Joe Powell (Lyle Talbot) works for the Motion Picture Associates Studio as a publicity director. Joe is visiting his girlfriend Susan Cooper (Glenda Farrell) who is a reporter. During a black out they hear a scream come from a nearby apartment. The apartment belongs to Ellen Smith, an actress at the studio that Joe works for. In the apartment they find Ellen’s body. The young actress was strangled. The police are called, and Detective Hoffman (Ralph Sanford) shows up to investigate.
Shortly after that Joe and Susan find that another actress, Mona Harrison (Lina Besquette) has disappeared. The last time anyone saw her was at a party at her home. That night her servants quit. Mona moved the party to a restaurant but never showed up. Susan decides to search Mona’s apartment for clues. Susan secretly watches as Mona’s safe is robbed. Before she can leave, Susan is attacked.
A few days later Mona’s body is found. The coroner determines that she was strangled. The difference between Ellen’s murder and Mona’s murder is that Ellen was killed by a man and Mona was killed by a woman. Joe and Susan decide to work together to solve the murders.
“A Night for Crime” was released in 1943 and was directed by Alexis Thurn-Taxis. It is an American murder mystery comedy and a poverty row film by Producers Releasing Corporation.
There isn’t much to say about this movie other than it is, unfortunately, horrible. The detective is not just a stereotype dumb cop but the stupidest dumb cop ever. The one-liners that Joe and Susan exchange with everyone, that are supposed to look like snappy patter, are the bulk of their lines and are annoyingly not funny. The acting is bad, and the humor falls flat.
The plot is a little complicated and there are some leaps of logic made that add to the confusion. I also found the characters to be one dimensional, even Talbot and Farrell. Their romantic relationship seemed forced and unbelievable.
Normally I like the old fashioned who-done-its, even the poverty row films and the British quota quickies, despite their various short comings. Unfortunately, this one was lacking in everything. There are those that find the inept dialogue fun and perhaps I’m in the minority, but I just couldn’t get into this movie.