Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Masterful Movie

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Blistering performances.

This entry in 20th Century Fox's Michael Shayne series has Lloyd Nolan working on a case of espionage involving industrial diamonds. The war has eliminated mining them for a while and those we have now are guarded and prized by both us and the bad guys. With the breezy insouciance typical of his character Nolan follows a lot of false leads and has to bamboozle his put upon girlfriend Mary Beth Hughes for money to follow his trail on an ocean voyage to Honolulu. The trail he's on is that of fashion designer Helene Reynolds.Nolan also makes a big mistake in assuming something about passenger George Reeves ever the dapper playboy and Curt Bois the ever helpful ship steward.I didn't particularly like the way the confrontation scene with the chief villain was handled in the end. On the other hand Nolan's final exit as the film closes is pretty funny.Most entertaining B film from 20th Century Fox.

"Blue, White and Perfect" is probably the best Michael Shayne film made up to that point. As amusing as watching Shayne butt heads with a police inspector was in previous entries, here the almost total absence of an inspector leaves more room for an array of memorable supporting characters, such as those played (very well) by George Reeves and Helene Reynolds. The film also benefits from having nearly its entire second half set on a ship; for some reason this series seems to work best on long-distance means of transportation (don't forget the train in "Sleeper's West"). And there is a genuine surprise at the end - actually, two surprises, if you count the cliffhanger. **1/2 out of 4.

Diamond smugglers lead detective Michael Shayne to shipboard intrigue and danger.A lively cast, good production values, and an intriguing mystery, add up to a superior entry in the Michael Shayne series. Lloyd Nolan is so good as the brash detective, injecting real spark into his scenes. Ditto the brassy Hughes as his long-suffering girlfriend. But it's really Superman George Reeves who surprises as the mustachioed bon vivant, O'Hara. He's looser and more charming than I've seen him—no "Man of Steel" here. And I wonder what became of Helene Reynolds who also shows flair, as a shady lady, but appears to have left the business soon after. Too bad.Anyway, it's a TCF production, which means even B-pictures get quality attention, as the well stocked crowd scenes show. Plus, the suspense part keeps you guessing, like who's trying to drown Shayne and O'Hara aboard ship— a really well thought out and nail-biting sequence. Then too, all the ingredients are wrapped into a neat fast-moving package by director Leeds. In passing-- note how the politics of the diamonds remains curiously unclear. It looks like the movie was produced around Pearl Harbor time, but no mention is made of the Japanese. Instead, Nazi's are mentioned as behind the diamond smuggling, even though America is not yet at war with Hitler. I wonder what the story is here.Nonetheless, this energetic little programmer still manages a solid degree of entertainment plus.

The Michael Shayne series is unusual in that the first film was probably the worst of the films starring Lloyd Nolan. After a somewhat disappointing start, they tended to get better.BLUE, WHITE AND PERFECT, like most of the series, was made during WWII, so it's not surprising that the patriotism and Nazi angle was used. The film begins with Mike taking a job as a detective in an aircraft plant. No sooner than he's hired, there's a robbery and an important shipment of industrial diamonds is stolen. I love how with detectives in film and TV how the minute they show up, a crime is committed--it's convenient that way! Mike goes undercover and assumes a couple different aliases until finally the trail takes him to a cruise ship headed for Honolulu. Once on board the ship, he meets an old girlfriend and the oddly named Juan Arturo O'Hara (George Reeves). Naturally there is an attempt made on Shayne's life and O'Hara is shot. He turns out to be a government agent and will survive, but now it's up to Shayne alone to follow the trail.The film has a nice pace, decent acting (for a B-detective series) and doesn't go too far on the silly Nazi angle (instead letting the mystery itself be the focus, not stereotypical snarling Nazis). While not the best of the B-series, the Shayne films rank up there with such films as The Saint and Falcon for entertainment and enjoyability. The only negative I could see was Shayne's relationship with the blonde. She was certifiably insane and took to throwing stuff and behaving rather unhinged. This was supposed to be comic relief but just tended to interfere with the seriousness of the plot. Still, well worth seeing.