''Quiet Please, Murder'' is a 1942

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by John Larkin and starring

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

Gail Patrick Gail Patrick (born Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick; June 20, 1911 – July 6, 1980) was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 a ...

and

Richard Denning Richard Denning (born Louis Albert Heindrich Denninger Jr.; March 27, 1914 – October 11, 1998) was an American actor who starred in science fiction films of the 1950s, including ''Unknown Island'' (1948), ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' ( ...

. Based on the short story ''Death Walks in Marble Halls'' by Lawrence G. Blochman that appeared in the September 1942 issue of ''

American Magazine ''The American Magazine'' was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904), ...

'', it is also known under the title ''Death from the Sanskrit''.

Plot

In 1942, while

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

is raging, expert New York forger Jim Fleg steals

Richard Burbage Richard Burbage (6 January 1567 – 13 March 1619) was an English stage actor, widely considered to have been one of the most famous actors of the Globe Theatre and of his time. In addition to being a stage actor, he was also a theatre owne ...

's edition of ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' from a public library, killing a guard in cold blood. Fleg plans to pass off his forgeries as the only surviving original copy. Six months later, however, one of his victims, Martin Cleaver, discovers he has been swindled by art dealer Rebescu and authenticator Myra Blandy (who works for Fleg). He demands his $20,000. Fleg orders Blandy to give the money back because he strongly suspects that Cleaver is working on behalf of a high-ranking Nazi, likely

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

, but she refuses to do so. Meanwhile, private investigator Hal McByrne traces another forgery to Blandy. McByrne pressures her to put him on Fleg's trail. Blandy tries to solve all her problems by sending McByrne to the library to get a book, telling Cleaver that it will be Fleg who will make the pickup. Things do not go as she had hoped; McByrne is captured, but escapes. Then Cleaver is killed with a knife. Fleg, pretending to be with the police department, investigates, with his gang masquerading as policemen; it is all part of his scheme to try to steal the library's most valuable books. However, Myra gets to the books first and hides them. She also tells McByrne that the police detective is Fleg. Fleg thinks that McByrne has the books and has a henchman try to beat the information out of him, but once again McByrne gets away. McByrne figures out that he was supposed to go to the balcony where Cleaver was knifed, but Cleaver had intercepted the note, supposedly from Myra, asking him to meet her there. Fleg recaptures McByrne, but an air raid drill and the ensuing blackout enable him to escape again, temporarily. Caught yet again, he manages to deceive an air raid warden into turning the library's lights back on. This draws other air raid wardens and genuine policemen to the library; they arrest Fleg and his men. Fleg, who has several times stated he relishes punishment, seems oddly attracted to the prospect of being executed for his many crimes. Neither Fleg nor McByrne reveal Myra's involvement, but McByrne recovers the stolen books for a sizable reward. He no longer wants anything to do with Myra and refuses the frightened woman's request to escort her home. Pahsen, a mute Cleaver henchman, follows and kills her, before being apprehended by the police. McByrne does leave with pretty librarian Kay Ryan, whom he earlier rescued from one of Cleaver's murderous thugs.

Cast

as Jim Fleg *

as Myra Blandy *

as Hal McByrne * Lynne Roberts as Kay Ryan *

Sidney Blackmer Sidney Alderman Blackmer (July 13, 1895 – October 6, 1973) was an American Broadway theatre, Broadway and film actor active between 1914 and 1971, usually in major supporting roles. Biography Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, ...

as Martin Cleaver *

Kurt Katch Kurt Katch (born Isser Kac; January 28, 1893 – August 14, 1958) was a Polish film and television actor. He appeared in '' Quiet Please, Murder'', ''The Purple V'', ''The Mask of Dimitrios'', ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'', among many o ...

as Eric Pahsen * Margaret Brayton as Miss Oval, a librarian *

Charles Tannen Charles David Tannen (October 22, 1915 – December 28, 1980) was an American actor and screenwriter. Career A general purpose actor who worked primarily at 20th Century Fox, Tannen had mostly bit and/or supporting parts in movies, appea ...

as Hollis, the phony detective in a dark coat *

Byron Foulger Byron Kay Foulger (August 27, 1898 – April 4, 1970) was an American character actor who over a 50-year career performed in hundreds of stage, film, and television productions. Early years Born in Ogden, Utah, Byron was the second of four ...

as Edmund Walpole (uncredited) *

Mae Marsh Mae Marsh (born Mary Warne Marsh; November 9, 1894U.S. Census records for 1900, El Paso, Texas, Sheet No. 6 – February 13, 1968) was an American film actress whose career spanned over 50 years. Early life Mae Marsh was born Mary Warne Marsh i ...

as Miss Hartwig (uncredited) *

Lon McCallister Herbert Alonzo "Lon" McCallister Jr. (April 17, 1923 – June 11, 2005) was an American actor. According to one obituary, he was best known for "playing gentle, boyish young men from the country."Obituaries: LON MCCALLISTER Anonymous. Variety; L ...

as Freddie, the stack boy (uncredited) *

Paul Porcasi Paul Porcasi (1 January 1879 – 8 August 1946) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than 140 films from 1917 to 1945. Biography Porcasi sang with the Metropolitan Opera. One of his early non-operatic productions was ''The Country B ...

as Rebescu (uncredited) *

Arthur Space Charles Arthur Space (October 12, 1908 – January 13, 1983) was an American film, television and stage actor. Today's audiences know him as the eccentric inventor opposite Laurel and Hardy in '' The Big Noise'' (1944), and as veterinarian Doc W ...

as Vance (uncredited)

Reception

Dennis Schwartz wrote in his Ozus’ World Movie Reviews that, "It's a spirited film, with enough cheap Freudian explanations about the forger and his associate to keep you in stitches. Sanders’s typical suave performance, plus the B&W noir-like lighting, make this B-film highly entertaining."

References

External links

* * * {{TCMDb title, id=87500 1942 films 1942 crime drama films 20th Century Fox films American black-and-white films American crime drama films American detective films Film noir Films about con artists Films based on short fiction Films scored by Emil Newman Films set on the United States home front during World War II World War II films made in wartime 1940s English-language films English-language crime drama films