User reviews

It's not annoying or boring, but plot point by plot point it makes little sense. And yet is a fun and breezy little film, so I give it 6/10.

This was made by poverty row stalwart, Monogram and directed by Ray McCarey, younger brother of famed director Leo McCarey. Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) is a Chicago reporter who drinks heavily and gambles heavily, always annoying his boss, the city editor. Early on the police department gives Larry an award for cracking criminal cases as part of his job as a crime reporter. And they give him as a gift - a 45 caliber police revolver??? Then Larry resigns from his job and goes to St. Louis in the middle of the Great Depression with no money and no job.(???) There he meets a jobless broke girl, Anne, and although he acts like a total creepster and hits on her, she agrees to - check into an expensive hotel with him posing as his wife and order a large expensive meal for which they cannot pay??? Strangely enough, Larry stops treating Ann like an object as soon as they are alone in a hotel room, registered as man and wife.

Larry thinks he can get and keep a job with a local paper as a crime reporter if he can catch a local serial robber, "the eel". But instead he winds up accused of being the eel with a complicating factor that every time somebody calls his old managing editor and asks him to verify Larry's identity he claims that Larry Doyle is still in Chicago. Complications ensue.

The first half of the film moved quickly enough, but it is all over the map and contains lots of pointless scenes that appear to be filler to get this to feature length. Things pick up in the second half once Larry tries to catch The Eel and is then accused of being him, with Larry needing to catch the actual Eel to keep from being charged with murder. I saw a very good print of this film on youtube that looks like it has been restored with both the audio and video being quite crisp.

I like Monogram movies - you can generally be sure of two things - (1) the movies will be entertaining and (2) there will be either a silly plot or a plot with big enough holes in it to drive a truck through. And this movie is no exception. Robert Armstrong's Larry Doyle is a cock-sure but good reporter for a Chicago newspaper. The police respect him (indeed, they give him a gun to show their appreciation for his help with a case) but his editor can't stand him. Larry spends his $50 bonus on treating his pals to a night on the town. His editor fires him but Larry goes on celebrating and winds up in St. Louis where he befriends a down and out but spunky young woman, Anne Ogilvie (played by Maxine Doyle). One of my favorite bits in the movie is where Larry secretly pays for the Anne's coffee and donut when she finds out she doesn't have enough money. Larry sees himself as the Anne's protector and because of Larry's moxie, they end up staying in a hotel suite (with two bedrooms). In spite of his former editor's trying to prevent it, Larry eventually gets a job on the St. Louis News. He is soon hot on the trail of the notorious criminal known as "The Eel." The rest of the movie doesn't make much sense but all's well that ends well. Armstrong does a good job but does not do the snappy reporter type as well as Chester Morris or Wally Ford. However, he does such scenes as that at the coffee shop better than they so it all evens out. I had never heard of Maxine Doyle and she did a somewhat surprisingly good job as Anne. A pleasant enough way to spend an hour.

The Mystery Man (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent mystery from Monogram has Robert Armstrong playing newspaper reporter Larry Doyle who after a big story gets a revolver as a gift. Later in the picture he's in need of money so he pawns the gun and is later arrested for a murder that was done using the same gun. Now Doyle must prove that he actually pawned the gun and that the killer known as The Eel was the real murderer. THE MYSTERY MAN is a fairly entertaining movie, although the story I've just given really doesn't tell everything. This thing clocks in at just 61-minutes and the murder doesn't take place until around the 37-minute mark, which should tell you a couple things. For starters, there's a lot of early filler in the film that probably could have been left and and in all honesty it probably should have been left out. The only problem then is that you wouldn't be left with a movie. The second problem is that the solving of the case happens in the final twenty minutes and in many ways this was simply way too fast for the crime to be solved. With that said, fans of Armstrong as well as the genre should find the material good enough to keep you entertained through the short running time. As you'd expect, Armstrong has no problems playing the smart aleck reporter who is constantly rubbing people the wrong way until he's finally the one being pushed around. Maxine Doyle is also very good as the woman who ends up helping the reporter on his mission. The two stars have some nice chemistry together and their work certainly helps keep the film moving. The biggest problem with the picture is that there's a bit too much comedy and sadly the majority of it never works. Still, the majority of the people remains entertaining as long as you're not expecting THE MALTESE FALCOLN or some sort of classic.

Following a drunken night out, an ace Chicago reporter loses his job. Arriving in St. Louis penniless, he meets a girl in a similar position and they team up. After a gun he pawned is used in a murder, they have to solve the crime to avoid arrest.

Average crime story with just a touch of humour but really needing a stronger script. However, despite this, Robert Armstrong does the best that he can and gives a decent performance. Maxine Doyle plays the girl.

When you screen an old movie, there are a few obvious signs as to its quality. Take the Monogram logo, for example. You know that the script will be a rough draft, that production will take only a week or so and that the acting will range between passable and clunky. On the other hand, it might even be entertaining. Which "The Mystery Man" actually is, even when it staggers along. Robert Armstrong stars as an intrepid newspaperman who winds up, after a drunken spree, in St. Louis where he's determined to restart his career by catching the mysterious criminal known as "The Eel." Somewhere along the way, he gets mixed up with a plucky, dead-broke brunette who masquerades as his wife for reasons that make no sense. But why worry about reality? It's...drum roll, please...a Monogram Picture. And that's almost as good as a PRC release.

The Mystery Man (1935)

Well this is a fast hoot, and not a good movie by any means. It has a chipper tone and some comic twists, but the acting, the acting.

The core idea is good--a news reporter with a thankless editor gets caught up in a story while on leave from his Chicago paper. But the St. Louis newspaper won't believe he's a reporter, and he gets stranded and eventually accused. Luckily his buddies back home help out, and even better, a pretty girl is also stranded and helpless and good for moral support and some cleverness in the nick of time. Coulda been something.

It's not like 1935 is too early for a snappy, intelligent crime detective caper film. We've already had a string of absolute classics from Warner Bros. in the early 30s, and we're seeing the beginning of the "Thin Man" series with its high level of sophistication. But this is a B-movie through and through, and I guess there is only so much talent to go around.

You would do better plodding through the worst of the Mr. Moto or the Charlie Chan films than this one.

This really seems to be two movies in one. The first is a sweet romantic comedy that takes up the first 40 minutes of the film. Reporter Larry Doyle from Chicago gets $50 for breaking an important story and does too much celebrating. He ends up broke in St. Louis. He sits down at a lunch counter with beautiful Anne Oglivie (Maxine Doyle). She finds that she only has 10 cents to pay for her 20 cent coffee and donut. Larry secretly pays for her. Realizing that a young girl broke in the city could end up in trouble, Larry follows her around to help her out. Having no place to stay, he gets a hotel room for the two of them. Anne is reluctant, thinking he wants sex in return, but Larry reassures her that he's a square kind of guy. He orders an expensive $35 a day hotel suite which has two bedrooms with separate keys. He explains that Anne is as safe with him as she would be anywhere in the city.

This part of the movie seems to inspired by Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night" which came out also in 1935. Suddenly with about 25 minutes left the movie turns into a more typical Monogram murder mystery. Larry, remembering that he's an investigative reporter, goes after a slippery gangster called "the Eel." As all Monogram murder mysteries are, its silly, cheap and quite a lot of fun.

Robert Armstrong (King Kong, Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young) gives a really strong performance. He's a sweet tough guy with a heart of gold. Maxine Doyle is excellent as the broke virgin in the city. Twenty years old at the time, this was one of her first starring movies. Over the next two years, in 1936 and 1937, she starred in about a dozen low budget movies and that was pretty much the end of her career. She did do some bit parts in the 1940's.

Monogram generally made "C" or "D" movies. This one is actually a solid "B" movie.

Cinematic archeology is what this is all about. The film has lost all its appeal as the hooks have gone out of style. But we can see major chunks that have evolved to what we have now.

The basic setup is the fold of a reporter as a detective, a miraculously simple concept in narration, as his job is to 'get the story.'

He has an easy hookup with a perky girl, though cleanly post-code.

Our reporter is an adventure-loving party man (which then meant an occasional drunk) who cannot keep money and who hates authority.

The environment is one in which police are inept and essentially invisible, and 'the paper' runs the town behind the scenes. You can easily see the seeds of noir here.

Oh, and we have a stereotyped villain, a mystery man who calls himself The Eel and who calls to taunt police (represented by the DA).

Good digging here, if you have the patience.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This movie was doomed from the start with the script. I wonder if the plot was written on the back of a bar napkin? And half if the napkin was blank when finished. Or like a kid's game you make up as you go along.

Some of the cast is good and tries hard. But they are rolling a boulder uphill. I wonder if Robert Armstrong wished he was back on Skull Island?

Given the plot, what could the director do? There is a lot of talking-to fill up the time. Do this. Then do that. Like wandering in a maze and not knowing where to go.

It is a movie that could have been better. Not great. But better.

A movie that has been lost over time.

Newsman Doyle drinks himself out of Chicago job, wakes up on train to St.Louis, and meets penniless girl Ann. Together they get mixed up in murder case involving St. Louis's notorious The Eel. So, will Doyle revive his professional reputation, pay his many debts, and keep Ann out of jail. Stay tuned.

The programmer is about what's expected from cheap-jack Monogram. The sets are bare-boned, the script sloppy, and the direction pedestrian. But as the brashly fast-talking Doyle, Armstrong injects real spunk into the screenplay, maybe too much. No wonder he grappled with the legendary King Kong (1933). To me, however, it's really actress Maxine Doyle who shines. Catch how she goes from withdrawn street urchin to newsman Doyle's aggressive helper, and in convincingly agreeable fashion. Her talent really exceeded the matinee oaters she soon turned to. Anyway, the cast, including the supporting players, come off as much better than the material. Nonetheless, don't go out of your way for it.

Just bearable, just bearable, that's what I have to say about this amusing and after all fast paced film from the thirties, a feature about which I did not expect anything special. And I was damn right. Plot offering something seen ten million times before but, I repeat, for those of you who crave about such films, you can proceed without problem. Those mystery yarns were galore in this thirties period. This is not a real crime film as I crave for, because you have a good hero for whom you can foresee the ending. You have gangsters, armed robbery yes, but that's not enough for me to qualify it as a crime movie. But it remains a good little B picture.