Ted Lloyd (Wallace Ford) is a newspaper reporter for a small paper. His boss is George Howard (Lew Cody). While at work Ted is sent out to do a story on a hit and run car accident. When he gets to the location, he finds out that the person who was hit was his kid sister, Gloria (Helen Parrish). At the hospital Lloyd finds out that Gloria needs an operation and the only person who can do it is a specialist in Germany. Ted needs $5,000 for the operation otherwise Gloria will be crippled for life. After scouring the city for anyone who will give him a loan, Ted finally visits a very shady businessman named Edward Riggs (Fred Kohler). Riggs gives him the money.
Years later Ted is still working for George Howard, but they are both now working at the New York Daily Gazette. Howard’s secretary, Sue Taylor (Sally Blane), is Lloyd’s girlfriend. Ted’s sister Gloria (Joyce Coad) is now a healthy young lady.
Ted writes a story about a chorus girl, Vivyan Parker (Mary Nolan), who seems to have an additional revenue stream to support her lavish lifestyle. Vivyan files a lawsuit against the paper for libel. Ted is sent to try to get her to sign a waiver releasing the paper of any fault. Vivyan refuses to sign the paper and kicks Ted out.
Later that night Vivyan is murdered. Since he was the last person to see Vivyan, Ted ends up suspect number 1. When Ted finds out that the murderer is Riggs, he finds himself with a dilemma. He can turn in Riggs and save himself or return an old favor and provide Riggs with money enough to get out of town and escape justice.
“X Marks the Spot” was released in 1931 and was directed by Erle C. Kenton. It is an American Pre-Code crime drama. Supposedly the movie was remade in 1942 but the plot for the 1942 film is totally different than this one.
For a low budget “B” movie, the film isn’t too bad. It’s a bit melodramatic at times but still fast paced and snappy. There is some interesting atmosphere and some well-done camera shots that make the newspaper office montages almost arty. There are the inevitable sexist and racial tropes sprinkled throughout the film that are typical for a 30’s crime film. Pre-code influences are mostly dialogue driven. There are some sexual innuendos tossed about but nothing totally outrageous.
Clarence Muse, who plays the part of Vivian Parker’s butler, Eustace Brown, played mostly butlers, porters and various other blue-collar tradesmen during his career. Here he is stuck playing the usual stereotypical black servant. He does, however, manage to look smarter than anyone around him, first with Detective Kirby (Charles Middleton) and then the prosecuting attorney (Richard Tucker).
The “X” in “X marks the spot” refers to where the dead body of Vivyan Parker was found.