In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made tons of mystery films in which private citizens outwit the cops and solve crimes...usually murders. There is a certain sameness to the plots and at least "Tell No Tales" offers a few changes to this formula...the best of which is having it star Melvyn Douglas--a marvelous and versatile who is one of my favorites.
When the story begins, a newspaper is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Unfortunately, just after the festivities begin, the editor, Michael Cassidy (Douglas) learns from the paper's new owner that he's shutting it down....selling it because he never really wanted to own the business, just make a buck splitting it apart!
Naturally Michael is in a funk and he ends up in a local bar. Instead of getting wasted, however, he stumbles upon something which MIGHT help him keep the paper going. One of the bills the bartender had given him turned out to be from a ransom! So, Michael decides to investigate it on his own instead of just passing on this information to the police.
As usual, Douglas turns in a nice and apparently effortless performance. I appreciate how his newspaper editor character differs from the abrasive characters usually played by Lee Tracy (he played newspaper men A LOT).
Unlike most murder mystery B-movies, this one is from MGM...a big studio. While the big studios did make Bs, when it came to murder mysteries, the smaller studios glutted the market....and too many of these films from Monogram, Republic and PRC are inferior in most ways. Here, however, the writing is nice, as is the music, supporting characters...heck, everything is quite polished and nice here. Well worth seeing, though clearly one of Douglas' lesser films.
