Sinner Take All
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Erroll Taggart
Bruce Cabot
Margaret Lindsay
Joseph Calleia
Stanley Ridges
Vivienne Osborne
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
New York millionaire Aaron Lampier hires lawyer Ernie Hyams, a former crime reporter for The Star , to bring his daughter Lorraine home from the New Jersey hot spot where she has been spending time. Lorraine is at Frank Penny's gambling club, and when Ernie finds her, she is with Alicia MacKelvey, the wife of his former boss, who is in love with Penny. When Ernie takes Lorraine home, they discover that Lampier has received an anonymous letter threatening the entire family with death. A short time later, they learn that David, Lampier's elder son, has died in a fiery crash on the Central Park transverse. Ernie inspects the car, which was so engulfed in flames that David's body could not be recognized, and finds that the accident was caused deliberately by someone who replaced one of David's headlights with a blue light that could be spotted at a distance. MacKelvey begs Ernie to get the story for the Star , but he refuses, however, MacKelvey gets his way when he convinces his friend Lampier to hire Ernie to investigate the case, then give the details to The Star . The next night, Ernie, who discovers that he and Lorraine are attracted to each other, takes her back to Penny's, where they find that her other brother, Stephen, is drunk. They follow him to the parking lot where he went for air and discover that he left a few minutes previously. Back at the Lampier apartment, Lorraine receives a mysterious phone call, then asks Ernie to leave. He then goes to talk with police Capt. Bill Royce and learns from Royce that Stephen has been shot several times. The police then go to Penny's place and arrest him on circumstantial evidence, despite the fact that they have no jurisdiction in New Jersey. The next day, Lorraine goes to Ernie's apartment and reveals that the mysterious call was from her brother David, who was not driving the car when it crashed. After checking the dental records of the body in the morgue, the police also realize that David is still alive. Soon Penny is released when an autopsy on Stephen reveals that he died from drug poisoning and was shot after his death. The police are able to trace David's phone call to a hotel in Hoboken, but when they arrive, they find David dead from an overdose of the drug Narcophene. Ernie and the police now suspect that David was killed by someone he knew and trusted. Meanwhile, Penny, who has done some investigating of his own, joins forces with Ernie to solve the murders. That night, because Lampier cannot get to sleep, he gets up to take some air on the patio and is thrown off the ledge by someone who sneaked into the building through the elevator shaft. Because there is no apparent forced entry, and Lorraine was the only one in the apartment, Royce arrests her for the murder. Just before she is taken away, however, Ernie switches reporter Jane Mills for Lorraine, then sneaks Lorraine back to his apartment. Royce goes to Ernie's apartment when he realizes what has happened, but doesn't take Lorraine and allows Ernie to pursue a hunch for twenty-four hours. Next morning, Lorraine agrees to be used as bait and Ernie spreads the word that she is leaving New York by plane at midnight. They then arrive at a party at Penny's place where all of the suspects have congregated. When it is soon discovered that Lorraine has been poisoned with Narcophene, a doctor who has been hiding outside rushes in to give her the antidote. Finally cornered, the real murderer, MacKelvey, reveals that he wanted to collect an inheritance that would come to him only if the entire Lampier family were dead, and jealously hoped to frame Penny. As he confesses, the others realize that he also has taken Narcophene, and with no antidote left, he dies. Finally, with the case solved, Lorraine and Ernie marry.
Director
Erroll Taggart
Cast
Bruce Cabot
Margaret Lindsay
Joseph Calleia
Stanley Ridges
Vivienne Osborne
Edward Pawley
George Lynn
Theodore Von Eltz
Eadie Adams
George Zucco
Dorothy Kilgallen
Raymond Hatton
Richard Terry
Robert E. O'connor
Louis Natheaux
Jonathan Hale
Robert E. Homans
Charlie Arnt
Charles Trowbridge
Lee Phelps
Frank Reicher
Frank Bruno
George Taylor
Mel Ruick
Sidney Bracy
Jack Daley
Harry Holman
Al Williams
J. P. Mcgowan
Jimmy Lucas
Ernie Alexander
Dick Kipling
Hal Cooke
John Hansen
Ken Gibson
Dick Rush
Don Brodie
Tony Healy
Lester Dorr
Ralph Mccullough
Paddy O'flynn
Charles King
Dick Allen
Jack Cheatham
Jack Dougherty
Budd Fine
Wade Boteler
Joe Caits
Charles Williams
Crew
Walter Donaldson
Chet Forrest
Cedric Gibbons
William S. Gray
Lucien Hubbard
Eddie Imazu
Leonard Lee
Samuel Marx
Douglas Shearer
Leonard Smith
Dolly Tree
Edward Ward
Edwin B. Willis
Walter Wise
Bob Wright
Dolph Zimmer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to Screen Achievements Bulletin, Whitman Chambers' novel was first serialized under the title The Affair of the Green Lantern A Hollywood Reporter production chart includes George Meeker in the cast, however, he was not in the viewed print and his participation in the released film has not been confirmed. The role of reporter Jane Mills was played by internationally famous newswoman Dorothy Kilgallen, who worked for the Hearst newspaper syndicate.
