''Slightly Honorable'' is a 1939 American

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

directed by

Tay Garnett William Taylor "Tay" Garnett (June 13, 1894 – October 3, 1977) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He made nearly 50 films in various genres during his 55-year career, ''The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 film), The Postman ...

and starring Pat O'Brien, Edward Arnold, and

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the film ''All the King's Men'' (1949), which earned him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Of ...

. The film was based on the 1939 novel ''Send Another Coffin'' by Frank Gilmore Presnell, Jr. (1906–1967).Frank Gilmore Presnell, Jr. (24 June 1906 (Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico) – 28 February 1967 (Los Angeles, California, USA)). * Obituary, ''Chillicothe Gazette'' (Chillicothe, Ohio, USA), March 1, 1967, p. 2. * California Death Index, 1940-1997

Plot

Cast

* Pat O'Brien as John Webb * Edward Arnold as Vincent Cushing *

as Russ Sampson *

Ruth Terry Ruth Mae Terry (born Ruth Mae McMahon, October 21, 1920 – March 11, 2016) was an American singer and actress in film and television from the 1930s to the 1960s. She claimed her stage name came from Walter Winchell, who combined the names ...

as Ann Seymour *

Alan Dinehart Mason Alan Dinehart Sr. (born Harold Alan Dinehart; October 3, 1889 – July 18, 1944) was an American actor, director, writer, and stage manager. Biography Dinehart initially studied to be a priest, but he turned to the theater instead. ...

as District Attorney Joyce *

Claire Dodd Claire Dodd (born Dorothy Arlene Dodd; December 29, 1911 – November 23, 1973 ) was an American film actress. Early life Dorothy Arlene Dodd was born on December 29, 1911, in Baxter, Iowa, to Walter Willard Dodd, a farmer whose family w ...

as Alma Brehmer * Phyllis Brooks as Sarilla Cushing *

Eve Arden Eve Arden (born Eunice Mary Quedens, April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades. Beginning her film career in 1929 an ...

as Miss Ater * Douglass Dumbrille as George Taylor * Bernard Nedell as Pete Godena *

Douglas Fowley Douglas Fowley (born Daniel Vincent Fowley, May 30, 1911 – May 21, 1998) was an American movie and television actor in more than 240 films and dozens of television programs. He is probably best remembered for his role as the frustrated m ...

as Madder * Ernest Truex as P. Hemingway Collins * Janet Beecher as Mrs. Cushing * Evelyn Keyes as Miss Vlissingen * John Sheehan as Mike Daley *

Addison Richards Addison Whittaker Richards, Jr. (October 20, 1902 – March 22, 1964) was an American actor of film and television. Richards appeared in more than 300 films between 1933 and his death in 1964. Biography A native of Zanesville, Ohio, Richard ...

as Inspector Fromm * Cliff Clark as Captain Graves

Reception

The film recorded a loss of $107,709.

Home media

As Vestron Video never owned the complete rights to this film, alongside '' Sundown'' and '' The Woman of the Town'', other companies such as Video Treasures and

Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company founded in 1985 as New Age Video, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alp ...

have been able to release home video versions of ''Slightly Honorable'' for the past decades, with the quality of the prints used varying by distributor. The first home video release was in 1980, when Time-Life Video released it on the

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...

and VHS formats, and on April 17, 2012, Mill Creek Entertainment released a digitally restored version of the film on DVD as part of their ''Dark Crimes: 50 Movie Set'' DVD box set.

References

External links

* * 1939 films American mystery films 1930s English-language films American black-and-white films Films based on American novels Films directed by Tay Garnett United Artists films Films produced by Walter Wanger 1939 mystery films Films scored by Werner Janssen 1930s American films English-language mystery films {{mystery-film-stub