Mona Stewart (Dorothy Libaire) is a spoiled brat. When her father, Jerome Stewart (William P. Carleton), tells her that he is going to get married again to Ursula Chesebrough (Betty Blythe), she has a temper tantrum. Vowing to make her father’s life miserable she decides to elope with family friend, Ronnie Van Zandt (Richard ‘Skeets’ Gallagher). The two take a train headed for Niagara Falls. Halfway there Mona receives a telegram from her father congratulating her on her elopement.
Since her stunt didn’t work Mona decides to get off the train at the next stop. She ends up at a tiny town where she starts looking for a car service that will drive her to Albany so she can get a train back home. The stationmaster (Frank Darien) directs her to the local café, “The Night Owl” telling her there are a couple people there that can take her to Albany. Believing she is hiring one of the local drivers she offers one of the guys twenty-five dollars to drive her.
The guy turns out to be an ex-con named David Mannering (David Manners). David robs her and leaves her at the side of the road. Mona tries to walk back to the train station but trips and sprains her ankle. Feeling bad about robbing her, David turns around picks her up and tells her he will bring her to Albany. As soon as he tries to drive away, he gets stuck in the mud. They end up sleeping in the car all night. In the morning David has a local farmer pull them out.
By now the two have developed a rapport. Mona finds out that David went to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. He is on his way to see a man named Delaney (Robert Gleckler) for a job. Delaney owns a pool hall and has underworld connections. A romance begins to blossom between the two. Mona goes with David when he sees Delaney and waits in the car.
In the meantime, two thugs, Butch Carter (Ernie Adams) and Sid Barkley (Ralf Harolde) visit Delaney demanding ten thousand dollars as their share of a heist they took the rap for. Delaney refuses to pay them. When he pulls out a gun he is stabbed in the back by Butch. Just then David knocks on the door. The two murderers hightail it out the back door and David is accused of murder.
“The Perfect Clue” was released in 1935 and was directed by Robert G. Vignola. It is an American comedy crime movie and a low budget “B” poverty row film. The movie was based on the story “Lawless Honeymoon” by Lolita Ann Westman.
It is one of your standard light romantic comedies. There isn’t a lot of crime or much of anything really heavy going on. The movie is what you would expect from a thirties style rom com. The plot is thin and the situations silly. At slightly more than an hour long it’s not a bad way to pass the time.
Leading man, Canadian, David Manners, had an interesting resume. He played John Harker, Mina Seward’s fiancé in “Dracula” 1931, Frank Whemple in “The Mummy” 1932, Peter Alison in “The Black Cat” 1934 and Edwin Drood in “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” 1935, among other characters. Although he was briefly married to Suzanne Bushnell, David was gay and had a 30-year relationship with playwright Frederic William Mercer. He died in 1998 at the age of 98.