Wed 4 Oct 2017
A PI Mystery Movie Review: TICKET TO A CRIME (1934).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Pulp Fiction , Reviews[9] Comments
TICKET TO A CRIME. Beacon Productions, 1934. Ralph Graves (PI Clay Holt), Lola Lane, Lois Wilson, James Burke, Charles Ray, Edward Earle, Hy Hoover, John Elliott. Based on the story of the same title by Carroll John Daly (Dime Detective Magazine, Oct 1 1934). Director: Lewis D. Collins.
According to IMDb, this is the only movie based on the work of one of the most popular pulp fiction writers of his day, Carroll John Daly. He was a pioneer in the rough and tough PI genre, but his crude writing style has relegated him to an all-but-unknown status except to fans of the field.
Daly’s most famous character was probably a gun-slinging private eye named Race Williams. Equally violent was a hardboiled police cop by the name of Satan Hall, who in his many adventures racked up nearly as many bodies as Williams. PI Clay Holt, the featured protagonist of this movie as well as the story it was based on, had only six recorded cases, four of them for Dime Detective.
I’ve not read any of his adventures, but I can tell you this. The movie is not very good. Not if you want anything resembling an actual detective or mystery story. The plot has something to do with some diamonds that are worth $50,000, but beyond that, I cannot tell you more.
Most of the just over 60 minutes worth of running time are taken up by (1) Holt suddenly coming to realize that his secretary (Lola Lane), who he hasn’t paid in six weeks, is actually beautiful once she takes her glasses off and dresses up for a gala party he invites her to by default (all of the other entries in his little black book turn him down).
And (2) the humorously antagonistic byplay between Holt and his former buddy on the police force, Detective Lt. John Aloysius McGinnis (James Burke). Without either (1) or (2), there’d be absolutely nothing to see here. Even so, the movie seems to be far far longer than its actual running time.
October 4th, 2017 at 5:14 pm
I’d never heard of this film. Or of Clay Holt. So thank you!
I’m a big fan of such Daly sleuths as Race Williams and Satan Hall. Someday maybe someone will make a good movie.
Daly might actually benefit from an “Art film” director. Someone who could provide atmosphere to burn. Paging Apichatpong Weerasethakul!
About the only Lewis D. Collins. film I’ve seen is THE SPANISH CAPE MYSTERY, his lackluster, flavorless version oF Ellery Queen.
He also made THE LEAVEANWORTH CASE (Anna Katherine Green) and SECRET AGENT X-9 (Dashiell Hammett). I’m not holding my breath for any of these to be classics. But who knows?
People on the imdb seem to like his comedy DOUGHNUTS AND SOCIETY.
October 4th, 2017 at 6:06 pm
I have never heard of this film, but I have heard of and seen Ralph Graves and he is enough to keep anyone, me, far, far away.
October 4th, 2017 at 7:21 pm
From Wikipedia:
“Ralph Graves (January 23, 1900 – February 18, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and actor who appeared in 93 films between 1918 and 1949.”
From IMDb, I see that most of his films were silents, starting in 1918, when he was 18.
As bad as he was playing a private eye, I really really can’t see him in a cowboy movie at all, but of all things, he was in THREE TEXAS STEERS (1939), one of the Mesquiteers movies with John Wayne. And Carole Landis.
October 4th, 2017 at 7:46 pm
That Wikipedia entry was illuminating, and an entertaining must read, whether accurate, and they often are not, or simply something to brighten your day.
October 4th, 2017 at 8:31 pm
Ralph Graves made silent films with director D.W. Griffith, and many comedies with the Mack Sennett organization. He made early talkies with Frank Capra. These are all Big Names of the times. He had a supporting role in THE FLYING FLEET, often called “The TOP GUN of the silent era.”
Silent actors were often more protean than actors in later eras. They attempted every sort of role. Ralph Graves played cowboys, cops, pilots, artists, a football coach, a boxer – you name it.
October 4th, 2017 at 9:04 pm
The problem is, in this movie at least, he has a very flat acting style, with no particular rapport with the camera. Not a terrible performance, mostly just not a very interesting one.
October 4th, 2017 at 9:50 pm
Flat is a good description of Graves, but he’s in a fairly decent Beau Geste sequel with a young wasted Loretta Young, BEAU IDEAL.
Daly should have been a natural for film, but somehow wasn’t,though the studios seemed to have fairly good taste in hiring pulp writers and mystery writers.
October 5th, 2017 at 5:05 am
Lots of Ralph Graves films are unavailable.
Would like to see his short Western comedy spoof “Riders of the Purple Cows” (1924). This was written by a young Frank Capra. The title namechecks Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey, and the poem Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess. The film survives, and was shown at a Museum of Modern Art festival called “Westward Whoa!”
October 5th, 2017 at 1:04 pm
For a long time I had a complete set of DIME DETECTIVE and I know I read the Clay Holt stories. I was not impressed and in fact I preferred the Race Williams series.
I’ve been slowly rebuilding my DIME DETECTIVE set and I’m now beyond 230 issues but I don’t have any interest in the early dates because the stories were not that interesting and I don’t like to pay over $100 per issue for magazines that I can’t read.