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HOLLYWOOD'S . . .CRIME: William Desmond Taylor Murder
HOLLYWOOD'S MARRY-GO-ROUNDS
HORROR - SCIENCE FICTION
HORROR - SCI FI: Annex
HORROR - SCI FI: The Atomic Submarine (1959)
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VINCENT PRICE
VINCENT PRICE: Connoisseur
WHAT'S MY LINE?
THE WHISTLER
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)

     And don't forget to check out
 
and

BOSTON BLACKIE

 

Boston Blackie started as a thief doing time in jail who became one of the good guys . . . although the best known series of the movies starred Chester Morris as Blackie with Ridchard Lane as Inspector Farraday always after him!

And let's not forget about the Runt!

A great site with lots of information about Boston Blackie is at http://www.thrillingdetective.com/boston.html.

 

http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/boston-blackie-and-the-law-1946/

 

http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/after-midnight-with-boston-blackie-1943/

 

http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/boston-blackie-booked-on-suspicion-1945/

 

http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/phantom-thief-the-1946/

 

http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/trapped-by-boston-blackie-1948/

BUZZY O'BRIEN
 

CHASING TROUBLE (1943) “This time Buzzy O’Brien (Frankie Darro) is a florist's delivery boy. He still thinks he’s a detective though and finds out that his boss was in a foreign espionage ring. Only Buzzy, with his sometime faithful companion Jefferson (Mantan Moreland) can crack the ring and save the day.”

http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/chasing-trouble-1940/

 

LUCKY IRISH (1949) – "Buzzy O’Brien (Frankie Darro) is a bellhop in a hotel where a guest is murdered. He teams up with Jefferson (Mantan Moreland) and wants to protect Kitty Monahan (Sheila Darcy), who he only protects because her name is Kitty Monahan. The police blame Kitty for the murder and Buzzy hides her at his home with his mother (Lillian Elliott). Based on Charles Molyneaux Brown’s story 'Death Hops the Bells.' " http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/irish-luck-1949/

ELLERY QUEEN

 

The Mandarin Mystery (1936) - This adaptation of an Ellery Queen mystery concerns the theft of a rare Chinese stamp (the Mandarin of the title), which takes place in a hotel with several shifty characters and an hysterical manager (the priceless Franklin Pangborn).
The mystery, such as it is, concerns both the stamp theft and two murders, and shows Ellery and his father the Inspector as a team rubbing together just enough to solve the case. 

Maven suspects that Inspector Richard Queen and Ellery rubbed the audience as irritatingly as each other because this was the only Queen movie that Eddie Quillan made!

http://www.archive.org/details/TheMandarinMystery

NANCY DREW
 
Nancy Drew, Reporter (1930) - As irritatingly perfect as Maven may have found Nancy Drew in Mother's copies of the Nancy Drew books . . . the four Nancy Drew movies made her downright obnoxious!?http://www.archive.org/details/nancy_drew_reporter

JAMES LEE WONG SERIES

 

Mr. Wong, Detective (1938) – A chemical manufacturer comes to James Lee Wong to prove that someone is trying to kill him.  Wong arrives at the man’s office the next morning on time but the guy was already dead.  How rude!:

http://www.archive.org/details/Mr._Wong_Detective

 

Remade as Docks of New Orleans (1948) with Roland Winters as Charlie Chan.:

http://www.archive.org/details/Phantom_of_Chinatown_1940

 

 

The Mystery of Mr. Wong (1939) – Boris Karloff is part of a house party when the host is killed while part of the entertainment. . . .  Imagine having that kind of friends!”

http://www.archive.org/details/The_Mystery_of_Mr._Wong

 

 

Mr. Wong in Chinatown (1939) – Murder in the House of Wong . . . .  How wong can that be?!  http://www.archive.org/details/Mr_Wong_in_Chinatown

 

Remade in 1947 as The Chinese Ring with Roland Winters as Charlie Chan.:

http://www.archive.org/details/The_Chinese_Ring

 

 

The Fatal Hour (1940) – Wong and Captain Street (Grant Withers) search for the murder of a fellow cop who was going after smugglers in San Francisco.:

http://www.archive.org/details/The_Fatal_Hour

 

 

Doomed to Die (1940) – Bobby Logan (Marjorie Reynolds) tries to help her friend that Captain Street suspects of murder.  What is Wong doing in the meantime?  Solving the case of course.:

http://www.archive.org/details/Doomed_to_Die_1940

 

 

Phantom of Chinatown (1940) – This entry is unusual . . . It’s a sort of prequel to the first five Wong movies.  Captain Street is still played by Grant Withers but Keye Luke is a young James Lee Wong.  His Wong gets to a lecture late . . . just in time to see the lecturer taken out of the hall after collapsing in front of the entire audience.  It’s also unusual because it has a love interest for Luke’s Wong in Lotus Long as the secretary of the murdered man.:

http://www.archive.org/details/Phantom_of_Chinatown_1940

PHILO VANCE
 
The Kennel Murder Case (1933) - An excellent entry in S.S. Van Dine's series with William Powell as detective Philo Vance . . . gone to the dogs!:

The Sleeping Cardinal (1931)
thesleepingcardinal.jpg
With Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes

SHERLOCK HOLMES

 

     Maven has come across an old - 1931 - Sherlock Holmes movie called The Sleeping Cardinal* with Arthur Wonter as the world's best-known detective.      

     There is more to The Sleeping Cardinal's history, including four more movies that it inspired, and only a click away!

 

The Sleeping Cardinal (1931) - Sherlock Holmes in a story culled from "The Final Four" and "The Empty House":

http://www.archive.org/details/SherlockHolmes-SleepingCardinal

 

The Missing Rembrandt (1932, aka Sherlock and the Missing Rembrandt, considered lost).

 

The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case (1932) - A woman is menaced and need Holmes help but . . . she is kidnapped:

http://www.archive.org/details/The_Sign_OF_Four or

http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1504970009/ (this one has "limited" commercial breaks.)

 

The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) - A mysterious murder brings Holmes and Watson out of retirement that pits them against Professor Moriarty over the lives of coalminers:  http://www.archive.org/details/The_Triumph_of_Sherlock_Holmes

Murder at the Baskervilles (1937, aka Silver Blaze) - Holmes visits Sir Henry Baskerville and - SURPRISE! - finds the game afoot for murder:  http://www.archive.org/details/Murder_At_The_Baskervilles

 

*NOTE:  The Sleeping Cardinal was ironically released about the same time that Raymond Massey's The Speckled Band (http://www.archive.org/details/SpeckledBand or http://retrovision.tv/freevideo/the-speckled-band-1931/.

 

And then there's A Study in Scarlet (1933) - Reginald Owen and Anna May Wong star in this entry in the Canon. . . .  Who knows who else starred as Holmes?!:

http://www.archive.org/details/A_Study_In_Scarlet

 

For a different kind of Sherlcock Holmes . . .

Sherlock Holmes in The Case of the Laughing Mummy (1954) - This is part of the series from 1954 with an old school friend of Watsons has a rather . . . noisy mummy!:

http://www.archive.org/details/Sherlock_Holmes_TCOT_Laughing_Mummy