The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine

Last updated
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Bernard Vorhaus
Written byPaul Armstrong Jr. (story)
Olive Cooper
Robert Tasker
Produced byLeonard Fields
(associate producer)
Starring Dennis O'Keefe
Ruth Terry
Gloria Dickson
Cinematography John Alton
Edited byHoward O'Neill
Music byMort Glickman
Samuel Kaylin
Production
company
Republic Pictures
Distributed by Republic Pictures
Release date
  • March 27, 1942 (1942-03-27)(United States)
Running time
72 minutes
53 minutes (edited version)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine is a 1942 American comedy crime film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Dennis O'Keefe, Ruth Terry, and Gloria Dickson.

Contents

The film is also known as Unforgotten Crime (American TV title) and Find Jimmy Valentine. The original film was cut to 53 minutes due to its B-movie billing and later for television. The film was based on the 1910 play, Alias Jimmy Valentine , by Paul Armstrong. [1]

Plot

To boost listener ratings, radio personality Mike Jason (Dennis O'Keefe) encourages sponsors, of his murder mystery radio show, to offer a reward to anyone who can locate safe cracker Jimmy Valentine, who is reportedly retired. The reward for the person who finds the legendary gentleman burglar is set to $10,000.

There's little tough guy Mousey (George Stone), who becomes over zealous over the possibility of winning the reward. Valentine is rumored to have thrown down his hat in a picturesque small town called Fernville in Illinois. Jason and co-worker Cleo Arden (Gloria Dickson) lead the hunt, together with Mousey, and it takes them to the small and previously quiet town.

The search begins in the small town's local newspaper, where Jason hopes to find some old files that can reveal Jimmy Valentine's whereabouts. Jason meets the daughter of the newspaper editor, Bonnie Forbes (Ruth Terry), who takes him to see her father, Tom Forbes (Roman Bohnen).

It turns out Tom isn't willing to help out in the search for Valentine. But Bonnie has taken a romantic interest in Jason, and offers to help out. She takes the party to Tom's gardener, Pinky (Harry Shannon), who she has heard tell stories about Valentine in the past.

The lead is a dead end, as Pinky claims to know nothing about Valentine of use to Jason. But when Jason and Mousey visits the Forbes' house, Mousey finds Pinky rummaging about in Tom's office, destroying old files, and there is a photo of Pinky when he was younger, where his hair color matches the color of Valentine's side kick back in the day.

Mousey turns out to be the son of an infamous mobster who was framed by Valentine, and kills Pinky to revenge his father. When Jason finds out about the killing, he suspects Valentine of being the murderer. He goes about town to collect fingerprints of important persons, and stirs up the whole town, since they are all ex-convicts, having settled down in this peaceful place to live a quiet law-abiding life.

The fingerprints are stored in a safe at the sheriff's office, and Jason plans to ambush Valentine and catch him red-handed when he tries to crack the safe open to get hold of the prints. Just as planned, Jason catches Tom, who turns out to be Jimmy Valentine, as he breaks the safe. In an effort to save the rest of the town from being caught, Tom wants to give Jason his prints in exchange for all the others'.

Mousey enters the scene and tries to get his revenge on Tom/Jimmy. Mousey manages to kill himself, and Jason realizes that Tom/Jimmy wasn't the one who killed Pinky. Jason tells the police that Pinky was Jimmy Valentine in disguise, thus saving Tom and his daughter from ruin. Then Jason decides to stay in the small town with Bonnie. [2]

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis O'Keefe</span> American actor (1899–1957)

Dennis O'Keefe was an American actor and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy Dennis</span> American actress (1937–1992)

Sandra Dale Dennis was an American actress. She made her film debut in the drama Splendor in the Grass (1961). For her performance in the comedy-drama film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<i>Pitfall</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by André de Toth

Pitfall is a 1948 American film noir crime film directed by André de Toth. The film is based on the novel The Pitfall by Jay Dratler and stars Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, and Jane Wyatt, and features Raymond Burr.

<i>Cover Up</i> (film) 1949 American mystery film directed by Alfred Edward Green

Cover Up is a 1949 American film noir mystery film directed by Alfred E. Green starring Dennis O'Keefe, William Bendix and Barbara Britton. O'Keefe also co-wrote the screenplay, credited as Jonathan Rix. The murder mystery takes place during the Christmas season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloria Dickson</span> American actress (1917–1945)

Gloria Dickson was an American stage and screen actress of the 1930s and 1940s.

<i>Alias Jimmy Valentine</i> (1928 film) 1928 film by Jack Conway

Alias Jimmy Valentine is a 1928 American sound part-talkie crime drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring William Haines, Leila Hyams, Lionel Barrymore, and Karl Dane. The film features talking sequences along with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is based on the 1903 O. Henry story "A Retrieved Reformation", which was turned into the 1910 play Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong. The play toured in travelling production companies making it extremely popular. It was revived on Broadway in 1921. Two previous film adaptations had been produced at the old Metro Studios. A 1915 film version was directed by Maurice Tourneur and a 1920 version starring Bert Lytell was directed by Edmund Mortimer and Arthur Ripley.

<i>Heroes for Sale</i> (film) 1933 film

Heroes for Sale (1933) is an American pre-Code drama film directed by William Wellman, starring Richard Barthelmess, Aline MacMahon, and Loretta Young, and released by Warner Bros. and First National Pictures. The 76-minute original is considered lost; a 71-minute version is available from Turner Entertainment.

<i>Gold Diggers in Paris</i> 1938 film

Gold Diggers in Paris is a 1938 Warner Bros. movie musical directed by Ray Enright with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley, starring Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Hugh Herbert, and Allen Jenkins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Bohnen</span> American actor (1901–1949)

Roman Aloys Bohnen was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the films Of Mice and Men (1939), The Song of Bernadette (1943), and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Retrieved Reformation</span> Short story by O. Henry

"A Retrieved Reformation" is a short story by American author O. Henry first published in The Cosmopolitan Magazine, April 1903. The original title was "A Retrieved Reform". It was illustrated by A.I. Keller.

Get Hep to Love is a 1942 musical film starring Gloria Jean, Donald O'Connor, Jane Frazee, Robert Paige and Peggy Ryan. The film was directed by Charles Lamont.

<i>Crosswinds</i> (film) 1951 adventure film by Lewis R. Foster

Crosswinds is a 1951 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Lewis R. Foster and starring Rhonda Fleming, John Payne and Forrest Tucker. It made by Pine-Thomas Productions for distribution by Paramount Pictures. It was Payne's sixth film for Pine-Thomas. The film was rereleased in 1962 by Citation Films Inc. as Jungle Attack in a double bill with Untamed West.

<i>K-11</i> (film) 2012 American film

K-11 is a 2012 American prison drama film co-written and directed by Jules Stewart. The film stars an ensemble cast of generally independent film actors including Goran Višnjić, Kate del Castillo, D. B. Sweeney, Portia Doubleday, Jason Mewes, and Tommy "Tiny" Lister.

<i>Dont Gamble with Strangers</i> 1946 film

Don't Gamble with Strangers is a 1946 American crime drama film about two card sharks, pretending to be brother and sister, who clean out a small-town banker, then take over a crooked gambling joint.

<i>The Depraved</i> (1957 film) 1957 British film

The Depraved is a 1957 British crime film directed by Paul Dickson and starring Anne Haywood and Robert Arden.

No Place to Go is a 1939 American drama film, directed by Terry O. Morse and written by Fred Niblo Jr., Lee Katz and Lawrence Kimble. It was adapted from the 1924 play, Minick, written by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman. The film stars Dennis Morgan, Gloria Dickson, Fred Stone, Sonny Bupp, Aldrich Bowker and Charles Halton. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 23, 1939.

<i>Earl Carroll Vanities</i> (film) 1945 film by Joseph Santley

Earl Carroll Vanities is a 1945 American musical film directed by Joseph Santley and written by Frank Gill Jr. The film stars Dennis O'Keefe, Constance Moore, Eve Arden, Otto Kruger, Alan Mowbray and Stephanie Bachelor. It was released on April 5, 1945 by Republic Pictures.

The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case is a 1943 American mystery film directed by Eugene Forde and starring Warner Baxter, Lynn Merrick and Gloria Dickson. It is the second in a series of Crime Doctor films made by Columbia Pictures.

<i>Dance Girl Dance</i> 1933 film directed by Frank Strayer

Dance Girl Dance is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film directed by Frank Strayer from an original screenplay by Robert Ellis. The picture stars Alan Dinehart, Evalyn Knapp, and Edward Nugent, and premiered on September 1, 1933.

References

  1. ↑ Institute, American Film (1999). The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States. F4,1. Feature films, 1941 - 1950, film entries, A - L. University of California Press. p. 35. ISBN   9780520215214 . Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  2. ↑ "Affairs of Jimmy Valentine".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.