Jim Hanvey, Detective (1937)

That was an excellent one.

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

best movie i've ever seen.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Guy Kibbee brightened many a movie in supporting roles. Kibbee was a great character actor but really couldn't carry a leading role even in a B movie. Jim Hanvey (Kibbee) has retired to the country but, since he was a renowned detective, an insurance company asks him to recover the stolen emeralds. Come to find out a young friend of Hanvey, Don Terry (Tom Brown) and Joan Frost (Lucie Kaye) stole the emeralds from her family's home safe on a dare. They intended to replace the emeralds but before they can do so, the jewels are in turn stolen from them. They too ask Hanvey to investigate and help them get the emeralds back to the safe. Hanvey finds the emeralds, but when Don tries to replace them, he's knocked out and unfortunately, the Frost's butler is murdered. In a rather hit or miss fashion, Hanvey sorts it all out in the end. A high light of the movie is seeing Ed Gargan and Edward Brophy as incompetent and rather likable thugs who were initially menacing but end up helping Hanvey. Gargan generally played dumb cops or house detectives so it was odd seeing him as a hoodlum. All in all, a pleasant enough way to kill an hour but a rather humdrum programmer. However, the print of the movie I saw was the shortened version and was a poor print. This certainly may have influenced my assessment of the movie.

The bad news is that I saw the shortened 53 minutes of this Guy-Kibbee-as-a-retired-detective mystery. The good news is that I loved it. I wish they could have found the whole film and preserved it. Oh well. But it concerns a young couple who stole some emeralds as a joke and wants to return them. They go to Guy Kibbee for help, but he tells them to go home and leave him alone. He's retired. But when he finds out they've got a tail on them and that he knows the low-class mugs, he doesn't like the situation and decides to help out after all. An attempt to return the jewels goes awry with a murder and the jewels being stolen again. What makes this mystery entry so enjoyable besides Guy's usual likable disposition was the clever and snappy dialogue. I found this film because I was perusing Amazon's array of old mysteries and this had high marks. So I bought a copy not knowing that there would be missing footage. If you come across it, don't miss this Guy Kibbee rare gem. There may have been a Hugh Herbert (check him out, too,) but there was nobody like Guy Kibbee. And, here he saves the day.

Warning: The Alpha Video DVD of this film is only 53 minutes long--18 minutes shorter than the time listed on IMDb. So, this print is most likely a severely truncated version. Who shortened the film is beyond me--and I'd sure like to find the full version of the movie.The idea of making a movie where Guy Kibbee plays a SMART private detective is strange. After all, Kibbee made a career out of playing affable boobs--the last sort of person you'd ever expect to be solving crimes! While I like the idea of doing this odd casting, the film itself is only okay--an agreeable enough time-passer. Not a particularly interesting film but Kibbee's pleasant persona made even this weak film seem watchable. An odd curio and no more.

Guy Kibbee plays the titled detective in a meandering good natured romp that turns deadly. The plot of the film has an insurance company coming to call on Hanvey, a unique detective who has retired to the sticks. It seems a priceless jeweled necklace as gone missing and they want Hanvey to find it so they don't have to pay out the hundred grand. Hanvey finds out almost instantly that the jewels were taken as part of a bet and now they have to be put back with out anyone finding out. Unfortunately things turn deadly as the butler is killed and the wrong man is on the run with only Hanvey standing between him and the chair.Much of what happens is funny. Much of what happens seems to meander out of left field, but that's okay since its the loopiness of the proceedings that make this so watchable. This isn't the greatest film ever made but it is a good one that is far from run of the mill.I recommend this, especially if you've become tired of all of the other detective programmers of the 30's and 40's.(though try to find the full version since some discount releases are well under an hour)