They're Always Caught

The always interesting "Crime Does Not Pay" series from MGM, running from 1935 to 1947, checks in with an interesting tale of a crusading mayor, his betrayal and murder, a man who looks guilty but isn't , and the role of forensic science in solving the crime.

Always part dramatic, part documentary, these 20 minute shorts do a pretty good job of showing empathy when it is appropriate tempered with justice. In this case, the short focuses on the role of science in solving the crime. The mayor is killed with a car bomb and the culprit thinks the explosion will erase all evidence. But careful evidence collection by the police, the test tube, the microscope, and the spectrograph give the police a clear view of why the chief suspect could not be guilty, and who the actual murderer is. With a dramatic conclusion, think of it as Quincy M.E., 1938 without the colorful Jack Klugman.

Mayor Fletcher is cleaning house. He's firing corrupt officials and canceling contracts. He's taking down rackets. Small business owner Eddie Diesel is tired of paying off the crooks and tries to contact the mayor at his home. Meanwhile the mayor fires prosecutor Jimmy Stark for taking bribes and letting off major crime leaders. The mayor is killed by a car bomb in his garage and the police arrests Eddie. Dr. John Pritchard uses scientific investigation techniques to solve the case.

This is part of MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series. It was nominated for the Oscars. The crime story is rather stiff and the acting is also a little stiff. It's functional and then there is the CSI second half. They haven't invented the rock music montage yet but it's still fascinating to see. This feels somewhat like an industrial movie at times.

They're Always Caught (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Another nice entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series. This time out a tough Mayor is trying to get all the corruption out of the city. He learns that the D.A. is working with a crime lord so he asks for his resignation. Later that night the D.A. plants a bomb in the Mayor's car, killing him and throwing blame on an innocent man. It seems like an easy case but the latest technologies make it far from being over. This short seemed to be made just to show criminals that there are new ways for them to get caught. The use of hair, fingernails and dust was something new back then and it was nice seeing the way the equipment was used to gather all the evidence. This film does a nice job at breaking everything down where people back then would be able to understand what was going on even though by doing this the actual story of the film takes a few hits. This film would later be remade as KID GLOVE KILLER but I've yet to see it to compare how close they are. Received an Oscar-nomination.

When reform mayor Charles Waldron is blown up with a car bomb by crooked aide John Eldredge, Louis Jean Heydt is accused and picked up. However crime lab scientist Stanley Ridges won't call anyone guilty without real proof. When he has it, though, the evil-doers will discover that CRIME DOES NOT PAY.

This entry in the long-running MGM series can be considered a precursor of all those science-based mystery shows that have become so popular in the past few years. In shows like BONES and CSI, it's always science that figures out whodunnit, and this was good enough to get an Oscar nomination and an expansion a few years later into the feature KID GLOVE KILLER.

It's remarkably low-key for the series, which often culminated in gun battles, fires and attendant deaths. The decision not to have any -- Waldron aside, and that happens offscreen -- it doesn't need it.

I have watched a few of the Crime Does Not pay series and by far this is the best episode of the series. I am amazed that even in the 1930's science had already begun to take giant leaps in assisting criminal investigations to solve crimes. Okay so the archaic use of a simple microscope to verify strands of clothing may not be record breaking but the way these forensic scientists solved the crime by looking very closely at the minimal evidence the car bomb left behind was unique and as a result I was intrigued.

Great acting and a great episode. A must see.

I give it an IMDB rating of 8 out of 10.