The Red-Haired Alibi is an American pre-Code feature-length film produced by Tower Productions. The film was produced by Sigmund Neufeld. The title is often written as Red-Haired Alibi.
Released on October 15, 1932, it was directed by Christy Cabanne. The movie was based on a novel of the same name written by Wilson Collison. It is the first feature-length film to feature child actress Shirley Temple in the credits. [1]
A young woman, Lynn Monith (Merna Kennedy), comes to Manhattan and is employed by pleasant and charming Trent Travers (Theodore von Eltz) as a companion. She learns over time that Travers is a gangster. After his crimes escalate to murder, police urge her to leave him in order to protect herself. She builds a new life in White Plains and marries Bob Shelton (Grant Withers), a widower with a four-year-old daughter, Gloria (Shirley Temple). However, one night, Lynn drops off Bob at Grand Central Station in Manhattan, and is spotted by Travers, who threatens to reveal her past unless she gives him a large sum so he can leave the country.
The next night, Lynn meets Travers at a restaurant, as they had arranged—but she refuses to pay, fires a gun at him, and flees. Travers is found shot to death soon after. A waiter overheard part of their conversation, and informs the police. The police confront Lynn at her home in White Plains. Lynn confesses and hands over her gun. However, the bullet which killed Travers was fired from a gun of a different caliber! The police realize that Lynn is innocent.
Shirley Temple Black was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was named United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and also served as Chief of Protocol of the United States.
Bright Eyes is a 1934 American comedy drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by William Conselman is based on a story by David Butler and Edwin J. Burke.
Shirley Temple (1928–2014) was an American child actress, dancer, and singer who began her film career in 1931, and continued successfully through 1949. When Educational Pictures director Charles Lamont scouted Meglan Dancing School for prospective talent, three-year-old student Temple hid behind the piano. Lamont spotted her and immediately decided she was the one he was looking for. Starting at $10 a day, she was eventually under contract for $50 per film. The production company generated its Baby Burlesks one-reeler film short satires of Hollywood films in 1931–1933, produced by Jack Hays and directed by Lamont. Temple made eight Baby Burlesks films, and 10 other short films, before being signed to star in feature-length motion pictures.
Merna Kennedy was an American actress of the late silent era and the transitional period into talkies.
Jane Withers was an American actress and children's radio show hostess. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list for box-office gross in 1937 and 1938.
Sara Dylan is an American former actress and model who was the first wife of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In 1959, Noznisky married magazine photographer Hans Lownds; during their marriage, she was known as Sara Lownds.
Naked Alibi is a 1954 American film noir crime film directed by Jerry Hopper and starring Sterling Hayden, Gloria Grahame and Gene Barry. It was released on October 1, 1954 by Universal-International. Portions of the film were shot in Tijuana.
Granville Gustavus Withers, known professionally as Grant Withers, was an American film actor. He began working in motion pictures during the last years of the silent era. Withers moved into sound films, establishing himself with a list of headlined features as a young and handsome male lead. Historian Terry Rowan writes, "As his career progressed ... his importance diminished, but he did manage a 10-year contract with Republic."
Change of Heart is a 1934 American pre-Code drama film starring Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, James Dunn, and Ginger Rogers. The movie, about a quartet of college chums who all move to 1934 New York City, was written by James Gleason and Sonya Levien from Kathleen Norris's novel, Manhattan Love Song and directed by John G. Blystone.
William Christy Cabanne was an American film director, screenwriter, and silent film actor.
Theodore von Eltz was an American film actor, appearing in more than 200 films between 1915 and 1957. He was the father of actress Lori March.
The Penguin Pool Murder is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy/mystery film starring Edna May Oliver as Hildegarde Withers, a witness in a murder case at the New York Aquarium, with James Gleason as the police inspector in charge of the case, who investigates with her unwanted help, and Robert Armstrong as an attorney representing Mae Clarke, the wife of the victim. Oliver's appearance was the first film appearance of the character of Hildegarde Withers, the schoolteacher and sleuth based on the character from the 1931 novel The Penguin Pool Murder by Stuart Palmer. It is the first in a trilogy including Murder on the Blackboard, and Murder on a Honeymoon, in which Oliver and Gleason team up for the lead roles.
Murder on the Blackboard is a 1934 American pre-Code mystery/comedy film starring Edna May Oliver as schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and James Gleason as Police Inspector Oscar Piper. Together, they investigate a murder at Withers' school. It was based on the novel of the same name by Stuart Palmer. It features popular actor Bruce Cabot in one of his first post-King Kong roles, as well as Gertrude Michael, Regis Toomey, and Edgar Kennedy.
Little Big Shot is a 1935 American film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Sybil Jason and Glenda Farrell. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 7, 1935. The plot concerns a young girl who endears herself to her caretakers after her father is murdered by mobsters.
Wilson Collison was a writer and playwright.
Send for Paul Temple is a 1946 British crime film directed by John Argyle and starring Anthony Hulme, Joy Shelton and Tamara Desni. Paul Temple is called in by Scotland Yard after a major diamond theft. It was the first of four film adaptations of the BBC's Paul Temple radio serials, with John Bentley taking over the lead role in future installments.
Devotion is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic drama film starring Ann Harding and Leslie Howard based on the 1930 Pamela Wynne novel A Little Flat in the Temple. Its plot involves a woman who disguises herself and gains employment in the home of the man she loves.
Sinner Take All is a 1936 American murder mystery film directed by Errol Taggart and starring Bruce Cabot, Margaret Lindsay and Joseph Calleia.
The Falcon Out West is a 1944 American mystery film directed by William Clemens and starring Tom Conway, Joan Barclay and Barbara Hale. The film was part of RKO's The Falcon series of detective films, this time, a murder set in Texas.
Don't Bet on Love is a 1933 American comedy film directed by Murray Roth and written by Howard Emmett Rogers, Murray Roth and Ben Ryan. The film stars Lew Ayres, Ginger Rogers, Charley Grapewin, Shirley Grey, Tom Dugan and Merna Kennedy. The film was released on July 1, 1933, by Universal Pictures.