A who-done-it where I’m still saying who-done-it?
Tony Woolrich (Dave O’Brien) is a film critic for “The New York Record”. He is attending the play “Black Friday” with his friend and cab driver Egbert Egelhofer AKA Romeo (Frank Jenks) when a murder happens. The victim was hung and a note was left, a quote from a play. The murdered man happens to be Jonathan Moore the brother of the theater owner and actor Cecil Moore (Alan Mowbray) and the uncle of the star Claudia Moore (Kay Aldridge). Tony is more than willing to stay out of the whole murder business. Tony’s view is that he is the drama critic not a crime reporter.
Tony gets an earful from the paper editor for not investigating the murder. Tony, with encouragement from Romeo decides to prove to everyone that he can crime report with the best of them. He goes to the Moore residence to see what’s up. Police Lt. Walsh (Jack Mulhall) is questioning Claudia when he arrives. Tony offers his condolences and his help should they need it.
The mystery deepens when there is another murder. The murderer was dressed in a costume and a strange note is left behind, another quote from a play. Tony talks to the widow of the murdered man and finds out that he use to be a stage electrician that once worked for Jonathan Moore. A third murder happens and again a costumed person that leaves a note with a quote from a play.
Tony figures out that the murders may have something to do with an old repertory company that the Moore family had years ago. Lt. Walsh ends up teaming up with Tony to analyze the clues and narrow down the suspects.
“The Phantom of 42nd Street” was released in 1945 and was directed and produced by Albert Herman. This poverty row film was distributed by Producers Releasing Corporation. It’s a short film, only about 58 minutes so it moves along briskly. It’s a minor little mystery and because it’s a little on the obscure side there has been no restoration done. Therefore the film has a lot of little cuts and blotches that can put a dent in the viewing pleasure.
Character actor Frank Jenks’ comic relief is always a pleasure to see. A musician in his own right Jenks appeared in many who-done-its adding his special touch of dry wit delivered in a less than subtle way. In other words, snarky.
As for the movie, it was OK, I guess. I don’t know. There were some plot elements that unraveled strangely and there were some where you weren’t sure if they were important to the story or not. In winding everything up there were a couple leaps of logic tying the murderer to the crime. Some of it seemed to come out of left field. As for the murderer, you may have to rewind a little to figure out who he is. It’s watchable but don’t be surprised if at the end you find yourself saying… who?