Michael Shayne: Private Detective Poster

Michael Shayne: Private Detective (1940)

12/19/1940 Comedy, Mystery 1h 17m
65%
User
Score
6.6/10

Overview

Millionaire sportsman Hiram Brighton hires gumshoe Michael Shayne to keep his spoiled daughter Phyllis away from racetrack betting windows and roulette wheels. After Phyllis slips away and continues her compulsive gambling, Shayne fakes the murder of her gambler boyfriend, who is also romancing the daughter of casino owner Benny Gordon, in order to frighten her. When the tout really ends up murdered, Shayne and Phyllis' Aunt Olivia, an avid reader of murder mysteries, both try to find the identity of the killer.

Eugene Forde

Director

Manning O'Connor

Screenplay

Stanley Rauh

Screenplay

Part of the Michael Shayne Collection

Includes Michael Shayne: Private Detective and other great movies.

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Top Billed Cast

Lloyd Nolan

Lloyd Nolan

Michael Shayne

Marjorie Weaver

Marjorie Weaver

Phyllis Brighton

Joan Valerie

Joan Valerie

Marsha Gordon

Walter Abel

Walter Abel

Elliott Thomas

Elizabeth Patterson

Elizabeth Patterson

Aunt Olivia

Donald MacBride

Donald MacBride

Chief Peter Painter

Douglass Dumbrille

Douglass Dumbrille

Benny Gordon (as Douglas Dumbrille)

Clarence Kolb

Clarence Kolb

Hiram P. Brighton

George Meeker

George Meeker

Harry Grange

Full Cast & Crew →

Media

1941 Michael Shayne Private Detective

1941 Michael Shayne Private Detective

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Reviews

A review by CinemaSerf

Written on April 16, 2023

For some reason, this starts with and features a slightly Scottish lilt to the score throughout, as we follow the slightly zany investigations of the eponymous down-at-heel PI (Lloyd Nolan) as he tries to wade his way through the murky worlds of horse racing, gaming addicts and, of course, murder! He's initially retained by the wealthy "Brighton" (Clarence Kolb) to rein in his unruly daughter "Phyllis" (Marjorie Weaver) but as the bodies start to pile up and he finds that he has to stay clear of the suspecting police chief "Painter" (Donald MacBride) we find ourselves in quite an entertainingly internecine mess of who did what and why? No absence of suspects and no shortage of crimes to suspect them of - all good fun! The star is really Elizabeth Patterson as the sleuthing "Aunt Olivia" wh...

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