Midnight Manhunt

Midnight Manhunt – a dead gangster, worth $5,000 dead or alive, is ffound dead in a wax museum. And it’s a case of who’s got the body! The murderer? The reporter? Her reporter boyfriend? The office boy?

Midnight Manhunt (1945) starring William Gargan, Ann Savage, George Zucco

Review

Frankly, Midnight Manhunt is a surprisingly enjoyable movie. The actual murder isn’t a mystery, since the audience sees it happen onscreen at the beginning of the film. But what does happen is when the not-quite-dead murder victim manages to crawl to a wax museum. Which is where the bulk of the film happens.

The murder victim is actually a wanted criminal, and there’s a $5,000 reward for him – living or dead. And some of the movie characters, move, hide, and move again the corpse, so that they can collect the reward! It’s actually a funny movie, with a strong underlying threat of danger. Since the murderer is also looking for the corpse!

Very good actors elevate an ordinary script. All of the performances are excellent. Leo Gorcey does his malapropism character from the East Side Kids series, and he’s quite funny here as comedy relief, as well as right-hand man to the male reporter. The male reporter, feuding with his reporter girlfriend is also good, and it’s enjoyable to watch them go back and forth, and fall back in love.

Product Description 

A dead body is discovered in a wax museum and two rival reporters compete to break the story in this fast-paced, tough-talking crime caper. Renowned criminal Joe Wells is shot in his hotel room and stumbles into a wax museum, where office boy Clutch (Leo Gorcey) sweeps the floor and butchers the English language (“I figured it out by the process of mental reduction”). Feisty reporter Sue Gallagher (Ann Savage) discovers Wells’ body and rushes to file the scoop, but is interrupted when her part-time lover and news colleague Pete Willis (William Gargan) learns of the story. Tensions flare up even more when Wells’ killer (George Zucco) corners Sue in search of the corpse, unaware that Clutch has found it and moved it out of the museum!

Cast of characters

• William Gargan (Swing Fever) … Pete Willis
• Ann Savage (Blondie: Footlight Glamour) … Sue Gallagher
• Leo Gorcey (Ghosts on the Loose) … Clutch Tracy
• George Zucco (The Mad Ghoul) … Jelke
• Paul Hurst (Island of Lost Souls) … Murphy
• Don Beddoe (Don’t Bother to Knock) … Detective Lt. Max Hurley
• Charles Halton (Room Service) … Henry Miggs
• George E. Stone (The Vampire Bat) … Joe Wells

Additional cast

• Robert Barron … Cop with Hurley (uncredited)
• Martin Cichy … Police Officer (uncredited)
• Edgar Dearing (Rhythm Romance) … Police Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
• Hazel Dohlman … Matron (uncredited)
• Mike Donovan … Court Warden (uncredited)
• Pat Gleason … Police Dispatcher (uncredited)
• Paul Harvey (The Walking Dead 1936) … Mr. McAndrews, Night Editor (uncredited)
• George McKay (The Boogie Man Will Get You) … Monte, photographer (uncredited)
• Bob Reeves … Police Officer (uncredited)
• Martin Strader … Cab Driver (uncredited)
• Ben Welden (The Lemon Drop Kid) … Hotel Manager (uncredited)