MOTOR PATROL

Jane Nigh and Don Castle

MOTOR PATROL (1950). Director: Sam Newfield.

"Hope to see you again real soon." -- Happy, the morgue attendant.

Larry Collins (William Henry) is an officer with the traffic division of the LAPD. His sister, Jean (Gwen O'Connor), is engaged to a friend and fellow cop, Ken Foster (Don Castle of Roses are Red), who also wants to be on "motor patrol." When Larry is murdered by people involved in a hot car racket, Ken steps in to do undercover work, but seems somewhat ill-prepared. Connie Taylor (Jane Nigh of State Fair) is in love with Russ Garver (Charles Victor), who is the head man in the gang. Connie is secretary to George Miller (Frank Jaquet), a formerly honest car dealer who reluctantly works with the crooks. Motor Patrol is a routine, plodding, if professional low-budget cops and robbers production with little to distinguish it. Richard Travis [Missile to the Moon] and Onslow Stevens play, respectively, a police detective and lieutenant. Sid Melton is less obnoxious than usual as the manager of a coffee shop where some of the "action" takes place.

Verdict: Few if any thrills in this. *1/2.

REDHEAD (1941)

REDHEAD (1941). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

"Somebody must have been fond of children to let you grow up."

T. H. Brown (Frank Jaquet of Meeting at Midnight) wants his son Ted (Johnny Downs) to make his own way in the world, which not only doesn't agree with him but angers a woman he only married in hopes they could get daddy's loot. Instead of getting paid off by her stepfather, however, bride Dale (June Lang) finds herself living with Ted in a hovel, and struggling to make a living as a short order cook while he heads off to a factory. Servant Digby (Eric Blore) went off with the two on their alleged honeymoon and sticks around. Downs [So Red the Rose] is a likable lead, Lang has a lovely moment when she tells Ted she loves him, and Blore and an adorable St. Bernard almost steal the picture. Overall Redhead just doesn't amount to much, though. The very prolific Cahn is probably best known for It, the Terror from Beyond Space. June Lang played oldest daughter Bonnie in what is considered the first Jones Family film, Every Saturday Night. NOTE: This is a remake of a 1934 film of the same title that is believed to be lost.

Verdict: If you like big dogs ... **.

MEETING AT MIDNIGHT/BLACK MAGIC

Sidney Toler and Helen Beverly

MEETING AT MIDNIGHT (aka Black Magic/1944). Director: Phil Rosen.

"Mr. Chan, I've been leavin' ever since I got here." -- Birmingham Brown.

During a seance, the lights go out and the medium is found shot to death. The strange thing is that an autopsy reveals there's a gunshot wound in the body but no bullet! [The explanation for this is clever even if today's forensics people might scoff.] The suspects include the widow, Mrs. Bonner (Jacqueline deWit of The Damned Don't Cry); Norma Duncan (Helen Beverly), who bore the man a grudge; assistants Tom and Vera Starky (Charles Jordan and Claudia Dell); mousy fan manufacturer, Edwards (Harry Depp); and two victims of blackmail, Hamlin (Frank Jaquet) and Harriet Green (Geraldine Wall), who had a brief fling with the murdered man. The cops are Rafferty (Ralph Peters) and Matthews (Joseph Crehan of The Case of the Black Parrot). A suspenseful scene has another victim hypnotized into throwing herself off of a roof, something which nearly happens to Charlie in the film's best sequence and climax. Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland of On the Spot) is along for the ride but Tommy Chan has been replaced by his sister Frances (coincidentally played by a not-very-talented actress named, believe it or not, Francis Chan. A decade earlier she also played a Chan daughter in the lost film Charlie Chan's Greatest Case with Warner Oland.). This is another rather mediocre Monogram cheapie but it does pick up a bit towards the end. NOTE: Actress Jacquline deWit spelled it "DeWit," "de Wit" and probably others.

Verdict: Neither Charlie's best nor worst. **1/2.