The Crime of Helen Stanley
Cast & Crew
D. Ross Lederman
Shirley Grey
Gail Patrick
Kane Richmond
Bradley Page
Vincent Sherman
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Movie star Helen Stanley discovers that her cameraman and lover, Lee Davis, has left her for her sister, Betty Lane, a script girl. Furious at Lee's betrayal, Helen swears that he will never work again and telephones her friend, Inspector Trent. Helen is also ready to fire her business manager, George Noel, who owes her $60,000. On the set at Truart studios, where Helen's latest picture is being shot, the crew not only despises Helen but also the director, Gibson. When Wallach, another actor, is given a prop gun so that he may shoot Helen as the script requires, he adds a real bullet to one chamber. During one of her scenes, Helen falls dead when Wallach's gun goes off. Trent arrives moments later, and pursues Wallach, who confesses he shot Helen just before jumping to his own death. Trent learns that Wallach had been Helen's husband twelve years earlier in New York, but she had left him because of his drinking. The bullet that killed Helen, however, was not from Wallach's gun, which only fired a blank. Later, Trent finds Betty and Gibson in Helen's apartment, searching for her diary. Gibson explains that Helen knew he was a Viennese ex-patriate living in America illegally. After Trent is almost killed on an empty set, he arrests Davis. Karl Williams, Helen's bodyguard, reports to Trent that she spent hours writing in her diary and kept it carefully hidden. Finally Betty finds the diary in a safe, and after she and Carl are found knocked unconscious, Trent learns that Karl was blackmailing Helen. Jeff Baker, a member of the film crew, telephones Trent to report that he found something in the movie camera, but is killed before he can reveal the secret. After watching the scene that was being photographed at the time of Helen's death, Trent suggests reconstructing the crime. He has Larry King, the assistant director who has been aiding him throughout the investigation, take Helen's place in the scene. As Trent expects, Larry ducks just before a bullet is fired by a mechanism hidden in the camera. Trent explains that Larry's brother, Tony Thorenzo, was a major director four years before, but killed himself after Helen quit during the making of his new picture. Larry murdered Helen to avenge his brother's death.
Director
D. Ross Lederman
Cast
Shirley Grey
Gail Patrick
Kane Richmond
Bradley Page
Vincent Sherman
Clifford Jones
Arthur Rankin
Lucien Prival
Ward Bond
Helen Eby-rock
Edward Keane
Alden Chase
Frank Mills
Earl Pingree
A. R. Haysel
A. S. "pop" Byron
Dick Rush
Frank O'connor
Lee Shumway
Budd Fine
Bruce Mitchell
Eddie Cobb
Buck Mack
Pat Harmon
Charles E. Brinley
Fred Somers
Hal Price
Kernan Cripps
William Humphrey
Jack Cheatham
Sam Lufkin
Robert Paige
Ky Robinson
Ned Winchester
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title for this film was Murder in the Studio. The film was the third entry in Columbia's "Inspector Trent" series. For further information on this series, see the entry above for Before Midnight and consult the Series Index.
