Jim Hanvey, Detective
Cast & Crew
Phil Rosen
Guy Kibbee
Tom Brown
Lucie Kaye
Catharine Doucet
Edward Gargan
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Detective James Wilford Hanvey is importuned by Continental Insurance Co. officials Davis and Lambert to investigate the previous night's theft of Adelaide Frost's emerald necklace. Jim grumpily turns down their offer of a $1,000 fee, telling them that he wants to stay in the country. After they leave, he returns to his cabin and is visited by Adelaide's daughter Joan and her fiancé, newspaper columnist Don Terry. They tell Jim that Don had bet businessmen W. B. Elwood and Mr. Dunn that he could steal the emeralds, and then did so after Joan gave him the safe combination. When he awoke the next morning, however, the necklace was gone. Jim is about to send the foolish pair away when Romo and Smith, two hoods working for Dunn, arrive to steal the emeralds from Don. Jim scares them away and then takes the case because the young couple is in danger. They go to Don's apartment, and while Jim is questioning Elwood and Dunn, a taxi driver returns the emeralds, which Don had left in the cab after the robbery. Jim accompanies Joan and Don to the Frost house, where he distracts the Frosts and Davis while Don returns the necklace to the safe. As Jim is talking to Joan's father Herbert, however, they hear gunshots and rush to the library, where they find Don standing over the body of the Frosts' butler, Tom Ellis. Don protests his innocence and Jim helps him escape, after which Jim takes him and Joan to Ellis' apartment, where Mrs. Ellis' sweet nature evokes compassion and consideration from the spoiled couple. Jim gets Don to write a newspaper story that throws suspicion on Dunn, Romo and Smith, and takes it to his editor. Jim is captured by Dunn, Romo and Smith, but after they read the story they release him, and Romo and Smith tell Jim that they are innocent. Jim takes them to hide out with Mrs. Ellis, then has Don write another story saying that he will turn himself in. Jim reasons that the story will bring the killer out, as only he can return the necklace for the reward, and once Don is in jail, the killer cannot reveal himself or the police will know that Don was framed. Jim takes the reward money and waits in a deserted apartment, where the killer takes the money, turns on the gas and locks in Jim. Romo rescues Jim when he collapses after finding the hidden necklace, and they rush to the police station, where Garrett has placed Don under arrest. Everyone concerned with the robbery and murder is there, and after Jim gives the killer a chance to confess, Romo turns out the lights, during which time Jim's hands glow in the dark, as do Davis'. Jim reveals that he coated the money with phospherous, and that it was Davis who killed Ellis and stole the emeralds from Don. All ends well as Adelaide gives her consent for Don and Joan to be married, Mrs. Ellis receives the reward money and Jim returns to his beloved country cabin.
Director
Phil Rosen
Cast
Guy Kibbee
Tom Brown
Lucie Kaye
Catharine Doucet
Edward Gargan
Edward S. Brophy
Helen Jerome Eddy
Theodor Von Eltz
Kenneth Thomson
Howard Hickman
Oscar Apfel
Wade Boteler
Robert Emmett Keene
Robert Homans
Harry Tyler
Frank Darien
Charles Williams
Crew
George Blair
George Blair
Octavus Roy Cohen
Olive Cooper
Eloise
Cortland Fitzsimmons
Frank Goodwin
Harry Grey
Terry Kellum
Joseph Krumgold
Joseph Krumgold
Albert E. Levoy
Jack Marta
William Morgan
Murray Seldeen
Eric Taylor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Octavus Roy Cohen wrote a number of "Jim Hanvey" short stories and novels, several of which were serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. His first collection of "Jim Hanvey" stories was published in New York in 1923 under the title Jim Hanvey, Detective. Although a Variety news item reported that Republic had "made a contract for a five-year period to purchase two or more 'Jim Hanvey' detective stories written by" Cohen, the studio did not make any more films featuring the character. The working title of this film was Special Orders. A Hollywood Reporter news item stated that Catherine Doucet replaced Marjorie Gateson, who was ill, in the role of "Adelaide Frost," and that Dwight Frye was cast in the film. Frye's participation in the completed picture, however, has not been confirmed. According to a June 2, 1974 New York Times article, writer Nathanael West worked on the film.
