''Mister Dynamite'' is a 1935 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...

directed by

Alan Crosland Alan Crosland (August 10, 1894 – July 16, 1936) was an American stage actor and film director. He is noted for having directed the first feature film using spoken dialogue, '' The Jazz Singer'' (1927). Early life and career Born in New York C ...

and written by

Doris Malloy Doris Malloy (1901–1955) was an American screenwriter active during the 1920s through the 1940s. Biography Born in Gloversville, New York, in 1901 to Henry Malloy (noted as a "prominent gambler" in a few publicity items) and Kate Huckans, Do ...

and Harry Clork. The film stars

Edmund Lowe Edmund Dantes Lowe (March 3, 1890 – April 21, 1971) was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. Biography Lowe was born in San Jose, California. His father was a local judge. His childhood home was a ...

Jean Dixon Jean Dixon (born Jean Jacques; July 14, 1893 – February 12, 1981) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Dixon was born in Waterbury, Connecticut. She attended St. Margaret's School in Waterbury, and was also educated i ...

Victor Varconi Victor Varconi (born Mihály Várkonyi; March 31, 1891 – June 6, 1976) was a Hungarian actor who initially found success in his native country, as well as in Germany and Austria, in silent films, before relocating to the United States, where ...

Esther Ralston Esther Ralston (born Esther Louise Worth, September 17, 1902 – January 14, 1994) was an iconic American silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was '' To the Last Man'' in 1933. Early life and career Ralston was born Esther Loui ...

Verna Hillie Verna or Virna may refer to: People * Verna Aardema (1911–2000), American author of children's books * Verna Bloom (1939–2019), American actress * Virna De Angeli (born 1976), Italian former sprinter * Virna Dias (born 1971), Brazilian retire ...

and Minor Watson. The film was released on April 22, 1935, by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Plot

Private detective T.N. Thompson, nicknamed "Dynamite" due to his initials, takes an interest when a man is murdered in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

leaving a casino. The dead man, D.H. Matthews, had an argument outside the casino with Jarl Dvorjak, a celebrated pianist who was gambling while his aloof and money-mad wife Charmian was away. Dvorjak's acquaintance with Mona Lewis led him to the casino, which is owned by her father Clark Lewis and closed by the police after the killing. Mona becomes a suspect, particularly after Dvorjak's business manager Carey Williams is killed as well. When the pianist himself is shot while playing an organ, Thompson puts everything together and reveals to all that Matthews had actually been a son of Dvorjak's from a previous marriage who was conspiring with Charmian to gain his fortune.

Cast

as T.N. Thompson / Mr. Dynamite *

as Lynn Marlo *

as Jarl Dvorjak *

as Charmian Dvorjak *

as Mona Lewis * Minor Watson as Clark Lewis * Robert Gleckler as James V. King *

Jameson Thomas Jameson Thomas (born Thomas Roland Jameson; 24 March 1888 – 10 January 1939) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1923 and 1939. He was born in St George Hanover Square, London. On the stage from his earl ...

as Carey Williams *

Greta Meyer Greta Meyer (7 August 18838 October 1965) was a German actress in motion pictures beginning in the silent film era. Biography Meyer belonged to a German family that was comparable to the Barrymore family in America. At age 3 she debuted on sta ...

as Jans *Frank Lyman as D.H. Matthews * G. Pat Collins as Rod * Bradley Page as Felix *James P. Burtis as Joe *

Matt McHugh Matthew O. McHugh (January 22, 1894 – February 22, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in more than 200 films between 1931 and 1955, primarily in small cameo parts. Career McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a s ...

as Sunshine

Development

According to Layman and Rivett, the script for Mister Dynamite was based on a screen treatment written by

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

, commissioned by

Darryl Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

for "another original Sam Spade story," following the first film adaption of Hammett's '' The Maltese Falcon''. Hammett's commission for that treatment was for "motion picture production...featuring the actor,

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...

." Zanuck rejected the treatment, explaining that "The finished story adnone of qualifications of ''Maltese Falcon'', although the same character was in both stories." Rights to the treatment reverted to Hammett, who reworked it, re-titling it ''On the Make'' and renaming the detective character Gene Richmond. After further re-work, and another change of the detective's name (to T. N. Thompson), the treatment was sold to

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

in 1935, with the script "liberally reworked" by Malloy and Clork.

References

External links

* 1935 films American action films 1930s action films Universal Pictures films Films directed by Alan Crosland American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{action-film-stub