The Corpse Came C.O.D.
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Henry Levin
George Brent
Joan Blondell
Adele Jergens
Jim Bannon
Leslie Brooks
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
While relaxing at her Hollywood mansion, film star Mona Harrison receives a package from Palisades Pictures Studio. Expecting to find a dress in the large box, Mona is shocked to discover that it contains the murdered body of costume designer Hector Rose. Instead of calling the police, Mona calls her old flame Joe Medford, a reporter. Joe arrives in time to notice Mona disposing of the bolts of cloth in which Hector was wrapped, and he immediately calls the police. Police Lieutenant, Mark Wilson begins an investigation into the murder by calling the coroner, taking fingerprint samples and tracing the delivery man. When Rosemary Durant, an attractive columnist for the Daily Register , asks to team up with Joe on the murder story, Joe tells her that he does not need her help. Rosemary, who suspects that Joe is really in love with her, ignores his rejection and insists on following him around town. A short time later, Joe learns that before Hector was murdered, he and Mona had a fight, and that Hector fell into a pile of cloth when Mona struck him. While looking for clues at Hector's house, Joe is assaulted by Maxwell Kenyon, Hector's business manager, and a fistfight ensues. After knocking Kenyon unconscious, Joe searches through his pockets and finds a check from Mona. Later, at the studio, Joe sees a man fleeing, and, after locking the meddling Rosemary in a closet, chases after him. Rosemary manages to free herself from the closet, and when Joe fails to capture the man, he chases Rosemary instead. Joe kisses Rosemary and proposes marriage, but remains resolute about keeping her from working with him on the story. Joe eventually suspects the shady Rudy Frasso, whom he believes is Mona's ex-husband, to be mixed up in a jewelry scheme and a series of murders at the studio. At Mona's home, while Rosemary questions Mona about her love life, Joe finds some jewels in a bolt of cloth and hides them. When Joe later finds Frasso waiting for him in his apartment, a fistfight ensues and Frasso escapes. Meanwhile, Rosemary, angry that Joe has stymied her attempt to get near the story, tells Wilson about the jewels that Joe found. When Joe and Rosemary arrive at Mona's, they learn that Wilson is a corrupt detective who is involved in the jewel smuggling operation and killed Hector. Following a gun battle, in which Wilson is shot to death by his partner, Detective Dave Short, Rosemary and Joe turn in the stolen jewels and plan a life together as husband and wife.
Director
Henry Levin
Cast
George Brent
Joan Blondell
Adele Jergens
Jim Bannon
Leslie Brooks
John Berkes
Fred Sears
William Trenk
Grant Mitchell
Una O'connor
William Forrest
Mary Field
Cliff Clark
Wilton Graff
Cosmo Sardo
Judy Stevens
Wally Rose
Robert Winkler
Richard Abbott
Alvin Hammer
Gregory Gay
Brian O'hara
Pat Goldin
Lane Chandler
Patsy Moran
Michael Towne
Paul Bryar
Myron Healey
Robert Stevens
Edith Evanson
Pat O'malley
Charles Wagenheim
Joseph Palma
Al Hill
William Halligan
Leon Lenoir
Martha West
Crew
Lucien Andriot
Dwight Babcock
Sam Bischoff
Samuel Bischoff
George Bricker
George Brooks
James Crowe
George Duning
Doris Fisher
Stephen Goossón
Jack Haynes
Jack Henley
Carl Hiecke
Dorothy Hughes
Jean Louis
Wilbur Menefee
Allan Roberts
Donald W. Starling
M. W. Stoloff
Jerome Thoms
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
In 1944, according to a Hollywood Reporter^ news item, director Fritz Lang sought the film rights to the Jimmy Starr novel on which this film was based. No further information has been found about Lang's involvement in the pre-production history of the film. A January 1947 Hollywood Reporter news item noted that H. D. Hoover of Ciro's nightclub was hired as an advisor on scenes involving the reproduction of the famous nightclub. According to an August 1946 Columbia News and Notes news item, Veronica Lake was considered for the female lead.
