a5c7b9f00b A detective must solve a case where a girl was murdered in a room–and all the doors and windows were locked from the inside. Bill Crane, a private detective with no weaknessan investigator but large ones for blondes and straight-whiskey, gets a call from his attorney friend, Charles Frazee, with a request to find evidence that will free Robert Westland, who is under death sentence for murdering his wife. Crane immediately runs into a barrage of machine-gun fire, and a blonde, Agatha Hogan, only slightly less dangerous. After a night of wine, women and song, Crane picks up a clue that may aid Wstland. With the help of a deep-sea diver, a stop watch, and a taxicab driver, he is sprinting after the real culprit…justWestland is starting his last mile to the electric chair. 1937&#39;s &quot;The Westland Case&quot; began the regrettably short-lived series of Crime Club mysteries from Universal, clearly superior to their Inner Sanctums but more difficult to find. Of the 7 official entries, 3 starred Preston Fosterhard drinking, perpetually sleepy Detective Bill Crane, and Frank Jenkshis wisecracking sidekick Doc Williams; such was the case with this first one,Robert Westland (Theodore von Eltz) has only six days left to live, convicted of murdering his wife, whom he was in the process of divorcing. Crane and Williams are summoned when someone sends Westland a note promising to alibi him, but every time a new lead becomes promising, the subject winds up dead. The dead wife was discovered locked in her room, her key still lying on the table beside the body, and her husband in possession of the only other key, plus his gun has seemingly disappeared after the murder. Foster and Jenks excel in their tailor-made roles, not dissimilar to the &quot;I Love a Mystery&quot; duo, Jack Packard (Jim Bannon) and Doc Long (Barton Yarborough), who also did 3 features in 1945-46. Russell Hicks and George Meeker make a decent pair of suspects, and Ward Bond plays Westland&#39;s fellow death row inmate Connors, who puts him onto the right lawyer to get him out, played with great relish by scene-stealing Clarence H. Wilson (frequently seen opposite Charlie Chase in 2 reel Hal Roach comedies). The other Bill Crane titles are &quot;The Lady in the Morgue&quot; (bringing back Thomas E. Jackson and Barbara Pepper) and &quot;The Last Warning&quot; (both 1938). Editor Otis Garrett graduated to director with the next Crime Club, &quot;The Black Doll,&quot; missing out on just one, &quot;The Last Warning.&quot; The Westland Case (1937) <br/><br/>** (out of 4) <br/><br/>Robert Westland is in prison and set to die in a matter of days when private detective Bill Crane (Preston Foster) decides to take his case. Westland&#39;s wife was found murdered inside her apartment with all the doors and windows locked. There were only two keys with one on the inside and the other with her husband.<br/><br/>THE WESTLAND CASE was the first of eight Crime Club films that would be produced at Universal in a very quick period. This was the first in the series that I&#39;ve watched and I must admit that I was really letdown by it, although I&#39;ve read that it&#39;s one of the weakest in the series. I think the biggest problem is the fact that the screenplay really isn&#39;t all that memorable and in fact I&#39;d argue that it really isn&#39;t any better than some of the detective films from the poverty row companies.<br/><br/>I think the biggest problem is in fact the screenplay, which doesn&#39;t give us an interesting case and it certainly doesn&#39;t give us any interesting characters. The Crane character really isn&#39;t any different than a dozen other detectives out there during this era and he certainly doesn&#39;t put himself up there with the best known. Even worse are the supporting members who don&#39;t add much of anything. Throw in some rather weak humor and you&#39;ve got all the elements for a rather bland film.
dosfiocegens Admin replied
363 weeks ago