BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

grainstorms "Michael Shayne Private Detective" (1940), is an unexpected charmer: a delightful hardboiled private eye movie that will have you chuckling to the very last frame while trying to figure out the murderer before Mike Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) does. Starring that thoroughly likable no-nonsense pro, Lloyd Nolan ( who appeared in the first seven of a dozen Shayne movies), and set in the last peaceful days before World War II, "Michael Shayne Private Detective" – the first in the series -- is an enjoyable gift box of welcome surprises: a period piece where the cars are both boxy and racy, men's suits are double-breasted and boxy, and the private eyes think best when they're boxed in. Private detective Shayne, broke as usual, suddenly gets a juicy assignment. All he has to do is nursemaid a spoiled rich girl (Marjorie Weaver), who has the gambling bug and all the wrong friends. Mike's attempt to show her a lesson backfires, and suddenly he's the chief suspect in a murder.A little thing like that's not going to stop Mike Shayne. Ingenious and inventive, fast-thinking and fast-talking, he has to dodge the cops while finding the real murderer. And now he's acquired a zany assistant, a proper old lady with a surprising taste for blood.Aunt Olivia: It was the great piano mystery. The body was found under the piano, his throat was strangled with piano wires, the soft pedal was found embedded in his neck, and somebody had completely severed the head from the body. He was dead!Michael Shayne: (dryly) Oh, suicide, hmmm?Mike's proficient with both a riposte and a pistol. ("Hey, that brooch is as phony as a mother-in-law's kiss!") And he's not bad with badinage. Cop: When are you gonna start talking straight?Mike: Not until my attorney gets out of law school!Shayne may have a quip for every question; but he's also sentimental, full of malarkey and blarney, whimsical, perpetually broke and a sucker for a pretty face.Add a batch of odd characters played by a superb supporting cast: Douglas Dumbrille, Elizabeth Patterson, George Meeker, Walter Abel and Irving Bacon; and you've got a screwball comedy with smooth ensemble acting, an ample supply of corpses and a solution that actually makes sense.An appreciation of Lloyd Nolan: "The actor who was generally credited with 'A' performances in a decade-long series of 'B' films became so good, in fact, that he permitted himself the luxury of turning down work, a privilege that ordinarily falls to far better known stars." -- The Los Angeles Times.

mark.waltz When a wise-cracking detective takes on high society and is hired to keep an eye on an old friends' rebellious daughter, he finds out that such an assignment can lead to murder. Lloyd Nolan began his brief spell as detective Michael Shayne in this enjoyable detective drama which has a lot of elements of comedy and a few of that growing genre called film noir.At first, debutante want to be Marjorie Reynolds finds Nolan's presence an aggravation, especially when he spoils her fun by bringing her home from a gambling joint after she's used up all of her allowance. Her domineering father (Clarence Kolb) is so grateful that he employs Shayne immediately to keep an eye on her while he's away on business. He's grateful because his office has just been cleared of its furniture. Her dotty aunt (Elizabeth Patterson) is intrigued because she's obsessed with murder, and when a real one does occur (following an unfortunate joke that Nolan tried to perpetrate on the unknowing Reynolds), it is Patterson who will aid him the most, although a lot of her advising chatter is based on nothing more than "True Detective" magazines she's read.The mystery takes the viewer to the races, to a gambling house, and to the countryside where Nolan left the victim after he slipped him a mickey. It is all a rouse to try to keep Reynolds in line (she was romantically involved with the man), but everything turns haywire when the ketchup on the man's shirt is joined by the blood gushing from his head. Among the others involved are Douglas Dumbrille as the gambling house owner, Joan Valerie as his hot-tempered daughter, and Donald MacBride as an initially seeming smart cop whose idiotic partner could fry anybody's brain cells. It's all entertainingly presented, decently acted, and well produced, resulting in a "B" mystery where the laughs come just as frequently as the thrills.

GManfred 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.

MartinHafer Michael Shayne has been employed by a rich guy to follow his wayward daughter and make sure she stays out of trouble. Now considering she was an obvious gambling addict, it seems that just cutting her off financially would have been more prudent! Regardless, shortly after Shayne goes to work, a man is murdered and Shayne is the most obvious perpetrator!! So, it's up to Shayne to unravel the mystery AND still keep this obnoxious spoiled brat out of trouble.MICHAEL SHAYNE: PRIVATE DETECTIVE is an excellent film as far as the chemistry of the characters goes. Lloyd Nolan is very good as the wisecracking detective and his supporting cast are more than up to the task (particularly Elizabeth Patterson as the adorable aunt). However, by the end of the film, the entire production bogs down because the writing is so bad. Sure, this is a B-detective film, but there is no reason the ending should have been so shabby. Instead of helping the viewer to understand the plot machinations and how the crime was committed by what they saw on the screen, the last 10 minutes consist of the police and Shayne talking and talking and talking until the murderer reveals themselves. This is VERY sloppy writing and then the audience is treated(?) to lengthy expositions by the killer and the illegal gambler as to why they did what they did. Wasn't this SUPPOSED to be something that the viewer could have been able to figure out by watching the mystery? Apparently not--and this makes for a film with a horrible unsatisfying feeling when it's all over.