A Brilliant Conflict

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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.

This humorous mystery is directed by William Beaudine and has a former private detective Nick Trayne (James Dunn) coming out of retirement to find a missing wealthy banker Walter Craig (Gus Glassmire). Before the Craig family can get used to Traynes oddball antics, Walter reappears, but in a zombie-like state. When a member of the family is stabbed to death, suspicion falls on the catatonic banker. Nick is sure this is not true and there is a whole lot more to this situation. The wise-cracking Nick finds time to fall in love with Miss Billie Hilton (Joan Woodbury), a member of the family, that seems to be sticking to him like glue. Their quip trading is comic relief. Atmospheric and a fun watch for sure.Rounding out the cast: Jan Wiley, Paul McVey, Norman Willis, J. Ferrell MacDonald and Howard Banks.

Living Ghost, The (1942) ** (out of 4) A detective is hired to find out who killed a man but once he's on the scene another victim falls into some sort of zombie-like state. Here's another "old dark house" film that has a rather boring mystery plot and lifeless direction from the usually reliable William Beaudine.Ghost Walks, The (1934) ** (out of 4) A screenwriter invites his producer's to an old dark house. He's paid a bunch of actors to act out his play so that the producer will put up the money but soon a real killer starts to stalk them. The premise is rather interesting but like most of these types of films of the era it really never gets too interesting due to the lackluster direction. Perhaps I've just seen way too many of these films but they all appear the same. Just a different cast.

How anyone can lavish even the faintest praise on this junk is baffling to me, since THE LIVING GHOST is a cliché ridden mystery with some vain attempts at humor. Furthermore, it's ineptly performed by the entire cast and appears to have been filmed on a quickie basis with no close-ups introducing the chief suspects.JAMES DUNN makes an abysmal attempt at playing detective and JOAN WOODBURY is no more successful as the lame-brained secretary of the lobotomized man at the center of the mystery. Question is: Which one in the wealthy man's household tried to do him in? None of the suspects have enough time on screen to become viable characters and it's never quite clear why Dunn takes such an immediate dislike to the poor butler whom he treats with utter contempt, even when he's being helpful.Juvenile at best, it's the kind of film the Monogram factory churned out on a weekly basis in the '40s, barely deserving a spot at the bottom end of a double feature bill.A ridiculous tax on anyone's reason or patience--mercifully, it runs only one hour.

Nick Tryane is hired by a family to locate the missing patriarch, a rich banker. The banker suddenly turns up but seemingly in a fog with a "paralyzed brain". With the missing man returned the question becomes who did this and whether he's responsible for the murder that happens in the garden.Enjoyment of this film will depend on whether you like the star James Dunn or not. Dunn who plays Trayne our hero made a lot of B-movies in the in the 30's and 40's. As a second banana or in a supporting role Dunn was always very good. The problem for me was that in a lead role he never amounted to very much. I'm not sure if it was because he wasn't a good lead or because he was working for the Poverty Row studios and so didn't have good enough material.Here he always seems to be waiting for someone to step in and carry on with what ever he's doing. It makes the film less then what it could have been.The script is interesting and it has some nice twists to it. It has witty exchanges and only really falters when in the second half it becomes a series of interviews between Dunn and the suspects.Over all its not bad, but its not all that great either. Worth a look if you have a second film on tap for the evening, or if you come across this at 2am on some TV station that still runs old movie all night long.