Floyd Gibbons was a war correspondent who lost an eye in WWI saving the life of a soldier. He went onto a successful career on radio and a brief career in Hollywood, starring in and narrating a series of short films. The "Your True Adventures" series features Gibbons, dubbed the Headline Hunter, presenting supposedly true stories to the audience. I have no idea if they were real but it seems so, as they reveal one of the actual people involved at the end and she seems authentic enough. This is my first Gibbons short. He has a good presence and a great voice so I can see why he was successful on radio. He died the year after this was made of a heart attack.
This story is about four women playing bridge downstairs when the world's stupidest burglar breaks in upstairs. It's obvious this was the early part of the night, as lights are on all over the neighborhood and a kid across the street from the house is studying in his room. He sees the burglar and alerts his mother, who calls the police. Then she calls across the street and lets them know. Now we have lots of suspense as narrator Gibbons tries to scare the pants off of women across the country that there are vicious criminals lurking mere feet from sleeping grandmas.
It all sounds pretty silly and I guess it is presented in a fairly overwrought manner. Still, it's quaint entertainment to pass a quarter hour.
