AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

MartinHafer Chester Morris stars as an investigator who finds lost persons. In his latest case, he found a woman (Jean Parker) and married her and is planning on a nice honeymoon in Reno of all places (nothing says romance than this city famed for its divorces!). Soon, however, Chester's pesky boss locates them and convinces him to take one more 'easy case'. Well, naturally the case is anything but easy and involves lots of peril. Can the couple manage to finish the case and survive at least long enough to consummate their marriage?There isn't anything especially deep or memorable about this film--it's a low- budgeted B-mystery and Hollywood made a bazillion of these back in the 30s and 40s. It's a bit better than many simply because Morris is so good in such roles and Parker is cute as his rather clueless bride--though I must admit that the plot is a bit more complicated and confusing than the norm.

kidboots In this movie produced by the "Two Dollar" Bills - William Pine and William Thomas, the always reliable Chester Morris played Detective Humphrey Campbell. Campbell was a creation of crime novelist Geoffrey Holmes who was to have his biggest writing success with "Build My Gallows High", which was turned into the film noir classic "Out of the Past".The title comes from a saying "death is timeless" and is depicted by a handless clock that is a feature of the Reno Mortuary. Stopping off to cash a cheque on his honeymoon (he has just married the heiress he had been assigned to find), Humphrey Campbell from a Missing Person's agency and his bride Louise (Jean Parker) find themselves in the middle of a hold up conducted by a thuggish red headed gangster (Dick Purcell). Once at the honeymoon destination - Reno!!! Humphrey's boss wants to send him on another case - a rancher wants him to find his missing son, Hal, who was last seen with a certain red head!!! The red head doesn't have much information to impart, an account of her being murdered.This is a terrific if complicated little mystery which should have been the start of a series. Chester Morris and Jean Parker had great chemistry, there were elements of the Thin Man. Who knows why a series didn't eventuate - probably because the same year saw the start of Morris's Boston Blackie for which he became best remembered and Jean Parker soon had her own (very short) series as Detective Kitty O'Day with definite emphasis on the slapstick.The Red Harris gang suddenly come back into the picture, they are very much interested in Humphrey, worried that he has identified them to the police as the bank robbers. They also seem to be connected to the kidnapping and Humphrey is beginning to wonder if Hal has been kidnapped at all!! By the end of the movie there have been several murders and also like the Thin Man the suspects gather nervously in a room waiting, or daring, Humphrey to unravel the complex mystery and offer his deductions. As usual with these tight little "who done its" there are a wealth of character performances. Grant Withers looking every bit of his 35 years, unfortunately, as one of the victims, he only has a small scene. Astrid Alwyn had developed from chilly other woman roles of the 30s to a decorative character actress in the 40s. Here she was admittedly a gangsters moll but she still exuded a "good gal" aura. Rose Hobart did have a few films of note in the early 30s but returned to the stage only returning to Hollywood in the 40s in usually stern faced women roles. Keye Luke had already finished his most famous movie association - as Charlie Chan's No. 1 son. After 1942 he had another continuing role in the Dr. Kildare series.

csteidler Private detective Chester Morris phones his boss: he has found the person their detective agency was hired to find, but he is not bringing her back—in fact, he's just married her and they're on their way to Reno for a honeymoon. Alas, the boss follows and mystery awaits Morris and new wife Jean Parker; the couple check into a hotel across the street from a mortuary fronted by a large clock with swinging pendulum but no actual hands, where they proceed to spend a merry 75 minutes chasing crooks and each other around the neighborhood.A strong cast of B movie stalwarts includes Dick Purcell as a bank robber named Red, and Astrid Allwyn as a dangerous female at the bar. George Watts is the comical yet crafty boss detective who drags our man Chester into the case by promising to buy Parker a fur coat when the case is finished. (Other familiar faces who appear in bits include Milburn Stone as an FBI man and Keye Luke as a cash-hungry fired house servant.) The plot is, frankly, way too involved and packed with too many characters for it all to make a lot of sense. Among other story threads, it seems that both the FBI and the gang of robbers think that Chester is a fellow bank robber whom he apparently resembles greatly (but whom we never meet).What are easy to follow, however, are the reasons we watch in the first place—little touches like Morris's fondness for milk contrasted with Parker's inability to drink it at all; the accordion that Morris repeatedly picks up but never gets around to playing for more than a measure or so; and, of course, the handless clock that our heroes can see from their hotel window. (A symbol of something? Perhaps it would have been in a movie that had had the time to develop such an idea.)It's fast moving and fun. Having watched with moderate attentiveness, I can honestly say that I don't feel much moved by the actual plot, and I'm not particularly concerned about the meaning of the clock. However—I would like to ask the same question of Chester Morris and his accordion that the room service boy asked him early on in the picture: "Can you jive on that thing?"

goblinhairedguy This is a terrific unknown B-picture from the Pine-Thomas outfit at Paramount. Chester Morris plays a fast-talking (and thinking) private dick who drinks milk instead of whiskey. Jean Parker is his sassy, lacto-intolerant new bride. There are plenty of other good character turns, especially by Astrid Allwyn as a hot-to-trot barfly. Although the plot (from Geoffrey Homes of "Out of the Past" fame) is intriguing, it's a bit too complex for such a short programmer. However, the repartee and character "bits of business" are top-notch, and journeyman director McDonald maintains a breakneck pace while slipping in some clever camera angles. The cryptic title refers to a clock that represents eternity, located outside a funeral home facing the hero's hotel. Worth seeking out.