The Inner Circle (1946)

Nice effects though.

Let's be realistic.

Absolutely brilliant

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

***SPOILERS*** It's handsome and hot shot private eye Johnny Strange, Warren Douglas, who gets to the bottom of this very strange and confusing murder case by having all the suspects, five in all, attend a radio show where he'll expos the killer live and on the air. Thats's, since it's 1946 and before the Miranda Decision, without informing the killer of his rights to keep quite and get an attorney and if he can afford one a shyster, lawyer, will be provided to him for on taxpayers expense. This all stems from the murder of newspaper gossip columnist Tony Fitch's who has the goods on a number of big shots in the city that if exposed may well embarrass them.It's no big surprise to who exactly did Fitch is since everyone of the five had a motive to murder him. It's just that his eventual killer was the last, like in most of these whodunit flicks, person you would have suspected to have murder the guy. Not too convincing of an ending with with Fitch's killer suddenly grabbing a policeman'a revolver and thus admitting his or her guilt. It was more of a reason that the killer finally decided to end this very boring detective movie and finally, for those of us who are condemned to watch or review it, put and end to our suffering.There's of course pretty blond secretary Gerry Smith, Adele Mara, who's boss Johnny Strange at first tries to hit on and later accuse her of murdering Fitch just to draw his real murderer out into the open. There's also former 1920's and early 1930's Latin lover, who's actually Jewish, Ricardo Cortez as gangster and part time night club owner Duke York who claims throughout the movie that he knows who Fitch's killer is but keeps his mouth shut on his identity. And at the end of the film, if your still awake, you'll find out why!

...On Michael Keaton in the 80's noir spoof Johnny Dangerously???? The inner circle even had a bit of tongue-in-cheek itself, though in much more of a 1940's innocence.William Frawley's in top form andAdele Mara really shines in a part that seems tailor made for herThe cinematography is surprisingly top-notch, though you wouldn't notice if you turned it off after the first 15 minutes. It gets a bit more impressive as it goes along.Though not finest quality direction, it does move well with some snappy dialogue and interesting staging.Don't expect academy award performances, but it's still worth a watch, just for a few chuckles and to see it's influence on much later noir spoofs.

The film begins with Johnny Strange looking to place an ad for Action Incorporated. He's a fast-talking private eye sort of fellow and I really liked the first ten minutes or so when he met up with a new (and quite bewildering) secretary. He soon gets a case involving a very mysterious woman—a woman who wants him to dump a body. But, when he refuses, she klunks him on the head and calls the police to report the murder—then disappears. The inspector (William Frawley) eventually is ready to arrest Strange when his odd secretary manages to save his skin. But who is this mysterious lady and how can Strange get to the bottom of this? Tune in to this B-movie….if you are interested.This low-budget B-mystery isn't great, but it is enjoyable. As for the plot, it's mostly familiar stuff but the part of the secretary was wonderful and breathed life into this otherwise ordinary plot. In addition, old movie nuts (like me) will enjoy seeing Ricardo Cortez in one of his last movie roles. Despite being a suave leading man in the 1930s, his movie prospects dried up in the 1940s and he went into business—and amassed quite a fortune outside of Hollywood.

This is a romantic, comic mystery. Warner Brothers turned out a lot of these in the thirties and early forties. Jane Wyman was often the girl.Here, we have several girls. We have the secretary who appears out of nowhere. She works for a private investigator, Johnny Strange. (Was there another noun that could be added to Johnny to make a name for a movie character in that decade?) Then there's the mysterious veiled woman who calls for his services. Then there's Virginia Christine (Mrs. Olson of the coffee commercials a few decades later.) She sings in a club. Then there's ... OK: No more about the plot.That excellent and durable actor Ricardo Cortez somehow found himself at Republic. He turns in a variation on his usual cynical, suave performance. It's not his worst, either. But he is fourth-billed, below William Frawley, who plays a cop. And Adele Mara gets top billing.It's fun to watch. It could very easily have been better but it isn't terrible.