Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

X Marks the Spot is a pleasant but uninteresting B movie with nice leads. However it is a predictable thriller which is notable for featuring actor Neil Hamilton who would go on to play Commissioner Gordon in the Batman tv series.Eddie Delaney is a private eye who is about to be commissioned to the US army. He meets his dad in a cafe, a veteran police sergeant. Later on his dad is killed when he sees some suspicious people at a warehouse. The bad guys were planning to steal two trucks to sell tyres on the black market.Eddie is persuaded by lieutenant William Decker to work with the police to find out who killed his father. However at each turn Eddie finds that potential witnesses have died before he could speak to them. Soon Eddie is wanted for murder and he needs to clear his name.An unpretentious quickie with a twist that is easy to predict.

This film is a B-picture--a term used to denote a "second feature"--a lesser and less expensive film to be shown with a higher-quality/budget film (an A-picture) back in the 1930s and 40s. Bs were mostly passable entertainment or often a bit less, but occasionally a B rises above the modest expectations...a bit. "X Marks the Spot" is a better than normal B and even though it clocks in at well under one hour, it has some originality and a few decent plot twists.The film begins by introducing a cop and his son who is soon to be inducted into the military, as the film was made during WWII. This can also be seen in the plot, as the film involves a smuggling ring--one that deals in black market tires--because tires were limited due to rationing. The good ol' cop accidentally wanders into the midst of the activities of the gang and is killed. So, his son (who is still a detective) goes to investigate. However, when the chief suspect is murdered a bit later, people assume the son did it--and it's up to him to escape from custody and prove his innocence (a rather standard cliché of the day).What I liked about it was the whole rubber tire angle--something you'd only see in a WWII flick. I also liked the twists when the REAL culprits are discovered. While the film doesn't have any real stars in it, it's well acted and interesting.

There is the thrill of low-budget film noir. And there is the frustration of meandering, uninteresting movies made on the cheap. This one falls into the second category.The Spot is the name of a nightclub. The film is about a policeman whose father has been killed by gangsters. He heads out to track them down.Maybe it was the bad print. Maybe it's me. But I felt I'd seen this a hundred times, most of those times better than it is here.It has promise, too: The cop is fascinated with a woman who plays records she introduces over juke boxes. They then meet. Now, though this was made well before I was born, I have seen that kind of juke box. And it is incredibly fascinating: When I was a teenager, I wandered into a bar that still had such a device. I always liked juke boxes, in bars or diners. But this one was different. You talked to it and a sultry sounding female voice talked back to you! That is addressed here but dropped into the general, uninteresting stew.The movie has one thing going for it: In a small role, it features the very young Anne Jeffreys. What a beauty she was, and doubtless still is!

A private detective about to enter the Army investigates the murder of a cop by gangsters who are in the stolen tires racket. Along the way he is helped by Helen Parrish the pretty girl who plays records by request. I remembered her from You'll Find Out, a great old movie with Kay Kyser & Co.The cast does a good job and there are some recognizable faces. You will recognize Neil Hamilton who played Comissioner Gordon on the 1960s Batman series and Anne Jeffreys who played Marion Kirby in the Topper TV series. Also Esther Muir who was the blonde Groucho pursued in A Night At The Opera and Dick Wessel who was in many many old movies. Of course there are a few times when things don't exactly make sense but it's entertainment. A nice little B movie that moves along well and wraps everything up in under an hour. It captures the feeling of movies made around that time. Worth watching!I gave it a 6.