Mary Ryan, Detective
Cast & Crew
Abby Berlin
Marsha Hunt
John Litel
June Vincent
Harry Shannon
Wm. "bill" Phillips
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Estelle Byron is looking at diamonds in a jewelry store when Wilma Hall and her little daughter Patsy enter. While Wilma looks at cigarette lighters, Patsy wanders about the store. After they leave the store, Estelle decides not to buy anything, but before she leaves, the jeweler discovers that one ring is missing. He summons the police, and police detective Mary Ryan arrives with another policeman. After the jeweler describes the events leading to his discovery, Mary quickly determines that Estelle stuck the diamond ring under the counter with a wad of gum and it was later removed by her confederates, Wilma and Patsy. Estelle is arrested, but because she does not have the ring, the police cannot hold her. After Captain Billings releases Estelle, the police follow her to Wilma's apartment. Wilma and Estelle are both found guilty of theft and sentenced to jail. Both women refuse to reveal the identity of the fence to whom they have been selling the stolen merchandise, so Billings assigns Mary to go undercover. After she completes a course in shoplifting techniques, Mary joins Wilma in her cell. Mary, who is using the pseudonym Mae Smith, wins Wilma's confidence and is referred to an "employment agency," run by Mike Faber. Mike puts Mary to work as a maid at a fashionable party. To maintain her cover, Mary steals a necklace from an undercover police matron posing as a society woman. She then makes her getaway with gang member Joey Gurney, who loses the police tail. Joey then takes Mary to a turkey ranch operated by Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer. At the ranch, Mary learns that Sawyer, who is the fence, smuggles the stolen goods inside smoked turkeys. When Sawyer asks Mary to help ship the turkeys, she hides a message inside one, asking the recipient to contact Billings. While she is hiding out on the ranch, Mary is forced to participate in the robbery of a fur warehouse, during which Joey is badly wounded. Mary extracts the bullet and saves his life. Meanwhile, Billings is finally alerted to Mary's location. In the meantime, however, Estelle escapes from jail and identifies Mary as a policewoman. Sawyer is about to kill her, when Joey, who owes Mary his life, shoots the Sawyers and is himself killed in the shootout. After the police arrive and round up the gang, Mary is given a well-deserved vacation.
Director
Abby Berlin
Cast
Marsha Hunt
John Litel
June Vincent
Harry Shannon
Wm. "bill" Phillips
Katherine Warren
Victoria Horne
Arthur Space
John Dehner
Kernan Cripps
Chester Clute
Clancy Cooper
Robert B. Williams
Doreen Mccann
Ben Welden
Paul Bryar
Jim Nolan
Charles Russell
Isabel Randolph
Robert Emmett Keane
Jimmy Lloyd
Ralph Dunn
Edward F. Dunn
Paul E. Burns
Paul Bradley
Bess Flowers
Stanley Blystone
Pierre Watkin
Stan Jolley
Edwin Chandler
Ruth Warren
Gertrude Astor
Alyn Lockwood
Crew
Mischa Bakaleinikoff
George Bricker
George Brooks
Carter Dehaven Jr.
Vincent Farrar
Rudolph C. Flothow
Howard Fogetti
Harry Fried
William Kiernan
James Sweeney
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to publicity material, the film's story was based upon actual police records. Publicity material also notes that the turkey farm scenes were filmed at Huntsinger Turkey Farms in the San Fernando Valley.
