Bureau of Missing Persons *** (1933, Bette Davis, Lewis Stone, Pat O’Brien, Glenda Farrell) – Classic Movie Review 6857

Director Roy Del Ruth’s 1933 Warner Bros crime melodrama quickly made thriller stars Bette Davis as Norma Roberts, who is looking for her husband, and then she is being sought by Chicago police for his murder.

Pat O’Brien plays Butch Saunders, the tough Missing Persons cop trying to get tot the truth and possibly prove Norma’s innocence; Lewis Stone plays Captain Webb, the man in charge of the missing person cases at the bureau; and Glenda Farrell plays Belle Saunders.

An expertly handled gallows sense of humour hangs over the proceedings, but alas Davis does not have nearly enough to do, though she does get top billing and her character is decently written. However, the acerbic dialogue in Robert Presnell Sr’s screenplay and Del Ruth’s pacy direction make up for a lot.

Also in the cast are Allen Jenkins, Hugh Herbert, Ruth Donnelly, Alan Dinehart, George Chandler, Marjorie Gateson, Tad Alexander, Noel Francis, Wallis Clark, Adrian Morris, Clay Clement, Henry Kolker, Harry Beresford, George Chandler, Hobart Cavanaugh, G Pat Collins, Frank Darien, Sol Gorss, Edward Keane, Edward McWade, Jean Muir, Edward Pawley, Dewey Robinson, Christian Rub, John Sheehan, Tim Wilson, Jack Wise, John Hyams and Harry Bradley.

Bureau of Missing Persons is directed by Roy Del Ruth, runs 74 minutes, is First National Pictures production, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Robert Presnell Sr, based on the story Missing Men by John H Ayers and Carol Bird, is shot in black and white by Barney McGill, is produced by Henry Blanke, is scored by Bernhard Kaun, and is designed by Robert M Haas.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6857

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