Criminal Investigator
Cast & Crew
Jean Yarbrough
Robert Lowery
Edith Fellows
John Miljan
Jan Wiley
Charles Jordan
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Brandt, editor of the News Journal , reluctantly hires college graduate Bob Martin, son of the police commissioner, at his publisher's insistence. When Bob brags at the Press Club that he could get an interview from accused murderer Black, who is notoriously tight-lipped, Brandt gives him the job, hoping that he will fail and can then be fired. Bob discovers that Black is a deaf-mute, and uses sign language to get an interview. Afterward, Black hands Bob a codified note to give to his attorney, Edward Judson, which apprises Judson of convicted felon Joyce Greeley's parole date and advises him to feed Bob a story about Black being framed by a political group. Bob's story makes front page news and results in Black's release. Coincidentally, Bob's next assignment is to interview Joyce when she is released. However, the former showgirl is kidnapped and murdered by two thugs, Soapy and Miss Drake, who work for Judson, before Bob can talk to her. Bob finds Joyce's body and keeps a locket that contains a picture of her sister Ellen. He then unwittingly encounters Ellen at the bus depot and saves her from being kidnapped by Soapy and fellow henchman Paul, who are after a set of her sister's safe deposit box keys. Bob does not know she is Joyce's sister because she calls Joyce by her real name, Joan Gray. After Bob leaves Ellen, who is unaware of Joyce's death, at his apartment, he goes to an arranged meeting with Soapy, but finds him dead. Police officer Charlie Brannigan discovers Bob in Soapy's room and, although he knows Bob, he tries to arrest him. Bob escapes from Charlie and after investigating, learns Joyce's real identity, and that before she was sent to jail for murder, she had been given a large inheritance from her patron. Later, Judson contacts Ellen and asks her to meet him at the Empire Theatre, where he is backing a show. Ellen expects to see her sister with the solicitous Judson, but he is only interested in obtaining the keys. In the meantime, Bob tells Charlie his suspicions about Judson, and Charlie notes the key numbers and arranges for police to be planted at the theater and at the bank. When Bob apprises Ellen about Judson and about Joyce's death, she rebukes him and demands the keys from him, which she then confidently turns over to the lawyer. Judson and Miss Drake are later arrested by the police, but when Judson escapes and races into the flies above the stage, he falls. Judson is about to confess when a knife hurled from above kills him. The murderer, Black, is captured and Miss Drake confesses that Judson had embezzled from Joyce's inheritance and, fearing an investigation, had Black murder her. The only evidence of her will, Bob reveals, was in her safe deposit box.
Director
Jean Yarbrough
Cast
Robert Lowery
Edith Fellows
John Miljan
Jan Wiley
Charles Jordan
Gloria Faye
Paul Bryar
George O'hanlon
Vivian Wilcox
Charles Hall
John Maxwell
Lawrence Creighton
Mauritz Hugo
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film was also known as Crime Reporter. Although the production sheet in copyright records lists Robert Lowery's character as "Pat Martin," he is called "Bob Martin" in the film.
