Tell No Tales (1939)

Too much of everything

Fantastic!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A Rich and Nifty Little B-Movie that Takes an Investigative Journalist on a Quest to Find Kidnappers and Stop His Newspaper from Folding. Melvyn Douglas is the Protagonist, but it is the Many Set-Pieces of People and Places that Make This Special.Always Engaging and there are Outstanding Side-Bars and a Surprisingly Dark Atmosphere and Snappy Dialog Along the Way that was Not Typical of MGM. The Scene at an African American Wake and the Climatic and Dark Display in the Gangster's Car are Exceptional, as are Brief Encounters with a Bird Loving Casino Owner and a Henpecked Groom to be.Overall, a Very Good Sleeper that is Virtually Unknown and is Deserving of a Rediscovery.

There aren't too many surprises in the casting. Melvyn Douglas is the dedicated editor of a newspaper about to be closed by the ruthless owner. The day before doomsday he stumbles across a counterfeit bill that was involved in the unsolved kidnapping of a child and is determined to track down the source of the bill. (No doubt the Lindbergh case of a few years earlier was still fresh in the public's mind.) He's tipped off by the friendly bar tender. Take a guess at the bar tender's ethnic background. When he hears about the paper's forthcoming closure, he tells Douglas, "I'm THAT sorry." The minor characters are all well developed, especially the first person connected to the counterfeit bill, a little man who is about to be married to a chinless cartoon of a wife with a voice like an air raid siren and whose hefty future mother-in-law looks like the spawn of Mighty Joe Young. The dialog is both functional and colorful. An opratic soprano has "a nice voice and a nice heart -- like Grant's Tomb." Later she's described as "smooooth, with a heart like a banana split." The film isn't carelessly done.Douglas Dumbrille is the Philistine newspaper owner who cares only about money and nothing about tradition or truth. Zeffie Tilbury is the paper's oldest employee, a humble but spunky proof reader. We need more of them in our schools.I guess Louise Platt as the endangered witness to the kidnapping is a surprise. She's a pretty woman with an impish nose and a pouty expression. I never noticed that she had such a marked overbite when she played the aristocratic officer's wife in "Stagecoach." She could win a corn-eating contest at an Iowa picnic. She has an undeniable physical appeal but I don't know about her acting range. She only gets to smile once, at the very end of the story, and one can almost hear the creaking of long-dormant facial muscles.It's lively and coherent, in contrast to so many dull movies from minor studios that are now in the public domain. I got a kick out of it.

Greetings & Salutations! Mantan Moreland (1902-1973), native of Monroe, Louisiana, really made a difference in the 134 movies he appeared in in a 40 span, worthy of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Up there with Hattie McDaniel, Bo Jangles, Stepin Fetchet, Spencer Williams, Tim Moore, Ernestine Wade, and so many other great African-American actors and actresses. Just with his wide eyed look he could bring down the entire audience or when he feigned fear in horror/drama films like "Feathered Serpent" (1948), "The Spider" (1945), "The Shanghai Cobra" (1945), and "Phantom Killer" (1942). I collect African-American films on VHS format and treasure mostly Mantan's films. These movies are really timeless and always evoke laughter and are worth collecting!

Watch this film if only to see black actress Theresa Harris in a dramatic role. I am so used to see her playing maids in films of the 30's that it was a refreshing change of pace and a revelation. She can act! Her home was one of many to which star Melvyn Douglas was led in his effort to track down the owner of a $100 bill that was part of a ransom payment after a kidnapping. Actor Leslie Fenton's first directorial effort is also a well-paced 69-minute crime and mystery drama, packing lots of sleuthing by Douglas, endangering himself and the only witness (Louise Platt) to the kidnapping. I was glued to the story and was biting my nails during the exciting ending. Well worth watching.