The Crime Club Mystery Films from Universal in the 1930s

In the late 1930s, Universal made a deal with book publisher Doubleday to use the publisher's The Crime Club imprint for a series of 8 Crime Club mystery films. The history of this series has been misreported in various sources, including the AFI Catalog of Thirties films, with 10, and sometimes 11 films attributed.

Each film was based on a popular mystery novel that had been published in hardcover under Doubleday's Crime Club imprint. You could buy Crime Club books at bookstores or get them in the mail as a subscriber. Beginning in 1928, Crime Club released four books per month. One book each month was designated the "Crime Club Selection," and that book was automatically sent to subscribers, just like the Book of the Month club.

Numerous Crime Club books were made into movies before the Universal series: Murder by the Clock (1931 Paramount), The Mystery of Mr. X (1934 MGM), and While the Patient Slept (1935 Warner Brothers) were all adapted from best-selling Crime Club novels. The '30s novels of  The Saint were all published by Crime Club, as were many Bulldog Drummond and Fu Manchu novels, and obviously all of those characters had multiple screen appearences.

Reportedly, Universal licensed the rights to the novels but farmed out production of the movies to Starr, who brought them in on a cost-plus basis and was given access to Universal's salaried technicians and contract players, to keep production costs down. The series was produced by Irving Starr (with an uncredited assist from Matty Fox) under the auspices of Crime Club Productions, Inc., releasing through Universal.

There were eight films in the Universal Pictures series of The Crime Club, four released in the 1937-38 season and four in the 1938-39 season. In order of release they were:

• 1937 The Westland Case (based on Jonathan Latimer's "Headed for a Hearse")
• 1938 The Black Doll (based on William Edward Hayes novel of same title)
• 1938 The Lady in the Morgue  (based on Jonathan Latimer's novel of same title)
• 1938 Danger on the Air (based on an "Xantippe" (Edith Meiser) novel, "Death Catches Up with Mr. Kluck")
• 1938 The Last Express  (based on the Baynard Kendrick novel of same title)
• 1938 The Last Warning (based on Latimer's "The Dead Don't Care")
• 1939 The Mystery of the White Room (based on James G. Edwards' "Murder in the Surgery")
• 1939 The Witness Vanishes (based on James Ronald's "They Can't Hang Me")

The Crime Club Films 

The Westland Case (1937)

Chicago businessman, Bob Westland, accused of murdering his wife, is soon to be executed. Charlie Frazee, a lawyer, has received an anonymous note claiming the writer knows that Westland is not guilty. He has hired a private detective, Bill Crane, to find the witness and prove Westland's innocence before his scheduled execution date. Among the people concerned are Emily Lou Martin, who was to have married Westland after his divorce from his wife; Westland's partners, Richard Bolston and Woodbury; the company's bookkeeper, Amos Sprague; and Miss Bentine, the secretary. Crane reviews the events of the night of the murder. Someone claiming to be Emily phoned Westland to say that Mrs. Westland was abusing her. Westland did visit his wife, but he says she was alive when he left. Mrs. Westland's body was found inside their locked apartment, and only she and her husband had keys. Her key was found on a table inside the apartment. She was killed with a gun like the rare one owned by Westland which cannot be found. Woodbury, his partner has a similar gun, but ballistic tests prove his gun was not the murder weapon. Crane identifies the anonymous witness as Manny Grant, a minor gangster. Before Crane can question Grant, however he is shot down in a restaurant. Sprague then tells Crane that he knows something that may save Westland, but he will not be sure until the following day. Dr. Shuttle, the Westlands' next door neighbor, admits that he neglected to change his clock to daylight savings time and was therefore mistaken about the time that Westland left the apartment. This bolsters Westland's story. When Sprague is run down by a car, Crane asks the police to check everyone's alibi. Crane and his assistant Doc Williams, discover that there was a splice in Emily's phone line, which leads them to believe someone had tapped it. Frazee informs them that stolen stocks and bonds were found when Mrs. Westland's will was probated. Crane finds Westland's gun where it was thrown in the Chicago River and proves that it was not the murder weapon. He tracks down the dealer of the murder weapon. Then only minutes before the scheduled execution, Crane gathers everyone at the prison. He tells the group that Bolston and Emily are married. Bolston called the butler away the morning Mrs. Westland's body was found and while he was gone Bolston used the key that Westland had given Emily. Emily actually did make the call that took Westland from his apartment. Bolston had been substituting stolen bonds for the legal ones which Westland was selling. When his deception was on the verge of discovery, he killed Mrs. Westland and tried to throw suspicion on Westland. He was able to slip the key back into the apartment because he accompanied the police when they broke in to find the body. Westland's name is cleared, and he is released from prison. (Synopsis by the American Film Institute) 

Starring Preston Foster, Frank Jenks, Carol Hughes, Barbara Pepper, and Astrid Allwyn.

63 minutes. Directed by Christy Cabanne. Screenplay by Robertson White. Released on 31 Oct 1937. 

The Black Doll (1938) 

Everyone has a reason to hate Nelson Rood. He has threatened to prosecute his playboy nephew Rex Leland if he ever writes another forged check and he has quarreled with Laura Leland, his sister and Rex's mother. He has kicked private investigator Nick Halstead off the land where he is camping, and in the process alienated his daughter Marian, who is in love with Nick. He is cruel to his servants, Esteban and Rosita, so when he finds a black doll, a symbol of death, on his desk, he suspects almost everyone. He sends for two men, Walling and Mallison, who were involved in a Mexican mine with him years ago. The two men deny any knowledge of the doll, but they think it has something to do with the death of the fourth partner, Barrows, who was killed by Rood years ago. That night, Rood is stabbed to death as he stands at the door of Marian's room. Marian runs out to Nick's trailer, and he begins to investigate the murder when bumbling local sheriff Renick fails to find the murderer. During the night, Estaban is killed protecting Marian. Nick discovers another body, that of Mallison, and he also finds out that Dr. Giddings and Mrs. Laura were to have been married, but Rood prevented them. Nick suspects that Marian is not Rood's daughter, but Barrow's, and when that fact is confirmed, he knows that Giddings is the murderer. (Synopsis by the American Film Institute) 

Starring Donald Woods, Nan Grey, Edgar Kennedy, and C. Henry Gordon.

66 minutes. Directed by Otis Garrett. Screenplay by Harold Buckley. Released on 30 Jan 1938. 

The Lady in the Morgue (1938)

The body of a woman has been found hanging from her hotel bathroom door, and although she is registered as Alice Ross, the name is an alias. Gangsters Steve Collins and Frankie French believe the woman to be Arlene, Collins' wife, who was last seen in the same hotel. Wealthy Mrs. Courtland, however, is afraid the body may be that of her daughter Kathryn, and she hires private detective Bill Crane to investigate. Crane and his sidekick Spitzy visit the morgue, but before they can examine the body, the morgue attendant is murdered and the body is stolen. Chauncey Courtland, Kathryn's brother, also appears at the morgue. Crane bribes the elevator boy to let him into the room where the murder took place. He realizes the hook on the door would have pulled loose if the woman had actually tried to hang herself and he notices that all the clothes in the closets are brand new. Both Collins and French offer Crane money if he will give them the body. Meanwhile, Doc Williams, another investigator working with Crane, finds the woman who had the room next door to that of the murdered woman. Crane follows her when she makes a telephone call. The call summons Sam Taylor, the musician who was the last person to see "Alice Ross" alive. Taylor tells Crane that the woman who telephoned is his wife. He had asked for a divorce to marry Alice and accuses his wife of hounding Alice until she committed suicide. Crane and Doc visit another mortuary where they think the body might be hidden. They find another murder, but checking the records, they also find a listing for the last registered burial and plan to dig up the grave. When Courtland tells them that his mother received a letter from Kathryn, they know that she is alive, and want to end the investigation. He adds that Arlene is still alive and is using the name Kay Renshaw. Crane finds Arlene at a party and kidnaps her. After dropping her at Collins' place, Crane and Doc head for the cemetery. While they are waiting for someone to come for the body, Courtland appears and tries to kill Crane. Crane then orders Doc to gather all the suspects together. Crane reveals that "Mrs. Taylor" is Kathryn Courtland, Taylor's lover, and the body is that of the real Mrs. Taylor, whom Taylor killed because she would not give him a divorce. Courtland, Crane concludes, stole the body to save his mother from disgrace and accidentally killed the morgue attendant. (Synopsis by the American Film Institute) 

Starring Preston Foster, Patricia Ellis, Frank Jenks, Thomas E. Jackson, Wild Bill Elliott, Roland Drew, and Barbara Pepper.

67 minutes. Directed by Otis Garrett. Screenplay by Eric Taylor. Released on 22 Apr 1938. 

Danger on the Air (1938)

Inside the offices of the Consolidated Broadcasting Company, radio star Caesar Kluck flirts with Marian, a receptionist. Marian's father Tony, the janitor, resents the elderly Kluck's attentions to his young daughter. At the same time, Alexander "Mac" MacCorkle, head of the firm of MacCorkle, MacCorkle, and Fish Radio Advertising, and announcer Dave Chapman, prepare for the show. The overbearing Kluck, who fancies himself a ladies' man, is universally disliked because of his egotism and love of gossip. Benjamin Franklin Butts, the sound man, expels Kluck from the sponsor's booth, where Kluck is accosted by Joe Carney, a gangster, who demands $100,000 from him. Inside the booth, writer Christine "Queenie" MacCorkle punches Kluck to prevent his advances and leaves the room. Mac finds the dead body of Kluck a few minutes later, and upon hearing the news, Queenie faints. After removing Queenie's broach from the room, Butts notices that the ventilation has been altered so that the room could become a vacuum, and poison gas could be pumped in which would cause a chemical reaction like the one that killed Kluck and altered the color of his blood. Mr. Jones, head of Consolidated, demands that his employees be silent about the murder to prevent scandal. However, when Dr. Leonard Sylvestre claims that his patient died of heart failure, Butts exposes the cover-up by demanding an autopsy. Fired from his job, Butts is followed by the sympathetic Queenie, who is shot from a passing car by Joe. When they are safe, Butts admits to Queenie that he has loved her secretly for over a year. Later, a letter about poison is found in Queenie's missing purse, but she explains its presence by claiming she was researching a murder story for a future program. After Butts is hired by MacCorkle, MacCorkle, and Fish to investigate the murder, he and Queenie enter Kluck's apartment to break open his safe, where evidence against Joe is found. Although Butts suspects Sylvestre of the crime, Dave believes Tony is a suspect until he is found poisoned by the same gas that killed Kluck. Butts deduces that the gas came from a toy balloon that had burst in Tony's closet. District Attorney Francis gathers the suspects, and after Tuttle and Harry are exonerated, Butts points a balloon similar to the one that killed Tony at Dave, who confesses. Dave reveals that he murdered Kluck because he had caused his father's suicide after a business failure. Tony's death, however, was accidental. After Butts learns that he will become the studio's head of engineering, he leaves with Queenie on their honeymoon. (Synopsis by the American Film Institute) 

Starring Nan Grey, Donald Woods, Jed Prouty, Berton Churchill, and William Lundigan.

66 minutes. Directed by Otis Garrett. Screenplay by Betty Laidlaw and Robert Lively. Released on 1 Jul 1938. 

The Last Express (1938)

Underworld boss Frank Hoefle has evidence against him stolen, by his henchman Pinky, from the office of District Attorney Meredith, but is then stolen from Pinky, and the thief demands a ransom of $300,000 dollars for its return to Hoefle. The latter hires private detective Duncan MacLain and "Spud" Savage to follow the ransom-note demands and leave the money in a subway-station locker. Later, Eddie Miller, a pickpocket, lifts the locker key and MacLain follows him to an apartment house and overpowers Miller but not before he has sent the locker key up a dumb-waiter shaft. MacLain climbs up the shaft and finds Amy Arden with special prosecutor Paul Zarinka. He is knocked unconscious, and when he revives, Spud and Hoefle are there. Hoefle tells them to retrieve the evidence, "or else." Since he has a hard time telling the good guys from the bad guys, MacLain has a big job ahead of him. But he gets lucky and finds a 1914 newspaper story that explains all. (Most of the plot and much of the footage from this film was re-used in 1942 for Universal's "Gang Busters" serial.)

Starring Kent Taylor, Dorothea Kent, Don Brodie, Paul Hurst, Addison Richards, Greta Granstedt, Robert Emmett Keane, and J. Farrell MacDonald.

63 minutes. Directed by Otis Garrett. Screenplay by Edmund Hartmann. Released on 28 Oct 1938. 

Sadly, a video of this is not currently available.  

The Last Warning (1938)

Private detective Bill Crane and his assistant, Doc Williams, are invited to the Essex mansion by John Essex to investigate a rash of threatening notes he has received. Among the other guests are Paul Gomez, a fortune hunter after John's sister Linda, aspiring actress, Dawn Day, Carla Rodriguez, and Tony Henderson, a polo player engaged to Linda. John owes money to gambler Steve Felson, and his uncle, Major Barclay, refuses to advance him the money to pay off his debts. When Felson is murdered and Linda is kidnapped, Carla suggests that Gomez might have committed the crimes. Gomez, who is trying to start a revolution in his homeland, accuses Carla of having arranged his brother's death. After Dawn learns that she has been promised a screen test for the coveted role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind , Carla, having discovered that someone has been going through her room, asks Crane for protection. Before she can tell him why she needs it, however, she is killed. When John decides to pay the ransom for his kidnapped sister, Crane and Doc hide out to see who picks up the money. They do not see anyone, but later, they find Linda and release her. Crane reveals that Barclay was cashiered from the army for cowardice in action, and Higgs, the butler, blackmailed him for his job. John and Linda faked the kidnapping attempt in order to get the money from Barclay that John owed to Felson. John killed Felson and Carla, who was Felson's secret boss. (Synopsis by the American Film Institute) 

Starring Preston Foster, Frank Jenks, Kay Linaker, E. E. Clive, Joyce Compton, and Frances Robinson.

62 minutes. Directed by Albert S. Rogell. Screenplay by Edmund Hartmann. Released on 6 Jan 1939. 

 

The Mystery of the White Room (1939) 

After the lights go out during surgery, a surgeon is found dead on the operating room floor with a scalpel in his back. Detective Mack Spencer of the police department arrives to investigate the case. Among Spencer's suspects is Dr. Bob Clayton, a young surgeon. Yet another murder attempt occurs when a hospital attendant stumbles upon the killer, who blinds him with acid. Clayton operates to restore the attendant's eyesight by transplanting the cornea from one of the dead man's eyes. The operation is a success, and the attendant, his sight restored, identifies nurse Lila Haines, who had been spurned by the dead surgeon, as his assailant. (Synopsis by the American Film Institute) 

Starring Bruce Cabot, Helen Mack, and Joan Woodbury.

58 minutes. Directed by Otis Garrett. Screenplay by Alex Gottlieb. Released on 17 Mar 1939. 

 

The Witness Vanishes (1939)

Joan Marplay journeys to London in search of her missing father, Lucius Marplay, the former owner of the Sun newspaper. Joan locates Lucius in an insane asylum where he was confined unjustly years earlier by his four partners who stole his newspaper from him. Through a ruse, Lucius escapes his captors after threatening to murder one by one the four men responsible for stealing his paper. In the office of the Sun , three of the men, Ellis, Partridge and Craven, tremble in fear for their lives while the fourth, Mark Peters, refuses to be intimidated and declares that he will continue to publish the paper. With the help of newspaper columnist Lord Noel Stretton, Joan gets a job as Craven's secretary, hoping to learn the truth about her father. Soon after, Ellis' obituary mysteriously appears in the paper, and when his associates rush to his office, they find him dead. With Ellis' death, Scotland Yard and a reporter named Allistar MacNab enter the case. Partridge is next on Lucius's list to die, and although a police officer guards the door to his office, Partridge falls dead to the floor. After Partridge's death, Joan tricks Craven, now hysterical with fear, into confessing into a dictaphone the plot against her father, but before she can secure the dictograph record, a shadowy figure breaks in, steals the record and kills Craven. Later, Flinters, an informant, invites all of the persons involved in the case to an auction for the record, but when they arrive, they find Flinters stabbed to death and the record demolished. Peters, the last of Lucius' enemies, then receives a death note informing him that he will die that night. As Peters awaits his fate, a wan and haggard Lucius stumbles down the steps and Peters raises his gun to fire. At that instant, the detectives arrive and disclose that they had been holding Lucius in custody and therefore he could not have committed the murders. MacNab then forces Peters into revealing that he is the murderer. After confessing, Peters commits suicide by smoking a poisoned cigarette. (Synopsis by the American Film Institute) 

Starring Edmund Lowe, Wendy Barrie, and Bruce Lester.

66 minutes. Directed by Otis Garrett. Screenplay by Robertson White. Released on 22 Sep 1939. 

 

Astor Pictures Reissue

The first four pictures (from 1937-38) were later reissued theatrically by Walter Futter through Astor Pictures. They were also made available to 16mm rental libraries beginning in 1948. On these four there must have been a financial arrangement similar to that of the first six Hopalong Cassidy pictures, which were financed independently and later sold off separate from the later films produced with Paramount money. It's thought that Matty Fox owned the controlling interest in the first four Crime Clubs, and that he made the deal with Futter. This reissue is likely the reason that all four films are available on DVD and YouTube. 

The second group of four remained under Universal control. Most likely they were financed directly by Universal, with Irving Starr producing for a straight salary. When M-G-M bought rights to Baynard Kendrick's novels featuring blind detective Duncan Maclain (two of which the studio made into "B" movies starring Edward Arnold), they got The Last Express too -- which is why that film has not been seen since its original theatrical release.  The other three films are available at the Internet Archive. 

Shock!

Three of the Universal Crime Club films, The Last Warning, The Mystery of the White Room, and The Witness Vanishes, were packaged for TV as Shock! by Screen Gems, who syndicated Universal films until MCA took over.

Other Irving Starr Releases 

The following films are generally confused for Crime Club pictures because they, too, were produced by Irving Starr for Universal release in the same basic time period. But they were not based on Crime Club novels and don't belong to the series.

1938 The Gambling Ship
1939 Inside Information
1939 House of Fear