The Phantom of 42nd Street (1945)

I love this movie so much

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The Phantom Of 42nd Street from PRC is a not too bad murder mystery of a group of people connected to a theatrical company. Theater critic Dave O'Brien is on the job reviewing a play when the first murder is committed. He gets drafted into the job of covering this and the other murders as they are committed. The ultimate target seems to be Alan Mowbray who is the actor/manager of the company and his daughter Kay Aldridge.It all goes back to some dirt done the murderer many years ago by many members of the company both in front of and backstage. The culprit has gone quite nuts about it, no doubt fixating for many years on how he would do the job. It is a he, I'll give that much away.Having a critic be a detective is an intriguing plot premise. Surprisingly the cops seem to warm up quickly to the outside help they're getting unlike in so many of these mysteries.At a major studio this might have been a minor classic with a lot of the holes in the plot not existing. Still for a PRC film it's far from the worst I've seen.

A newspaper's drama critic turns detective when he gets mixed up with murder among members of a theatre company. Eventually, a series of murders occurs apparently committed by a mysterious phantom.Not a bad little detective mystery from low-budget PRC. That's thanks mainly to a lively turn from O'Brien as Woolrich and the decorous Kay Aldridge as Claudia. Then there's the familiar Frank Jenks as the comedy relief cabbie, and a surprisingly delightful Vera Marshe as the lame brain waitress Ginger. The screenplay makes good use of its theatrical setting, and I suspect many of those backstage set-ups were real backstage scenes from PRC's sound stage. Of course, 50-some minutes is scarcely enough time to develop a strong list of suspects or mystery plot, but there's enough colorful characterizations to compensate. All in all, an adequate little time-passer.

Tony Woolrich is an oddity for '40s mysteries—a newspaper man who decidedly does not think of himself as a detective. In fact, this film opens with a murder at the theater, and all theater critic Woolrich wants to do is get back to his paper and review the play. He is encouraged to pursue the mystery by his editor, who is understandably upset that the paper has missed a big scoop, and also by his sidekick, Romeo the cab driver. Eventually throwing himself into the job, Tony turns out to be surprisingly good at detective work (for a drama critic, anyway!) and his connections in the theater world help him quickly surpass the little progress achieved by rather dim police detective Walsh (Jack Mulhall).Dave O'Brien as Tony is earnest and appealing; Frank Jenks as Romeo is appropriately helpful and smart-alecky. (Tony: "I know it's a boorish thing to do but I'd like to follow her." Romeo: "All detectives are boorish, don't let that worry you.") Kay Aldridge is good but unmemorable as leading lady Claudia Moore in a role that doesn't offer much in the way of surprises.Alan Mowbray is fun as the famous actor at the center of the mysterious events, and even gets to declaim a few lines from Julius Caesar in a climactic scene.Disguises, old grudges, secret marriages…oh, those actors' lives are so full of intrigue!

Minor little murder mystery involving the deaths of members of a theater company and how it revolves around a popular star of the stage, Cecil Moore(Alan Mowbray). A renowned New York City theater critic, Anthony Woolrich(Dave O'Brien)is asked by his newspaper's publisher to cover the story of the murder of Cecil Moore's brother, found hung with a note with written verse from a play. A second murder, an electrician who once worked for Cecil during an old theatrical troupe many years previous, is murdered as well(..a note with verse also left at his crime scene), and Tony has a hunch that it might concern a revenge of some sort tied to the Moores from their past. Looking through an old program that contained names of those involved with this troupe, Tony questions the leading actress, Janet(Edythe Elliot)and discovers, by her own admission, that she was in fact married to Cecil and is mother to his daughter, Claudia(Kay Aldridge). This might just be the link. Both Cecil and his brother were after Janet's hand, but she was in love with another..and actor who vanished, perhaps murdered by a jealous rival for her affections. Janet married and divorced from Cecil, and soon met another, a Buchanan, someone also involved with the stage who she confirmed died in an asylum..or did he? Tony believes someone currently working for Cecil might be the madman and that Claudia could be in danger as well. Even Tony himself was shot at. Along with his trusty taxi driver, Romeo(..the wisecracking Frank Jenks, whose cabbie never feels appreciated for all he does for our intrepid reporter), and Homicide detective, Lt Walsh(Jack Mulhall), Tony will attempt to lure the killer into a trap by staging a charity play of Julius Caesar, hoping that he will literally inhabit the role of Brutus, getting caught in the process.Time hasn't been kind to this relic, and when you watch a film like THE PHANTOM OF 42ND STREET, you'll realize just why the role of film preservationists is so important. Lots of film jumps, lines and blotches that have effected key moments in the movie, and cuts into the dialogue due to the devastated quality really hamper the viewing experience..nothing's as important as getting all the details and when characters are interrupted by ravaged film and sound, you never completely get the whole story. The film is certainly of it's time as the talk and humor are relative to the people who existed in New York City of the 40's(..Jenks' cabbie is a true example of this). O'Brien is a handsome charmer and Aldridge quite a stunner. It's relatively quick at around an hour and harmless, but rather forgettable amongst others of it's type. Very talky..quite dialogue driven as clues are pursued with our hero's life always in danger, although he never breaks a sweat, quite determined and motivated to save the Moores from potential peril.