Jan Cornell (Ruth Terry) writes mystery programs for a weekly radio program called “This Crime Was Never Solved”. Lately her ratings have been dipping due to another network’s competing show that has the same time slot and is taking some of her audience. To boost her audience Jan gets the great idea of actually solving an unsolved crime. She picks as her crime the murder of a woman named Lenore Fenwicke at a resort called the “Crying Pines Lodge”. She then promises to reveal the killer on next week’s show.
The producer of the program, Don Fletcher (Emmett Vogan) isn’t happy about the switch-up but the sponsor of the program, Arthur J Stanley (Paul Harvey), loved it. One of the usual voice actresses on the program, Mida Kent (Alice Fleming), becomes agitated about the news and makes an excuse to not be a part of the new storyline. Jan, not realizing that something is bothering the actress, takes the news in stride.
After the broadcast Jan and her friend and the foley artist for the show, Smitty (Mary Treen), stop off at a cafe called “The Three Pirates Café” before going home. At the cafe they run into Bill Burton (Addison Richards), a columnist for the local paper. With him is Michael Jerome (Frank Albertson), the writer for the competing detective style radio program.
At the café Jan gets an urgent call from Mida. Michael gives Jan and Smitty a ride to Mida’s place. They find her dead. Jan is worried that her desire to reopen the Crying Pines case may have something to do with Mida’s death. Jan renews her efforts to solve the case. With Michael and Smitty’s help, Jan takes her investigation to both the city newspaper morgue for information and then the Crying Pines Lodge to capture the “crying” sound of the pines in the wind as well as to look for clues.
At the lodge creepy things start to happen. Arthur Stanley’s wife, Eve (Wynne Gibson) shows up and tries to get Jan to stop her investigation. Eve is killed by an unseen assailant. By now it’s too late to turn back and Jan finds herself in the sights of the killer.
“Mystery Broadcast” was released in 1943 and was directed by George Sherman. It is an American low budget comedy mystery.
The sound quality is rather spotty at times. Despite not being able to hear some of the time, the movie was basically good. It is your average rom-com style murder mystery that was typical of that genre in the 40’s. The acting is decent and Mary Treen as the comic relief is not too overbearing in her role. In fact, she’s kinda fun. The movie is short and fast-paced, not to mention an enjoyable little film.