''Murder in the Music Hall'' is a 1946 American musical

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, i ...

directed by John English and starring Vera Ralston, William Marshall and Helen Walker.McCarty p.464 The film involves a murder in Radio City Music Hall with

The Rockettes The Rockettes are an American precision dance company. Founded 1925 in St. Louis, they have, since , performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Until 2015, they also had a touring company. They are best known for starring in the ...

as suspects. The film's sets were designed by the art director Russell Kimball. It was re-released in 1951.

Plot

Lila Laughton is a Rockette figure skater at Radio City Music Hall in New York. She's dating orchestra conductor Don Jordan. Her ex-flame, producer Carl Lang, gets out of jail and visits her. Lang plays a song he wrote just for Lila, and demands that she appear in his new show or he'll tell the world that she poisoned her ex-lover Douglas five years ago. Frightened, Lila tells fellow performers Diane and Millicent and understudy Gracie about Lang's return. They sympathize, as all of them worked for him before. When Lila and Don return to Lang's apartment to retrieve Lila's purse, they find him dead and a woman's glove on the floor. Lila and Don show the glove to the other girls, and Diane (who also dated Douglas) accuses Lila of murder. It turns out the glove belongs to Rita Morgan, wife of a local newspaper columnist. Don tells Rita that he has her glove, and she meets with Don and Lila. Rita, it turns out, is a former chorus girl who also worked for Carl and was being blackmailed by him. Rita says a blind man named Mr. Winters can exonerate her. Don and Lila find Winter, but quickly discover he's an imposter. The real Winters says he was paid by a man, revealed to be Rita's husband George, to stay away from the apartment. George admits he entered the apartment disguised as Winters to steal the incriminating letters Lang had, but cannot identify the woman he saw running out. Detective Wilson, who has been investigating the case, tells everyone to meet at the music hall. Lila overhears someone humming the song Carl Lang had composed, and realizes only the murderer would know the tune. Gracie is exposed as the killer: She was hiding in Lang's apartment when Lang and Lila arrived. She killed Lang in a jealous rage when she overheard him saying he loved Lila.

Cast

* Vera Ralston as Lila Laughton (as Vera Hruba Ralston) * William Marshall as Don Jordan * Helen Walker as Millicent *

Nancy Kelly Nancy Kelly (March 25, 1921 – January 2, 1995) was an American actress in film, theater and television. A child actress and model, she was a repertory cast member of CBS Radio's ''The March of Time'' and appeared in several films in the late 1 ...

as Mrs. Rita Morgan * William Gargan as Inspector Wilson *

Ann Rutherford Therese Ann Rutherford (November 2, 1917 – June 11, 2012) was a Canadian-born American actress in film, radio, and television. She had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict during the 1930s and 1940s in the And ...

as Gracie *

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Curtin ...

as Diane *

Jerome Cowan Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor. Early years Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Palm ...

as George Morgan *Edward Norris as Carl Lang * Paul Hurst as Hobarth * Frank Orth as Henderson, the Stage Manager *

Jack La Rue Jack La Rue (born Gaspare Biondolillo; May 3, 1902 – January 11, 1984) was an American film and stage actor. Early years The son of Sicilian immigrants Pasquale and Concetta Biondolillo, La Rue was born in New York City. His father sailed to ...

as Bruce Wilton *James Craven as Mr. Winters

References

Bibliography

* McCarty, Clifford. ''Film Composers in America: A Filmography, 1911-1970''. Oxford University Press, 2000.

External links

* 1946 films Films directed by John English 1946 musical films Radio City Music Hall Republic Pictures films 1946 mystery films American mystery films American black-and-white films American musical films Films set in Manhattan 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{Musical-film-stub