The Missing Juror (1944)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A lot of fun.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Like many other B-movies, "The Missing Juror" really shows that it was rushed into production. After all, despite a very nice plot, the script is so littered with holes that it's a wonder the thing isn't mistaken for a piece of Swiss cheese! And I am talking about HUGE holes. It's a shame, really, as the idea was great and the film, despite its problems, was a lot of fun.George Macready plays an innocent man mistakenly sent to death row. Fortunately (perhaps), a reporter (Jim Bannon) is able to discover the real perpetrator and Macready is set free. However, his time in the death house apparently has destroyed his mind and he's sent to a sanitarium. Some time later, he apparently killed himself--though the body is so charred that identification is impossible. No one at all questions whether or not it was him--even though it's obvious that it might not be him (huge plot hole #1). Later, one-by-one, the members of the jury that convicted him begin to die. At this point you'd think someone would suggest that the dead man isn't dead and is killing the jurors...but not in this silly film. They only consider this towards the end of the film! Another huge plot problem is that Macready's body was apparently actually the foreman of this jury....and this man just happens to look almost exactly like Macready!!! So, when Macready walks around in a disguise as clever as Clark Kent's, no one is able to determine who he really is! Was this perhaps filmed on some planet other than ours where people are all blind or stupid?! Despite these HUGE problems, the idea of an innocent man snapping and exacting revenge is great. And, the way he kills them is also very good. In many ways, this plot was reminiscent of the much later film "The Abominible Doctor Phibes"--a cheesy but very enjoyable Vincent Price film. Plus, Macready and Bannon were very good actors stuck in a film that was beneath their talents. But, in spite of everything, I still kept watching as the film was entertaining throughout--even if EVERYONE in the audience was smarted than the folks in the film!!

Missing Juror, The (1944) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Interesting thriller from Columbia has a jury wrongly convicting a man to death. Soon after wards members of the jury begin dying in weird ways so it's up to a reporter (Jim Bannon) to try and figure out if it's a ghost or someone simply seeking revenge. Even though this film isn't a complete success it still has enough going for it to make it worth viewing and especially if you're a fan of the genre. I think Boetticher does a very good job with the material and he handles everything quite nicely and that includes the, at times, dark subject matter. There's one major flaw in the film and that's an early flashback sequence, which tells us about the trial, the evidence and the man sent to death. This is a nice little sequence but there is one brief segment that pretty much gives away who the killer is. I'm not sure how many will pick up on it but it was rather obvious when this scene in question first came up. It turned out that my guess was correct but this actually didn't kill too much of the fun. I still thought the film moved at a very good pace and that director Boetticher made for some very interesting scenes including some dark death sequences and a very good scene inside a steam room. This scene also features an actor who very much looks like Anthony Quinn but the IMDb doesn't list him nor does any other movie guide but to my eyes and ears it was him. The performances are a mixed bag but Bannon does a pretty good job in the lead even if it isn't the strongest actor in the world. The main role isn't written overly well but he handles everything nicely. Janis Carter plays the juror who the reporter falls for and she too is nice, if nothing too special. George Macready, Jean Stevens and Joseph Crehan all add nice support. While the film isn't any type of masterpiece, I must admit that I'm a little surprised it hasn't gotten more attention over the years. This might be due to it never getting an official release but fans of mysteries should really enjoy this thing. There are also a few early touches of what would become film noir so I think the film offers up enough that most people will find it pleasantly entertaining.

The story may have more holes than Grandma's sieve, but it's still worth catching up with. For one, it's got cult actress Janis Carter who always shows more eyeball than ought to be legally allowed, along with the high-class George Macready just then perfecting his mad cackle-- and whoever in production thought his cultured voice was not a dead give-a-way. It's also one of director Buddy Boetticher's first outings, and already he's a camera master—catch those graceful dolly moves across the cut-a-way rooms. Then there's literary muscleman and masseuse Mike Mazurki throttling Macready's face blue while on a flight of poetic abandon. I just wish some of that imagination had carried over to repairing the story holes, like how crank-confessor Trevor Bardette knows so many details of the killings. Speaking of Bardette, his highly enthused performance suggests A-grade pay for a B-grade movie, making his mad lather a movie high point. Clearly, the 50-dollar budget didn't go into lighting since some scenes resemble a bat's cave and require the eyes of one to make out what's happening. Nonetheless, the film has almost as many promising noirish elements as the classic Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)—as another reviewer aptly compares. Too bad someone didn't send the script down to Rewrite for some hole-plugging plaster.

This film, rarely seen on TV, is one of the great over-looked film noirs of the 1940's. Similar in tone to such noirs as the "Stranger On The Third Floor", the movie plays out as a noir-twist on the film "And Then There Was None" with George Macready at his nasty best.