Crack-Up *** (1936, Peter Lorre, Brian Donlevy, Helen Wood, Ralph Morgan, Thomas Beck, Kay Linaker) – Classic Movie Review 3.322

Director Malcolm St Clair’s tense and entertaining 1936 espionage thriller film Crack-Up stars Peter Lorre as Colonel Gimpy, a ruthless spy boss whose organisation of dastardly foreign spies is trying to get its hands on the plans for a new plane.

Lorre plays an apparently harmless, half-crazy aircraft enthusiast with a gimpy limp, but he is really a spy determined to get his hands on the blueprints for the experimental aircraft. Brian Donlevy plays American test pilot Ace Martin, who says he can assist the foreign spies and agrees to help. But, instead, he takes their money and plots against them.

Lorre is wonderfully exuberant as the half-mad crippled Colonel Gimpy/ Baron Tagger and his performance is a sight for sore eyes. But nevertheless Donlevy, Helen Wood, Ralph Morgan, Thomas Beck, Kay Linaker, Lester Matthews, Earl A Foxe and J Carrol Naish hold their own against his cannily calculated over-acting in carefully controlled turns that are still effective.

Though the air-crash special effects are naturally pretty risible today, the 20th Century Fox production is nevertheless very good for its time and for the movie’s minor status.

Also in the cast are Gloria Roy, Oscar Apfel, Paul Stanton, Howard C Hickman, Lyn Bari, Billy Benedict, Billy Wayne, Robert Homans and Madge Bellamy.

The screenplay is by Charles Kenyon and Sam Mintz, based on the 1936 story Crack-Up in American Magazine by John F Goodrich.

It was shot from late September to late October 1936, mostly on sound stages at 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood, including a full-size mock-up of an airliner. It premiered on December 14, 1936 (New York City) and was released January 2, 1937 (US).

They borrowed a Lockheed Electra from the nearby Lockheed Aircraft plant to be the film’s experimental Wild Goose research aircraft.

The cast are Peter Lorre as Colonel Gimpy  (aka The Chief, Baron Rudolph Maximilian Tagger), Brian Donlevy as Ace Martin, Helen Wood as Ruth Franklin, Ralph Morgan as John R Fleming, Thomas Beck as Joe Randall, Kay Linaker as Mrs Fleming, Lester Matthews as Sidney Grant, Earle Foxe as Operative #30, J Carrol Naish as Operative #77, Gloria Roy as Operative #16, Oscar Apfel as Alfred Knuxton, Paul Stanton as Daniel D Harrington, Howard C Hickman as Major White, Lyn Bari, Billy Benedict, Billy Wayne, Robert Homans and Madge Bellamy.

Crack-Up is directed by Malcolm St Clair, runs 65 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Charles Kenyon and Sam Mintz, based on the 1936 story Crack-Up in American Magazine by John F Goodrich, is shot by Barney McGill, is produced by Samuel G Engel, and is scored by Samuel Kaylin, Sidney Clare and Harry Akst (Song: “Top Gallants”).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,322

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/