I Love Trouble (1948)

I Love Trouble is a swell little detective noir starring Franchot Tone as Stuart Bailey, a good-natured, witty private detective who is hired by politician Ralph Johnston to investigate Johnston's wife. Also starring Glenda Farrell, Janet Blair, and Adele Jergens, the film was based on the book Double Take by Roy Huggins. You may be familiar with the character of Stuart Bailey since actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. reprised the role on television in 77 Sunset Strip.

 

 

Franchot appeared to be enthusiastic about I Love Trouble. He said:

I don’t even use rough stuff when I corner the murderer. I use my wits instead. I go about solving this murder in strictly a mental way. Just like the detectives in real life. I’m keeping my face tan with a sun lamp. My only concession to the traditional screen dick is to wear a suit that doesn’t fit. Well, it fits but not the wonderful way my clothes in the playboy pictures did.

Tone also talked about the story's writer Roy Huggins:

He operated a statistics gathering office for factories to help them reconvert. After they reconverted, he told his staff their last job would be to reconvert him. They gathered a lot of figures and discovered the boss could make the most money with the least effort writing mysteries

 

 

Because the film fell into the public domain, it is readily available online on most video sites. Unfortunately, the picture quality is not very good. There are even brief moments when the screen is black and the scene lost. Please watch the film anyway! It is a well-written, well-acted mystery that will hook you despite the film's quality. Franchot gives a convincing and entertaining performance as the investigator with a keen eye for clues and pretty ladies.

In the film, Bailey thinks he's uncovering the mysterious past of a politician's missing wife. He soon finds that no one and nothing is what it seems. As he chases leads, Bailey begins to believe that he's the one who is actually being followed. Is he setting the trap or falling into one? I've embedded the full video at the end of this post so that you can watch the film in its entirety.

 

 

 

 

If you are unable to see the embedded video below, you can access the movie on Youtube and Internet Archive.

Sources:
Mosby, Aline. "Franchot Tone to Play Flicker Role of Good-Natured Detective." Herald-Journal. June 1, 1947.
http://www.thrillingdetective.com/bailey.html

All Hallow's Eve (1952)

Happy Halloween! I have a treat for you today, no tricks!

Franchot starred in an episode of Suspense that aired on October 28, 1952. Filmed live for television, Suspense was a popular mystery-thriller anthology that ran from 1949 to 1954. Each thirty-minute episode dealt with threatening characters and/or situations.

In the episode All Hallow's Eve, Franchot plays Markheim, a seeming sickly middle-aged man in need of money to marry. This episode is set in London in the 1880s and street urchins follow Markheim around hoping for treats. Markheim enters a Victorian pawnshop where he often trades objects for money. When the proprietor insinuates that Markheim is selling him stolen goods, Markheim makes a life-changing decision. What Markheim doesn't know is that there's a devilish creature that's been watching him since birth and this creature has witnessed the entire event.

Fortunately, All Hallow's Eve is available in full-length format on Youtube! If you can't see the embedded video below, click here.



I rewatched All Hallow's Eve first thing this morning to kick off my Halloween and it really is a creepy little tale. I'm sure it was a fun role for Franchot to play, because he's able to be this over-the-top character with big eyes, a looming stature, and gaping fear. Enjoy your day!

Phantom Lady (1944)

In 1944, Franchot took a sinister turn, costarring with Ella Raines and Alan Curtis in the film noir, Phantom Lady.

In Phantom Lady, Scott Henderson (played by Alan Curtis) goes out for a night on the town with a mysterious woman after his wife tells him she doesn't love him anymore. Scott and the unnamed lady have drinks at a bar, go out to a show where the songstress on stage wears the same elegant hat as Scott's guest, and then part ways outside of the bar. When Scott returns to his apartment, he finds detectives in the living room and his wife strangled to death in the bedroom. Because Scott's necktie is identified as the murder weapon, cops immediately zero on him as the main suspect. Scott must track down the mysterious lady who is his alibi, yet no one is cooperating. It is evident that witnesses who saw the two together at the bar and show have been bribed to keep their mouths shut. The only person who believes that Scott Henderson is innocent is his secretary Carol Richman, a woman clearly infatuated with her boss. When a jury convicts Scott of murder, Carol sets out to find the unknown woman and clear his name. Scott's best friend, Jack Marlow, arrives to help Carol. Franchot Tone plays Jack Marlow and doesn't enter the film until about 45 minutes in. Spoilers are coming after this set of screen captures, so if you don't want to know too much, beware!

Spoiler begins now. Before I saw this movie, I was really frustrated, because in all descriptions of the film it was made clear that Franchot portrayed the murderer. Why would they tell me that before I watched? I felt like the film's twist was probably ruined, so I went into watching it a bit deflated. Having seen it, I realize why viewers give it away so easily. The film gives Franchot away as the murderer in his very first scene! Franchot's Jack Marlow immediately strangles a character. I liked Franchot's portrayal. Wringing and knotting his hands and suffering from debilitating headaches, Franchot's Jack Marlow is obviously a conflicted psychopath. It reminds me a bit of Robert Walker's Bruno Antony, although Phantom Lady is not nearly as masterful as Strangers on a Train. I didn't like that the film gave away his identity so quickly in the film. I think the film would have been more suspenseful and exciting if the viewer was not made aware of the murderer's identity until the plot had progressed. It would have been more fun to debate Jack Marlow's guilt or innocence and then it be revealed.

Franchot is, however, ultra creepy in his scenes and it's unnerving to see Carol (Ella Raines) so implicitly trusting the very murderer she's hunting. I enjoyed this film noir, but feel that the plot and build-up was a bit thin. There's no explanation or back story as to why and how Jack Marlow became a murderer. All we know is that Scott Henderson's wife laughed at him and he didn't like it. Phantom Lady is a fun, but flawed film noir. It made me realize how wonderful it would have been if Franchot had been asked to be a leading man or criminal in an Alfred Hitchcock film. He would have been so convincing as a deceiving murderer hiding in plain sight in a tuxedo with all his charm. What a lost gem to Franchot enthusiasts that a Hitchcock film was never made. (Note: If you haven't seen Franchot Tone's roles in episodes of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Alfred Hitchcock Hour television shows, you must!)

If you enjoy 1940s film noirs, you'll want to check out Phantom Lady. It is available on DVD on Amazon and TCMShop.