Sky Murder | |
---|---|
Directed by | George B. Seitz |
Written by | William R. Lipman |
Based on | Nick Carter (literary character) |
Produced by | Frederick Stephani |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Charles Lawton Jr. |
Edited by | Gene Ruggiero |
Music by | David Snell |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $212,000 [1] |
Box office | $437,000 [1] |
Sky Murder is a 1940 detective film starring Walter Pidgeon as detective Nick Carter in his third and final outing for MGM as Nick Carter. [2] The film was part of a trilogy based on original screen stories starring the popular literary series character. In the heightened tensions prior to World War II, Hollywood produced many films in the spy film genre such as Sky Murder. [3]
Sky Murder followed Phantom Raiders (1940) and the first film in the series, Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939) and led to Sky Murder, the last of the Nick Carter series. [N 1]
Old friend Cortland Grand summons private detective Nick Carter and his friend "Beeswax" Bartholomew to Washington for as meeting with Senator Monrose, who heads a committee investigating subversive groups in the U.S. Nick turns down the Senator's request to assist his committee, and flies back to New York on Cortland's personal aircraft. Joining Nick on the flight are six beautiful models accompanied by their chaperone, detective Christine Cross, and Andrew Hendon, a polo star suspected of being a spy.
Upon landing, Hendon is discovered murdered, with a nail file belonging to model Pat Evens in his throat. More ominously, three spies waiting on the landing strip are intent on silencing Pat and, getting into the cockpit, they strangle the pilot. Nick take over, bringing the passengers to Cortland's country house, where he interrogates Pat when machine gun fire hits the house. Bartholomew is dressed in Pat's robes to fool the killers, allowing Nick and Pat to make a getaway.
After leaving in the sheriff's car, Nick and Pat are arrested. When they are locked up, the spies plant a bomb with Pat and Nick again narrowly missing being killed. They take refuge in Cortland's New York apartment where Pat tells Nick that the spies had been threatening to kill her father, held captive in Europe. As Pat confesses, Bartholomew and Christine trace the spies to their hideout behind a printer's shop, but they are taken prisoner.
Sending Pat to stay in a small hotel, Nick contacts Senator Monrose and realizes that Cortland is likely the leader of the fifth column spies. Nick locates Bartholomew by following his bees but when he goes to rescue his assistant, Kathe, one of Cortland's spies, kidnaps Pat.
After rescuing Bartholomew and Christine, Nick alerts the police, who arrest the spies and free Pat. Setting a trap for Cortland, Nick and the Senator board his aircraft, and after Nick tricks him into a confession, Cortland dies in a shootout.
Production on Sky Murder began on July 24, 1940. [5] A Douglas DC-2 in scale model form is seen in the film. [6]
According to MGM record, Sky Murder earned $270,000 in the US and Canada and $167,000 elsewhere, making a profit of $64,000. [1]
Film reviewer Bosley Crowther, in his The New York Times review of Sky Murder, wrote: "Let a Hollywood producer launch a film series and very shortly the stories, as they appear, become as formalized as Chinese checkers. The Nick Carter mysteries are no exception ... Through it all Nick is magnificently careless. Though sudden death lurks outside the window pane, he never pulls a shade. When seconds count, he saves one to pinch a cutie's cheek. When lesser men quail, he lights a cigarette. As usual, he wins his game in a welter of comic-strip heroics. But, as we were suggesting, it's a little like playing checkers with an opponent whose tricks became familiar long ago". [7]
Film historian and reviewer Leonard Maltin called Sky Murder an "above-average private-eye yarn". [8]
Film historian John Douglas Eames in The MGM Story: The Complete History Of Fifty Roaring Years (1975) described Pigeon's recurring role as sleuth Nick Carter in Sky Murder, "a 'melo'". [9]
The Thin Man Goes Home is a 1944 American comedy mystery film directed by Richard Thorpe. It is the fifth of the six Thin Man films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Dashiell Hammett's dapper ex-private detective Nick Charles and his wife Nora. The supporting cast includes Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven and Helen Vinson. This entry in The Thin Man series was the first not directed by W.S. Van Dyke, who had died in 1943.
Nick Carter is a fictional character who began as a dime novel private detective in 1886 and has appeared in a variety of formats over more than a century. The character was first conceived by Ormond G. Smith and created by John R. Coryell. Carter headlined his own magazine for years, and was then part of a long-running series of novels from 1964 to 1990. Films were created based on Carter in France, Czechoslovakia and Hollywood. Nick Carter has also appeared in many comic books and in radio programs.
Skyjacked is a 1972 American disaster film starring Charlton Heston and Yvette Mimieux. Directed by John Guillermin, the film is based on the David Harper novel Hijacked. James Brolin lead an ensemble cast primarily playing the roles of passengers and crew aboard an airliner.
The Unknown Man is a 1951 American courtroom drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Walter Pidgeon, Ann Harding and Barry Sullivan.
Dark Command is a 1940 Crime western film starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon loosely based on Quantrill's Raiders during the American Civil War. Directed by Raoul Walsh from the novel by W. R. Burnett, Dark Command is the only film in which western icons John Wayne and Roy Rogers appear together, and was the only film Wayne and Raoul Walsh made together since Walsh discovered Wayne working as a prop mover, renamed him, and gave him his first leading role in the epic widescreen Western The Big Trail a decade before.
Nick Carter, Master Detective was a Mutual radio crime drama based on tales of the fictional private detective Nick Carter from Street & Smith's dime novels and pulp magazines. Nick Carter first came to radio as The Return of Nick Carter, a reference to the character's pulp origins, but the title was soon changed to Nick Carter, Master Detective. A veteran radio dramatist, Ferrin Fraser, wrote many of the scripts.
The Man in the Sky is a 1957 British thriller drama film directed by Charles Chrichton and starring Jack Hawkins and Elizabeth Sellars. A test pilot strives to land a stricken prototype plane.
The Girl in the Picture is a 1957 British second feature crime film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Donald Houston and Patrick Holt.
Sky Patrol is a 1939 American film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring John Trent, along with Marjorie Reynolds, Milburn Stone and Jason Robards Sr. The film also featured actor and comedian Jackie Coogan, who began his film career as a child actor in silent films.
Flight Command is a 1940 American U.S. Navy film from MGM, produced by Frank Borzage and directed by J. Walter Ruben and Frank Borzage (uncredited), starring Robert Taylor, Ruth Hussey, and Walter Pidgeon. It has the distinction of often being credited as the first Hollywood film glorifying the American military to be released after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, a year before the U.S. entered the conflict.
Wings of Danger is a 1952 British second feature crime film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Zachary Scott, Robert Beatty and Kay Kendall. The screenplay, based on the 1951 novel Dead on Course by Trevor Dudley Smith and Packham Webb, concerns a pilot who is suspected of smuggling. It was released in the United States under its working title of Dead on Course.
Holiday in Mexico is a 1946 America Technicolor musical comedy film directed by George Sidney and starring Walter Pidgeon, Jane Powell, and Ilona Massey. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and marked Powell's first film for the Hollywood studio who had placed her under contract.
Give Us Wings is a 1940 Universal comedic film starring the Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys. Several members of the casts of those series were also featured in "The East Side Kids" films.
Phantom Raiders is a 1940 film, the second in the series starring Walter Pidgeon as detective Nick Carter. The film was part of a movie trilogy based on original stories featuring the character from the long-running Nick Carter, Detective literary series. In the heightened tensions prior to World War II, Hollywood produced many films in the spy film genre such as Phantom Raiders.
Nick Carter, Master Detective is a 1939 film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Walter Pidgeon. It is based original stories created for the screen featuring the Nick Carter character from the long-running literary series.
Murder in the Air is a 1940 American drama film with science fiction elements directed by Lewis Seiler and written by Raymond L. Schrock. The film stars Ronald Reagan, John Litel, Lya Lys, James Stephenson, Eddie Foy, Jr., Robert Warwick and Victor Zimmerman. Murder in the Air was released by Warner Bros. on June 1, 1940.
Pirates of the Skies is a 1939 American action film directed by Joseph A. McDonough and written by Lester Cole and Ben Grauman Kohn. The film stars Kent Taylor, Rochelle Hudson, Regis Toomey, Marion Martin, Samuel S. Hinds, Ray Walker and Lucien Littlefield. Pirates of the Skies was released on February 3, 1939, by Universal Pictures.
Mystery Plane is a 1939 American action film directed by George Waggner and written by Paul Schofield and George Waggner. The film is based on the comic strip Tailspin Tommy by Hal Forrest and Glenn Chaffin. The film stars John Trent, Marjorie Reynolds, Milburn Stone, Jason Robards Sr., George Lynn and Lucien Littlefield. Mystery Plane, the first of four "Tailspin Tommy" films made by Monogram Pictures, was released on March 8, 1939.
Trapped in the Sky is a 1939 American thriller film directed by Lewis D. Collins and produced by Larry Darmour for Columbia Pictures. The film stars Jack Holt, Ralph Morgan and Katherine DeMille. Holt is the "flyboy" who is trying to find the saboteurs of a "silent" aircraft. The plot device of a "noiseless" or stealthy aircraft is a familiar theme in aviation films of the period, including The Sky Ranger (1921), The Silent Flier (1926) and Eagle of the Night (1928).
The Sky Spider is a 1931 American "youth-oriented" adventure film. Directed by Richard Thorpe, the film starred Glenn Tryon, Beryl Mercer, Blanche Mehaffey, Pat O'Malley and newcomer John Trent.