Time to Kill
Cast & Crew
Herbert I. Leeds
Lloyd Nolan
Heather Angel
Doris Merrick
Ralph Byrd
Richard Lane
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Private detective Michael Shayne is hired by cantankerous widow Mrs. Murdock to find a valuable coin known as a brasher doubloon, which she believes was stolen from her collection by her daughter-in-law, singer Linda Conquest. Mrs. Murdock also wants Shayne to arrange for a divorce for her son Leslie and Linda. During the visit, Shayne becomes intrigued by Mrs. Murdock's nervous secretary, Merle Davis. Afterward, Shayne contacts coin dealer Elisha Washburn, who had tried to buy the brasher doubloon, and arranges to meet him later that day. Shayne then visits Lois Morny, one of Linda's best friends, and finds her in the company of Louis Venter, a well-known gigolo. Lois flirts with Shayne but refuses to tell him anything about Linda, and after he departs, he accosts a man who has been following him since he left Mrs. Murdock's home. The man is George Anson Phillips, who claims to be a private detective working for Linda. Shayne agrees to go to Phillips' apartment later, then during his meeting with Washburn, implies that Washburn purchased the stolen coin in order to sell it back to Mrs. Murdock. As he departs, Shayne overhears Washburn call Phillips, and when he arrives at the detective's apartment, he finds that Phillips has just been shot to death. That evening, Shayne goes to the Idle Valley Club, which is owned by Lois' husband Alex. It is also where Linda works, and Shayne is finally able to meet her. Linda indignantly declares that she did not steal the coin, and does not want any of Mrs. Murdock's money to make her divorce Leslie. Linda asserts that she never heard of Phillips, after which Shayne learns of a connection between Venter and Phillips. The next morning, Mrs. Murdock tells Shayne to drop the case because she found the coin in a dressing gown pocket, but Shayne becomes suspicious when he receives another brasher doubloon that was mailed to him by Phillips before he died. When Shayne takes the coin to Washburn's office for identification, however, he learns that Washburn, too, has been murdered. Washburn's secretary throws suspicion onto Shayne, and police lieutenant Breeze gives him six hours to clear himself. Shayne goes to Mrs. Murdock's home, where she admits that her coin is a counterfeit and Leslie confesses that he stole it to use as collateral for a gambling debt he owes to Alex. Shayne learns that a dental supplies company had been sending Venter materials that could have been used to counterfeit coins, but before he can question Venter, an hysterical Merle confesses that she killed him. Merle admits that she had been giving Venter money for eight years, but refuses to say why he was blackmailing her. Shayne leaves Merle, whose gun has not been fired, in the care of Linda, then goes to Venter's apartment. Soon after, Breeze determines that the gun used to kill Venter was used to kill Washburn and Phillips as well, and Shayne asserts that Venter, who was counterfeiting the coins with Washburn, Phillips and Leslie, shot the other two and was in turn killed by Leslie, who was trying to protect his mother. Shayne reveals that Merle had been Mr. Murdock's secretary until eight years ago when he made advances to her while drunk. In shock and hysterical, Merle did not realize that Mrs. Murdock had entered the room and then pushed Murdock out a high window to his death. Venter, who was photographing a parade below, accidentally took a picture of Mrs. Murdock committing the murder and has been blackmailing her ever since. Leslie killed Venter when he threatened to expose Mrs. Murdock, who had convinced Merle that she was to blame for Murdock's death, once and for all. Just then, Breeze learns that Mrs. Murdock choked to death, and with Leslie in custody, the case is closed. Later, Merle returns to her home in the Midwest, and Linda promises to see Shayne after she obtains a divorce.
Director
Herbert I. Leeds
Cast
Lloyd Nolan
Heather Angel
Doris Merrick
Ralph Byrd
Richard Lane
Sheila Bromley
Morris Ankrum
Ethel Griffies
James Seay
Ted Hecht
William Pawley
Syd Saylor
Lester Sharpe
Charles Williams
Leroy Mason
Phyllis Kennedy
Paul Guilfoyle
Helen Flint
Bruce Wong
Harry Carter
Clara Horton
George Melford
Crew
Charles [g.] Clarke
Alfred Day
Richard Day
William Goetz
Mack Gordon
Chester Gore
Eugene Grossman
Charles Hall
Herschel
Frank E. Hughes
Paul Le Pere
Harry M. Leonard
Thomas Little
Emil Newman
Harry Warren
Sol M. Wurtzel
Clarence Upson Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Brasher Doubloon and Murder, Murder Everywhere. According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department, located at the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library, the studio was given permission by the Treasury Department to reproduce a brasher doubloon for the film on the condition that it and the mold used to produce it were destroyed after the picture was completed. The original doubloon was minted in 1787 by Ephraim Brasher for the state of New York. Although an July 8, 1942 Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Stanley Rauh was working on the script, the extent of his contribution to the completed film has not been confirmed. On August 20, 1942, Hollywood Reporter stated that Virginia Gilmore was to have the lead opposite Lloyd Nolan. Another Hollywood Reporter news item noted that Harold Huber was set "to play the heavy" in the picture, but although Hollywood Reporter production charts include both Huber and Mary Beth Hughes in the cast, neither of them appear in the released film.
Twentieth Century-Fox filmed Raymond Chandler's novel again in 1947 as The Brasher Doubloon, with George Montgomery as "Philip Marlowe". Time to Kill was the last Twentieth Century-Fox "Michael Shayne" picture. According to a August 31, 1942 Hollywood Reporter news item, Twentieth Century-Fox was planning to make two more pictures in the series, before dropping it so that Nolan could be cast in more prominent productions. The same news item noted that the studio would be promoting Nolan as a leading man after such Twentieth Century-Fox actors as Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda and Victor Mature temporarily retired from the screen in order to enter military service. In 1945, PRC purchased the rights to the character "Michael Shayne" from Twentieth Century-Fox and began its own series, starring Hugh Beaumont as the detective. Their first release was Murder Is My Business. For more information about the series, consult the Series Index and the entry above for Michael Shayne, Private Detective.
