Half Past Midnight
Cast & Crew
William F. Claxton
Kent Taylor
Peggy Knudsen
Joe Sawyer
Walter Sande
Martin Kosleck
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Moments after arriving at the Los Angeles airport, playboy and trouble-making veteran Wade Hamilton grabs a woman waiting for her boyfriend and, pretending to have mistaken her for his sweetheart, gives her a passionate kiss. When the woman's boyfriend sees the two in an embrace, he punches Wade and walks off with the woman. Wade is then greeted by his pal Joe Nash, a police lieutenant, who asks Wade about newspaper reports that he challenged an irate husband to a duel in Hawaii. Joe knows that Wade has not reformed and suggests that he leave Los Angeles and return to San Francisco, but Wade assures him that he will only be staying a short time. Joe takes Wade to the Ambassador Hotel, where bellboy Chick Patrick, an old Army pal of Wade's, gives him a warm welcome. After overhearing Joe tell Wade that he will watching his every move, Chick telephones Joe, posing as Joe's sergeant, and gives him orders to go immediately to another location. Joe leaves Wade, but not before locking him in the bathroom and stealing his clothes. Chick then helps Wade escape to a nightclub, where he meets the alluring and aloof Sally Parker, who is at the club to see dancer Carlotta. Sally tells Wade that he is boring her, and is glad to see him leave her table to take a telephone call. While Chick warns Wade that Joe is after him and will be at the club soon, Sally barges into Carlotta's dressing room and tries to settle the dancer's blackmail demands by paying her $20,000. An argument ensues and Sally shoots Carlotta. Sally escapes with the gun, but mistakenly gets into the taxicab in which Wade is riding. Sally eventually realizes that she can trust Wade, and tells him that she was trying to get letters from Carlotta that her sister wrote to Carlotta's former dancing partner, Murray Evans. Wade is soon suspected of helping Sally escape, and a manhunt ensues. Sally asks Wade to help her find Evans, but he tells her that he must first save himself from the police. To that end, Wade goes to Chinatown, where he pays a visit to a former flame, Blossom, and her father, Lee Gow. Joe finds Wade there and helps him elude Lieutenant MacDonald in order to give him enough time to uncover evidence in the Carlotta murder case. Wade later questions Cortez, Carlotta's most recent dance partner, about the letters, and Cortez explains that Evans was jealous of her new partner and swore that he would not let them marry. Detectives arrive just as shots intended for either Cortez or Wade ring out, and Wade flees having gotten a tip about Evans' whereabouts. MacDonald finally captures Wade and insists that he tell him where Sally is. Chick, meanwhile, takes Sally to Evans, who is living in an apartment on Bunker Hill. When Evans starts to tell Sally who killed Carlotta, he is shot by Cortez, the real murderer. Cortez then tries to flee, but Joe arrives in time to arrest him.
Director
William F. Claxton
Cast
Kent Taylor
Peggy Knudsen
Joe Sawyer
Walter Sande
Martin Kosleck
Mabel Paige
Gil Stratton Jr.
Jean Wong
Jane Everett
Damian O'flynn
Richard Loo
Tom Dugan
Jean De Briac
Willie Best
Victor Sen Yung
George "beetlepuss" Lewis
George Meader
Tim Ryan
Charles Williams
Weaver Levy
Gordon Clark
Steve Darrell
Frank Mcgrath
Mickey Simpson
Eddie Lee
Pat Goldin
Max Wagner
Crew
Frank Baldridge
Arnold Belgard
Darrell Calker
David Chudnow
Lyle Dawn
Perry Finnerman
Clifford Gans
Al Greenwood
Max M. Hutchinson
Benjamin Kline
Sascha Laurence
Buddy Longworth
C. O. Morris
Elaine Ramsey
George Van Marter
Paul Wurtzel
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
