Aventura Cavalheiresca

A woman hangs herself at a hotel, and no one can identify her. PI Preston Foster is hired to look into the matter by a wealthy family. Soon the corpses and the mysteries pile up in this nicely tangled CRIME CLUB entry.

It's based on a mystery series by Jonathan Latimer, and it's a good mystery. Even if the screenwriters and director Otis Garrett can't put much snap into the dialogue, and there's an awful large amount of backscreen projection, the good cast keeps things moving along in a confused way throughout. Frank Jenks is Foster's stooge, Patricia Ellis is the leading lady, and the usual fine supporting players show up in this Universal programmer.

Latimer started turning out screenplays the next year, and seems to have peaked in the mid-1940s with nicely confusing noirs like THE BIG CLOCK. He would contribute to the PERRY MASON TV series, and die in 1983 at the age of 76.