Jimmy Turner (Patric Knowles) has just been hired as the new writer for a radio show called “Murder at Midnight”. He is replacing Marco Heller (Jerome Cowan) who is not happy about losing his job. He was hired by the executive director, Col. J.R. Andrews (Thomas Gomez). The producer of the show is an old friend of Jimmy’s, Jane Little (Louise Allbritton).
Chick Larkin (Bud Abbott) and Mervyn Milgrim (Lou Costello) work at the GBS radio station lunch counter as soda jerks. Chick and Mervyn want desperately to break into show business as writers. When they learn that Juliet Collins (Mary Wickes) is secretary to Colonel Andrews, Chick thinks that Mervyn should hit on her and try to get a meeting with the Colonel. Mervyn isn’t really interested in Juliet, but he gives it a try.
In the meantime, there is a broadcast that evening on the “Murder at Midnight” program. During the broadcast some sort of short in the Colonel’s microphone electrocutes him, killing him instantly. Chick gets the bright idea of him and Mervyn solving the murder on their own. Chick thinks that it would make them a shoo-in for getting a writing job. They then label themselves as homicide detectives and begin their investigation.
Not long after that, real detectives in the form of Lt. Lou Moran (William Gargan) and Detective Brannigan (William Bendix) arrive to begin the real investigation. They focus their attention on the fake cops, Chick and Mervyn. As the real cops investigate, Jimmy and Jane do some snooping on their own.
Soon the body of the Colonel’s doctor, Dr. Anton Marek (Ludwig Stossel) is found. As Chick and Mervyn bumble along, Jimmy and Jane make a little more progress. Jimmy decides that the best way to find the murderer requires a rebroadcast of the show. Jimmy believes that he can uncover the murderer during the reenactment.
“Who Done It?” was released in 1942 and was directed by Erle C. Kenton. It is an American comedy mystery.
The movie is full, and I mean full, of the usual Abbott and Costello skits, including a version of their famous “Who’s on First” skit but with a “watts and volts” angle that was added to the script. Many of the skits are iconic. The movie is fast paced because it is crammed full of incidental characters that are integrated into the multitude of little vignettes strung together. The actual murders are basically secondary to the film.
The film is noted for not having any musical numbers in it. A fair number of Abbott and Costello films have The Andrews Sisters or some other special guest(s) singing and or dancing. The duo made 38 films together. This was their ninth movie.