The Fat Man *** (1951, J Scott Smart, Rock Hudson, Julie London, Clinton Sundberg, Jayne Meadows, John Russell, Jerome Cowan, Emmett Kelly) – Classic Movie Review 11,844

Director William Castle’s twisty and satisfying 1951 American film noir detective crime thriller The Fat Man stars J Scott Smart as Dashiell Hammett’s tubby sleuth Brad Runyan (50s radio’s The Fat Man) on the trail of the killer of a Los Angeles dentist and his nurse, investigating with the assistance of Bill Norton (Clinton Sundberg). Rock Hudson also stars as a hoodlum and Julie London plays his wife.

It is based on the successful radio drama series The Fat Man, created by Dashiell Hammett, with J Scott Smart unusually getting the chance to reprise his role as the portly private detective, who is asked by dental Nurse Jane Adams (Jayne Meadows) to investigate the unexplained murder of her dentist boss.

The famed Barnum & Bailey and Ringling Brothers clown Emmett Kelly makes his screen debut as an actor as one of the multifarious suspects – a circus clown called Ed Deets – though suspicion falls on disappeared patient Roy Clark (Hudson). Runyan contacts Pat Boyd (Julie London), Clark’s former lover and briefly his wife, who reveals that Clark had spent time in jail.

This enjoyable whodunit is safely based on a long-running hit radio serial of the day. There is just a bit too much talk and too little drive in the handling, and this was probably the reason that, alas, sequels were not called for.

The flashback-within-a-flashback storyline screenplay by Harry Essex and Leonard Lee is based on the story by Leonard Lee.

Castle recalled it as ‘a potboiler of little merit, except that I was able to cast Rock Hudson and to use Emmett Kelly, the Ringling Brothers clown, as the villain.’

Originally released by Universal Pictures, the film is now in the public domain.

The cast are J Scott Smart as Brad Runyan, Julie London as Pat Boyd, Rock Hudson as Roy Clark, Clinton Sundberg as Bill Norton, Jayne Meadows as Nurse Jane Adams, John Russell as Gene Gordon, Jerome Cowan as Det. Lt. Stark, Emmett Kelly as Ed Deets, Lucille Barkley as Lola Gordon, Robert Osterloh as ‘Fletch’ Fletcher, Harry Lewis as Happy Stevens, Teddy Hart as Shifty and Parley Baer.

The Fat Man radio show starred J Scott Smart as a detective who started out anonymously but soon acquired the name ‘Brad Runyon. It premiered on the ABC Radio Network on 21 January 1946 and ran until 1951. The concept created by Dashiell Hammett and developed by producer Ed Rosenberg.

American circus performer Emmett Kelly (December 9, 1898 – March 28, 1979) created the sad-sack, downtrodden hobo clown figure Weary Willie. A Barnum & Bailey performer from 1942 to 1956, Kelly became the most famous clown in the world.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,844

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