 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Midnight Manhunt" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Midnight Manhunt | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | William C. Thomas |
| Written by | David Lang |
| Produced by | Maxwell Shane |
| Cinematography | Fred Jackman Jr. |
| Edited by | Henry Adams |
| Music by | Alexander Laszlo |
| Production company | Pine-Thomas Productions |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 64 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Midnight Manhunt is a 1945 film noir crime film mystery directed by William C. Thomas and written by David Lang. The film premiered on July 24, 1945 and is in the public domain.
The film stars William Gargan, Ann Savage, Leo Gorcey and George Zucco.
Plot
Master criminal Joe Wells is shot and left for dead in his hotel room. Wells rouses himself and wanders into the street before finally expiring in an alley next to a wax museum. Reporter Sue Gallagher, who lives upstairs from the museum, is first on the scene, and conceals the body among the wax exhibits in order to get a scoop. She is soon in competition with fellow reporter Pete Willis. When the museum's caretaker, Clutch, discovers the corpse, he fears a troublesome police inquiry and persuades Mr. Miggs, the elderly museum owner, to help him take it away and dump it in a railyard.
The killer, Jelke, follows the trail of blood from Wells' room to the wax museum, where he confronts Sue. He discovers that she is writing a story about her discovery of Wells' body, and demands to know where she has hidden it. When police arrive at the museum, Jelke knocks Sue unconscious and escapes undetected. After Sue learns where Clutch and Miggs have taken the body, Jelke returns and forces her to accompany him to the railyard. When they arrive the body is missing, having been moved by Pete to prevent Sue from getting the story. After much additional subterfuge, Jelke and the body are turned over to the police. Pete and Sue, who have been increasingly attracted to each other, share credit for the story they give to the newspaper.
Cast
- William Gargan as Pete Willis
- Ann Savage as Sue Gallagher
- Leo Gorcey as Clutch Tracy
- George Zucco as Jelke
- Paul Hurst as Murphy
- Don Beddoe as Det. Lt. Max Hurley
- Charles Halton as Henry Miggs
- George E. Stone as Joe Wells
Production
The film was known as Cheese It, Corpse.
References
- Van Johnson and Lucille Ball Listed for Comedy New York Times 17 Nov 1944: 24.
External links
- Midnight Manhunt at IMDb
- Midnight Manhunt is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- Review at Variety
| Films directed by William C. Thomas | |
|---|---|
|
 | This 1940s crime film-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
 | This article related to an American film of the 1940s is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |
- 1945 films
- 1940s crime films
- American black-and-white films
- American crime films
- American mystery films
- Films directed by William C. Thomas
- 1940s English-language films
- 1940s American films
- Films set in wax museums
- English-language crime films
- Films scored by Alexander László
- 1940s crime film stubs
- 1940s American film stubs