''Mister Dynamite'' is a 1935 American

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Alan Crosland Frederick 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) and the first feature movie with s ...

and written by Doris Malloy and Harry Clork. The film stars Edmund Lowe, Jean Dixon,

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 American silent films, silent film star. Her most prominent sound picture was ''To the Last Man (1933 film), To the Last Man'' in 1933. Early life and c ...

, Verna Hillie and

Minor Watson Minor Watson (December 22, 1889 – July 28, 1965) was a prominent character actor. He appeared in 111 movies made between 1913 and 1956. His credits included '' Boys Town'' (1938), '' Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942), ''Kings Row'' (1942), '' Guad ...

. The film was released on April 22, 1935, by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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

* Edmund Lowe as T.N. Thompson / Mr. Dynamite * Jean Dixon as Lynn Marlo *

as Jarl Dvorjak *

as Charmian Dvorjak * Verna Hillie as Mona Lewis *

as Clark Lewis * Robert Gleckler as James V. King * Jameson Thomas as Carey Williams * Greta Meyer as Jans *Frank Lyman as D.H. Matthews * G. Pat Collins as Rod * Bradley Page as Felix *James P. Burtis as Joe * Matt McHugh 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 characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...

, commissioned by Darryl Zanuck at

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

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, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin M ...

." 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 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 English-language action films {{action-film-stub