Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1940)

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Director: Eugene Forde
Starring: Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, Joan Valerie

Synopsis:

Detective Michael Shayne is hired by a friend to rein in his wild daughter, but tricky as the job is, it gets worse when a murder gets tossed into the mix.

Impressions:
Ironically, the first film I see in Lloyd Nolan's run as Michael Shayne was his last, so now I'm going back to the beginning to catch up on what I missed. In further irony, this is the only film of the seven to actually be based on a Michael Shayne story. The story is decent but nothing amazing. I was amused by murder mystery enthusiast Aunt Olivia worming her way into the case, but she may not be everyone's cup of tea. I know PIs tend to be a little squishy on the letter of the law, but I was a bit surprised at just how many crimes Shayne committed in the course of trying to prove his innocence. It starts to get funny after a while. Time to Kill is much stronger, but I still rather like Lloyd Nolan as Shayne and if you ask me, this is well enough worth a watch for fans of this kind of story.

Rating:
Watch It

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