Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Bernard Vorhaus
Dennis O'keefe
Ruth Terry
Gloria Dickson
Roman Bohnen
George E. Stone
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
A radio contest promises a ten-thousand dollar reward for anyone who finds an infamous but now-retired safecracker, Jimmy Valentine, who may reside in the otherwise idyllic town of Fernville, Illinois. Soon, contest organizer-turned-contestant Mike Jason arrives at Fernville's newspaper hoping to look in the old files, and convinces Bonny Forbes, daughter of editor Tom Forbes, to introduce him to her father. Tom, however, despises everything relating to the contest, which he considers an appeal to the greedy, and cheerfully throws them both out when Bonny sides with Mike. Promising to give him information, Bonny, lovestruck, pesters Mike and his sidekick, Mousey, into letting her into their car. She then takes them to Tom's gardener Pinky, who has often told stories about Valentine in the past, but who now claims to know nothing. When Mike points out that Valentine had a partner with red hair, the white-haired Pinky insists he had black hair as a youth, and Mike storms off, annoyed to have wasted his time. Later, at the Forbes home, Tom and Pinky remember that his files include a photo of a younger, red-haired Pinky, and agree that Pinky should destroy the files. That night, Mike's girl friend, radio announcer Cleo Arden, visits him, and a jealous Bonny sends him a message to meet her outside her father's office. While Mike waits for Bonny, Mousey first flirts with the hotel manicurist, Lutitia Hinkle, then sneaks into the office, where he finds Pinky going through the file. After he reveals that he is the son of Tony Scarlotti, a mobster Valentine sent to jail, he kills Pinky, presuming he is Valentine's partner. Mike and Bonny hear the noise and when they burst in to find Pinky's body, they assume Valentine is responsible. The next day, they collect fingerprints from all the prominent people in town, hoping to match someone's prints to Valentine's. When five of the fingerprinted citizens realize what is happening, they meet with Tom, who is actually Valentine, worrying that the investigation will uncover their pasts as ex-convicts and destroy the law-abiding life they have built. Tom, upon hearing that Bonny is involved, asks her to stop seeing Mike, and although Bonny respects her father, she tells him that she loves Mike. Mike, meanwhile, gives the set of fingerprints to policeman Dan Kady, then tells Mousey to find Lutitia, realizing she was outside the office the night of the murder and might have seen the killer. Soon after, Bonny finds the dead body of Lutitia in the shower and as Kady investigates, he tells Mike he has the fingerprint identifications but will store them in his safe for the district attorney to open. The next day, Mike schemes with Bonny to spread the word that the prints are in the safe, knowing that he can catch Valentine as he tries to crack the safe. Mike, who has realized Tom is Valentine, tries to protect Bonny by having Mousey keep her away from the safe that night. When Bonny tells Mousey that Mike is waiting for Valentine, however, Mousey eagerly agrees to bring her to the office. Meanwhile, Mike catches Tom trying to break into the safe, and Tom asks Mike to trade his prints for all the others so their lives do not have to be ruined. When Bonny and Mousey enter, Mousey attacks Tom, but Cleo surprises Mousey from behind, allowing Mike to hit him. Mousey's gun discharges into his own chest, killing him. The next day Mike, who knows that Mousey was the murderer and not Tom, saves Tom by announcing that Pinky was the real Jimmy Valentine. Afterward, Cleo sees the love between Mike and Bonny and convinces Mike to stay in Fernville with the younger girl.
Director
Bernard Vorhaus
Cast
Dennis O'keefe
Ruth Terry
Gloria Dickson
Roman Bohnen
George E. Stone
Spencer Charters
William B. Davidson
Bobby Larson
Joe Cunningham
Roscoe Ates
Harry Shannon
Jed Prouty
Patsy Lee Parsons
Linda Brent
Wade Boteler
Emmett Vogan
Ray Erlenborn
Olaf Hytten
Lois Collier
William Benedict
Dorothy Christy
Guy Usher
Douglas Evans
Sven Hugo Borg
Al Bridge
Fred Burns
Mary Davenport
Virginia Farmer
Dick Elliott
Charles Williams
Mary Currier
Joel Friedkin Head Barber
Jack Raymond
Jimmy Fox
Edmund Cobb
Frank Fanning
Ben Hall
Ralph Peters
Sada Simmons
Morgan Brown
Margaret Marquis
Rand Brooks
Crew
John Alton
Paul Armstrong Jr.
George Blair
Olive Cooper
Cy Feuer
Leonard Fields
Russell Kimball
Howard O'neill
Adele Palmer
Murray Seldeen
Robert Tasker
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles for this film were Find Me Jimmy Valentine and Find Jimmy Valentine. The viewed print, which was probably edited for television, was entitled Unforgotten Crime. Although not acknowledged in the screen credits or in reviews, Affairs of Jimmy Valentine was based on the 1910 stage play Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong. The play, in turn, was based on O. Henry's short story "A Retrieved Reformation," which was published in Cosmopolitan in April 1903. Although onscreen credits include a 1942 copyright statement, the film was not registered with the Copyright Office. Republic borrowed Dennis O'Keefe from RKO for the production.
Affairs of Jimmy Valentine was a remake of a 1936 Republic picture, The Return of Jimmy Valentine (see AFI Catalog of Feature Fims, 1931-40; F3.3704). The 1936 film was directed by Lewis D. Collins and starred Roger Pryor and Charlotte Henry. Oliver Cooper, who was a co-author of the 1942 film, co-wrote the 1936 film with Jack Natteford, and Paul Armstrong, Jr., who was the playwright's son and is credited with the story on the 1942 picture, was one of three story writers on the 1936 production. Armstrong's play was the source for three other films, all titled Alias Jimmy Valentine: a 1915 World Film Corp. film, directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Robert Warwick and Robert Cummings; a 1920 Metro Pictures Corp. film, directed by Edmund Mortimer and Arthur D. Ripley and starring Bert Lytell and Vola Vale (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1911-20; F1.0046 and F1.0047); and a 1929 M-G-M film, directed by Jack Conway, starring William Haines and Lionel Barrymore (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.0078). In 1986, American Playhouse staged Alias Jimmy Valentine for broadcast on public television.
