The Man in the Trunk
Cast & Crew
Malcolm St. Clair
Lynne Roberts
George Holmes
Raymond Walburn
J. Carrol Naish
Dorothy Peterson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When a skeleton is found in a trunk, police assume that it is the remains of Jim Cheevers, a bookie who has been missing for ten years. Jim's secretary, Ed Mygatt, is arrested and convicted of the murder because the trunk belonged to him. Determined to clear Ed, lawyer Dick Burke has had private detectives trail Jim's partner, Sam Kohler, and they have followed him to a warehouse several times. There, Dick discovers that Kohler has kept a trunk in storage for ten years and arranges for it to be auctioned off as unclaimed property. At the auction, however, Dick is prevented from bidding, and the trunk is purchased by dancer Peggy LaRue. Dick follows her to her apartment, where he convinces her to allow him open the trunk by explaining how he is trying to help Ed. Inside they find a machine gun and a skeleton with several of Jim's personal effects. Peggy, seeking any publicity that will advance her career, agrees to allow Dick to call reporters and the police, but Lt. Brailey refuses to re-open the case, saying that he does not believe the body is Jim's. The skeleton is Jim's, however, and his ghost has been freed by the opening of the trunk. Jim silently applauds Dick and Peggy's decision to carry on the investigation themselves and follows them around. He is frustrated in his attempts to help them because he has not achieved the status of "first-class ghost," which means that he cannot pass through walls or rap on tables. The investigation leads to Jim's sister, Abbie Addison, an eccentric who knows that her brother was killed in her attic, but cannot remember the mysterious visitor who came to see him the day he was murdered. She admits that upon discovering her brother's body in a trunk, she sent it to her psychiatrist, Dr. Pluma. They then learn from Pluma that he shipped the trunk to Ted Swann, Jim's bodyguard. When they try to question Swann in his apartment, however, they find that he has been murdered, and later, at Peggy's apartment, they discover that Kohler has also been killed. Jim is able to slip Dick and Peggy a clue directing them to question Yvonne Duvalle, a performer and his former paramour. From her they learn that Jim's killer had borrowed Kohler's gun, and was being blackmailed by him. She advises them to find the owner of several "Toby jugs," which were in the trunk with Jim's body when she saw it in Swann's apartment ten years earlier. Remembering that they saw the jugs at the antique shop of Lola and Reginald DeWinters, Dick and Peggy go there, and find Abbie and Dr. Pluma there as well. Abbie remembers that it was Reginald, who owed Jim a great deal of money, whom she saw enter the house on the day of the murder. Jim, who has finally become a first-class ghost, terrifies Reginald into confessing to all the murders, and he is arrested in time to prevent Ed from being executed. Soon after, Abbie sends Jim's remains to be buried in the family mausoleum, but the sneaky ghost changes the destination tag to read Palm Beach.
Director
Malcolm St. Clair
Cast
Lynne Roberts
George Holmes
Raymond Walburn
J. Carrol Naish
Dorothy Peterson
Eily Malyon
Arthur Loft
Milton Parsons
Matt Mchugh
Charles Cane
Theodore Von Eltz
Joan Marsh
Syd Saylor
Douglas Fowley
Tim Ryan
Vivian Oakland
Billy Cartledge
Wilson Benge
Tom O'grady
Dick French
Perc Launders
Frank Mcgrath
Minerva Urecal
Vic Potel
Mae Marsh
Elizabeth Williams
William Forrest
Frank O'connor
Lillian Porter
Anne O'neal
Broderick O'farrell
Wade Boteler
Lee Phelps
Sam Hearn
Jimmy Conlin
Byron Foulger
Crew
Richard Day
William Goetz
Chester Gore
Herschel
Albert Hogsett
Percy Ikerd
John Larkin
Harry M. Leonard
Thomas Little
Glen Macwilliams
Walter Morosco
Emil Newman
Alexander Troffey
E. Clayton Ward
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although a March 25, 1942 Hollywood Reporter news item stated that Paul Trivers was collaborating on the script of this film with John Larkin, the extent of Trivers' contribution to the completed picture has not been confirmed. Richard Day and Albert Hogsett receive onscreen credit as the picture's art directors, but Chester Gore is credited with art direction in Hollywood Reporter production charts. The charts also include Ethel Griffies in the cast, but her appearance in the finished film has not been confirmed.
