Very disappointed :(

The greatest movie ever made..!

Best movie ever!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A seemingly innocent, harmless man, Everett P. Digberry (Byron Foulger), gets caught up in blackmail, extortion, and murder. The DA suspects Mr. Digberry isn't as innocent as he appears. Can the police find the real criminal before the DA presses charges?The Panther's Claw is a very misleading title, evoking menace and horror. A more apt title (both literally and figuratively) would be The Kitten's Paw. The movie is more of a comedy with some weak mystery elements (I knew the killer's identity the moment he appeared on screen) than harrowing as title would lead you to believe. Despite the misleading title, The Panther's Claw is a decent little movie. Fortunately, some of the comedy works and at times is quite funny. Most of the credit has to go to Byron Foulger (I just wrote about him and his appearance in Honey West). He's good. The best I can say about the rest of the cast is they're serviceable. No one really stands out. Being a PRC film, it has that dark and dirty look I've come to expect. Lighting must have been beyond PRC's limited budgets. And the sets look as if they were furnished from a local second-hand store. The movie is only 70 minutes long and, generally, flows well. Unfortunately, there are a couple of plot points that left me scratching my head. Like, how did the killer's suit end up in Digberry's closet? Or, why wasn't Digberry more forthright and honest with the police from the beginning? Would have saved himself a lot of trouble. But in the end, this isn't brain surgery and it's enjoyable enough to deserve at least a 5/10.

The misleading title features no panther (pink or otherwise), only the cute kitty-cat of milquetoast Byron Foulger accused of murdering an aging opera star. There are plenty of other suspects, but circumstances point to him, having himself set up a fake blackmail scheme to fool his (unseen) wife in regards to their joint bank account. He is first seen at his mother's grave, staring at her stone with a hysterical limerick written on it. There really isn't much plot, but it's pretty entertaining with Sidney Blackmer as the main cop on the case and some confusion concerning Foulger's constant disappearance and sudden reappearance which make his comings and goings seem suspicious. PRC has had some pretty rare classics (or pretty rotten cinema) and shouldn't be taken for art. But if you compare these low-budget films to early television dramas, you'll find them to be compact entertainment, worthy of non-pretentious storytelling and not overloaded with frills that sometimes are out of place.

A thoroughly disappointing noir is Producers Releasing Corp's The Panther's Claw (1942), the last of three movies featuring Thatcher Colt. The first two, both starring Adolphe Menjou as Colt, have been screened by TCM – and marvelous they are too. So I was really looking forward to the third, even though Sidney Blackmer is no Menjou. But it turns out that, although top-billed, Blackmer is not the star after all. It's Byron Foulger, of all people, who enjoys the lion's share of the action, as he plays the title character in Anthony Abbot's story, "The Perfect Crime of Mr Digberry", upon which the film is based. Now Mr Foulger is a neat-as-a-pin Milquetoast and I really enjoy him in small doses. As a lead, however, he tends to way out-stay his welcome. Unfortunately, aside from Blackmer, Rick Vallin (as his assistant), Herbert Rawlinson (as the D.A.) and Frank Darien (in a small role as a wig-maker), the support players are even less beguiling. Martin Mooney's talky, dialogue-bound screenplay doesn't help either, while P.R.C.'s notoriously sparse production values and Bill Beaudine's disinterested direction provide the last words in boredom.

I was very happy to be able to buy this movie and watch it last weekend. I last saw this movie over 30 years ago. I remember it being good, and I was not disapponted. It has a fairly good mystery, but what makes this movie special is that it's very funny. It has several scenes which I think are classic. The line up scene is hilarious. Byron Foulger gives a great comedic performance.