Moviecut—Michael Shayne: Private Detective

A private detective is hired by a millionaire to stop his daughter gambling. When he fakes the murder of a tout to shock her, and the tout ends up dead, he has to clear his name. First in a series of B films featuring the character Michael Shayne, it has a decent mixture of crime and comedy. The main character is played by Lloyd Nolan with the right degree of humour and seriousness.

I like the Michael Shayne movies. They are fun to watch. I always liked Lloyd Nolan. However, I find it difficult to believe him as Michael Shayne. He is good but not that believable. Also, when you watch them closely he doesn't seem to deduce anything until the very end. Good series overall.

This comes across as a stew of screwball comedy and whodunnit literary conventions. Within the story, we have Patterson, an avid mystery novel reader, occupying the position of the target movie-watcher. Rather stagy and uncinematic, with bad acoustics, and the usual-for-the-period (bad) sped up camera tricks. Nolan is the only one with an actual clue here...his stance is that of an actor playing a character playing several personas (each distinguished by putting on different voices)in order to flummox the cast of dimwits. This is a rough template for the far better "Fletch" movies. The tracing by pencil of the paper imprints is spoofed in "Big Lebowski".

Speaking of series pictures, one of the best centers around the Michael Shayne character created by Davis Dresser. Although there are twelve movies in the Hollywood series, it's only the first seven, all starring Lloyd Nolan, that are really worth seeing. The opening entry, "Michael Shayne, Private Detective" (1941) has all the assets of the other Lloyd Nolan entries, bar one — an exciting plot. Twentieth Cenury Fox made the big mistake of basing this number one entry on an actual Davis Dresser novel. Mr Dresser's plots improved considerably as the more than seventy books in the series got underway, but in this one the old-hat story, filled to bursting with equally old-hat characters, will bore most audiences silly, despite the commendable efforts of a really first-rate cast, including the lovely heroine, Marjorie Weaver.

This is a very entertaining series and affords Lloyd Nolan a charismatic part as Mike Shayne, street-wise Private Eye. "Michael Shayne, Private Detective" is better than "The Man Who Wouldn't Die" but not as good as "Just Off Broadway", and it is also the first entry in the series. The usual strong support cast is on hand, and Fox surrounded him with some of the best character actors available. Among them are Douglas Dumbrille, Elizabeth Patterson, Donald McBride and Walter Abel. As far as the story goes, I think 'planktonrules' hit the nail on the head - the film was cruising along and then dropped the ball with a hastily contrived ending which no one could see coming. But, as I say, you root for the chipper and cheerful Nolan, who carries nearly every scene he's in. The picture also employs one of my pet peeves, that of mixing mystery and comedy, which was often done prior to WW II and which I don't feel go well together. Recapping; excellent series, passable entry.

The first film in the (quite prolific) Michael Shayne series, and also the first one I watched. There is nothing much above the ordinary in the direction or the production values (which may account for the film, and perhaps the whole series, being largely forgotten today), but the plot is dense (so dense, in fact, that you'll need to watch the final explanations by Shayne AT LEAST twice to get everything straight), Nolan makes a likable Shayne, Marjorie Weaver is a perky and appealing leading lady, the supporting cast is full of familiar faces (if not necessarily names - I'm sure I've seen the guy playing the gruff inspector before - playing, again, the gruff inspector!), and there is the occasional clever line ("This thing is as phony as a mother-in-law's kiss"). I think fans of the genre will go for this. **1/2 out of 4.

When I began researching Lloyd Nolan in preparation for writing his biography, I had seen him in only two roles -- as the crusty doctor in the TV series JULIA, and as the compassionate policeman in the 1940s movie A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. Then I got a DVD of some of his Michael Shayne movies and was blown away by the first one, MICHAEL SHAYNE: PRIVATE DETECTIVE. It was so refreshing to see Lloyd as a young man and playing such a lighthearted character! Since then, I've watched videos of much of his work, and he's totally believable no matter what kind of character he's playing. I think this movie will always be my favorite, though.

Fun start to a fun series of B detective movies starring Lloyd Nolan as the titular private eye. Probably my pick for most underrated classic detective series. This film, like the rest, is driven by Nolan's screen presence and memorable character actors in supporting parts. Here we have the extremely likable Elizabeth Patterson giving a standout performance. Marjorie Weaver does her best Ann Rutherford. Donald MacBride is also fun. The mystery here is pretty good but the comedy and likable characters are what really works. All in all it's an entertaining picture that moves along quickly. If you're a fan of detective movies from the 30s and 40s I'm sure you'll enjoy this one.

A very enjoyable film, with Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne. The supporting cast is also a joy to watch, with Elizabeth Patterson stealing it away in every scene she is in!! She is a hoot to watch. About the only cast member not really giving a good performance is Joan Valerie. She is too sullen, but then maybe that is the way the character is supposed to be played, but she sort of dulls this film down a bit. It is always a treat to see Lloyd Nolan in a film and this one is another good one in his list!!