The Man Who Wouldn’t Die *** (1942, Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver, Henry Wilcoxon, Helene Reynolds, Richard Derr, Paul Harvey, Olin Howland, Billy Bevan) – Classic Movie Review 12,151

‘An Empty Grave… A Cunning, Gunning Ghost… And Michael Shayne!’

Director Herbert I Leeds’s eerie and atmospheric 1942 noir mystery thriller film The Man Who Wouldn’t Die again stars Lloyd Nolan, who is excellent in another extremely capable Michael Shayne mystery, in which Kay Wolff (Marjorie Weaver) hires her friend private detective Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) after an attempt on her life when someone fires a shot at her while sleeping at her father’s country estate.

What she doesn’t know is that her father, millionaire Dudley Wolff (Paul Harvey), his secretary Alfred Dunning (Robert Emmett Keane), and his resident mad scientist, Dr Haggard (Henry Wilcoxon), have just clandestinely buried a body in the estate grounds by night. What he doesn’t know is that she has just been married to Roger Blake (Richard Derr) and that the detective she has called in is impersonating him. And soon the buried dead man escapes from his grave.

It is the fifth in the series of seven Michael Shayne movies made by 20th Century Fox between 1940 and 1942.

The detective fried in an electric chair in the mad scientist’s lab.

In this incredibly busy plot, there is also time for a car chase, some gunplay, old dark house mystery goings-on, the mad scientist’s lab, the detective fried in an electric chair, and some clever camera shots panning across darkened rooms, plus a shadowy figure with demonically glowing eyes!

The Forties genre mystery story, based on the 1942 non-Brett Halliday novel, No Coffin for the Corpse by Clayton Rawson, is unbelievably weird and complicated, continually surprising and thoroughly gripping, the direction is pacey and pretty stylish, and the cast is likeable, so overall the film is really good.

The Man Who Wouldn’t Die (1942, Lloyd Nolan, Marjorie Weaver).

Unfortunately these mystery films seemingly always had to have comedy relief, but Olin Howland’s silly turn as the incompetent Chief of Police Jonathan Meek is rather painful. The actor is not to blame, Howland’s doing his level best with the material, trying to make it amusing and fun. However, Nolan keeps it serious, even when he’s wisecracking (though perhaps we could have done without him singing!), Paul Harvey is creepily imperious as the old father married to a much young woman (Helene Reynolds), and Henry Wilcoxon also adds weight as the sinister Dr Haggard. Marjorie Weaver makes an attractive, sprightly heroine and Helene Reynolds is alluringly mysterious as the femme fatale step-mother.

Arnaud d’Usseau’s very lively and confident screenplay is based on the character by Brett Halliday and the novel No Coffin for the Corpse by Clayton Rawson, in which The Great Merlini is the mystery solver instead of Shayne. Mixing detective mystery, horror and comedy, it is all packed into a breathlessly taut 65 minutes.

Marjorie Weaver stars in her second of her three Michael Shayne movies, playing a different character in each, between Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1940) and Just Off Broadway (1942).

Helene Reynolds had just appeared in Blue, White and Perfect (1942) in a different role.

Car buffs will want to know that Shayne drives a 1939 Mercury coupé and Dudley Wolff a 1941 Ford station wagon.

Kay gives Shayne $300 to take the case, which is up to $5,000 now.

Nolan sings ‘The Dear Little Shamrock’ and ‘I’ll See You in My Dreams’.

The cast are Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne, Marjorie Weaver as Kay Wolff Blake, Helene Reynolds as Anna Wolff, Henry Wilcoxon as Dr Haggard, Richard Derr as Roger Blake, Paul Harvey as Dudley Wolff, Billy Bevan as Phillips the Butler, Olin Howland [Olin Howlin] as Chief of Police Jonathan Meek, Robert Emmett Keane as Alfred Dunning, LeRoy Mason as Zorah Bey, Jeff Corey as Coroner Tim Larsen, Francis Ford as Caretaker, Harry Carter as Call Boy, Mary Field as Maid, Charles Irwin as Gus aka The Great Merlini, and Ruth Warren as Peggy the Cook.

It was released on 1 May 1942.

The Man Who Wouldn’t Die is directed by Herbert I Leeds, runs 65 minutes, is made and released by by 20th Century Fox, is written by Arnaud d’Usseau, is shot in black and white by Joseph P MacDonald, is produced by Sol M Wurtzel, is scored by David Raksin and Emil Newman, and designed by Richard Day.

The film series is: Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1940), Sleepers West (1941), Dressed to Kill (1941), Blue, White and Perfect (1942), The Man Who Wouldn’t Die (1942), Just Off Broadway (1942), the only one based on an original screenplay, and notably Time to Kill (1942), the first screen adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel The High Window and the final Michael Shayne film starring Lloyd Nolan made at Fox, which then closed down their popular B-movie unit.

In 1946 the series was reborn at Producers Releasing Corporation with Hugh Beaumont taking over the role: Murder Is My Business (1946), Larcerny in Her Heart (1946), Blonde for a Day (1946), Three on a Ticket (1947), and Too Many Winners (1947).

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,151

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

The Man Who Wouldn’t Die (1942, Helene Reynolds).