Missing Witnesses

"Missing Witness" is the sort of B-movie that was very common back in the 1930s and 40s. Despite coming from a top studio (Warner Brothers), it was quickly written, has tons of plot holes and really is only enjoyable if you turn off your brain and just take it for what it is...a fast little crime film for the undemanding audience.

The film starts off well--with a crazy car crash. Then, a group of thugs from a local 'protective association' arrive at a restaurant to shake the owner down for cash. He doesn't agree and they destroy the joint and beat him silly. On the way out, three of the thugs bump into an off-duty cop, 'Bull' Regan (Dick Purcell). Instead of saying 'excuse me', one pulls a knife, the other pulls a gun and the third tries to beat Regan. But Bull is the hero and quickly beats them senseless. However, in court the owner of the restaurant gets amnesia...and the case is thrown out. Think about it...three guys assault a cop, one with a gun and one with a knife, and they just dismiss the case and let the guys go?!?!?! This is a HUGE plot problem...and shows the film was rushed into production without thinking through the plot. After all, the weapons charges were much more serious than the other charges!

What follows is a city trying to get tough on organized crime sort of picture--and repeatedly the baddies seem to be able to anticipate everything. Witnesses die and someone up high obviously is involved with the mob. There also is a lady named Mary...and you get to hear the cops make a lot of awful sexist remarks towards her! My wife was horrified...I thought her reaction was a bit funny...but I certainly didn't blame her. Purcell's character as well as his boss behaved like pigs.

Overall, this is a pretty bad film despite the nice Warner Brothers gloss. Not horrible...but not all that good either.

Reworking the plot of The Bureau Of Mssing Persons, Missing Witnesses has a new organized crime squad being put together by the NYPD under Inspector John Litel. As his chief investigator Litel picks Dick Purcell who is known for his strong arm methods.

To accommodate shorter time lenth the original movie script was cut even unto the bone with a lot of holes left in the story. Purcell's a bit thick and is really being driven batty by chief missing witness Virginia Dale.

I did like the performance of movie veteran Raymond Hatton as a stooli who gets what stoolies usually get.

Below par B film from the brothers Warner.

Missing Witnesses (1937)

** (out of 4)

Rather boring "B" film from Warner about a D.A. (John Litel) and a tough cop (Dick Purcell) who grow tired of various witnesses backing down from testifying against some racketeers. The two set out to try and locate people who will talk and the cop knows that one woman (Jean Dale) saw a major crime so he sets out to find her. MISSING WITNESSES is one of many Warner films that was ripped from the headlines but sadly there's just very little going on here. At just over a hour there's no question that the movie remains watchable thanks in large part to it being so short and featuring a couple known stars but there's no doubt that the film's appeal is going to be very low and mainly for those, such as myself, who enjoy watching these rare films when they pop up on Turner Classic Movies. The biggest problem is the story itself, which just isn't anything we haven't already seen countless times before. The entire plot dealing with witnesses being scared to talk has been done in other films (including MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series) and nothing new is done with it here. It also doesn't help that director William Clemens doesn't bring any energy to the material and by the thirty-minute mark the film is pretty much already out of gas. As usual, Litel and Purcell offer up fine performances but neither character is written good enough to where they could save the entire picture.

Gang crimes and a corrupt system plague New York City. The Governor creates a new investigative squad led by straight arrow Inspector Robert L. Lane. Hot-head copper Bull Regan is one of his investigators who is taken with secretary Mary Norton. She comes to them with information about her boss Ward Sturgis who she suspects to be a secret mob boss.

The investigation is not quite as compelling when Mary dumps all the information on their laps. It's a literal info dump. That's not good. The turn does get a little interesting. I do wonder if this would be more interesting if Mary's the protagonist. She does most of the investigative work anyways. Bull should be the side kick. At least, that would be an interesting entry into the WB crime dramas. This is only a functional B-movie.

When the mob goons bust up shop owners that won't pay them off, the guvna appoints Inspector Robert Lane (John Litel) to head up the special task force. Officer Regan (Dick Purcell) gets assigned to the team, but he keeps screwing up the investigation with his stubbornness and lack of attention. and witnesses keep backing out of testifying, fearing for their families. and how is Mary (Virginia Dale) mixed up in this? this one is pretty good. only 61 minutes, but they stuff a lot into those few, precious minutes. it's pretty low budget, but not so bad. Directed by Bill Clemens. he directed a bunch of Torchy, Falcons, and Nancy Drew films.