Logically, he never suspects anyone would spend a decade setting him up. He does fear a double-cross and at the last moment confesses to Blanchard of his past and seals his fate. Finding out who Blanchard really is offered him no encouragement, either.