Jean Arthur gives her usual good performance. Too bad the movie is an annoying dud. Joel McCrea is a crime reporter who can’t shut up and comes on like Sherlock Holmes but he’s not nearly as clever..even though he thinks he is and doesn’t hesitate to say so.
The Koor-Hal ruby is stolen and four people are killed in the robbery. The gang escapes and head overseas. Gazette Editor Phil Bane (Thomas Mitchell) brings in ace crime reporter George Melville (Joel McCrea) to write the stories. He has a habit of making predictions that come true. He also has an out of control ego.
He sees a woman on the street asking people for money. He goes to her and is about to give her some bucks when there’s a squeal of brakes. He goes to investigate. Then he finds out his wallet is missing. He sees the woman moving fast down the sidewalk. He follows her to a beauty salon. When she comes out he confronts her and invites her out to dinner. Her name is Claire Peyton (Jean Arthur)
She says she has an appointment that night to see her young daughter who lives with her ex. They both go over. She’s told her daughter is in the next room and she goes in while Melville waits with her ex. They hear a scream and rush into the room. There’s a coffin. Her ex says it happened a day ago. She faints.
Back at his apartment Claire comes to and asks him to go back to the house and get her daughter’s ring. There’s a surprise waiting. Another surprise occurs next door. A famous painting has been stolen. All along Melville has been saying the famous art thief Belia was behind the theft of the ruby and the stolen painting is also his work. Everyone else thinks Belia has been dead for years.
It’s revealed that theater producer Blackton Gregory is Belia. He’s producing a play about World War One. It has a lot of sound effects that will cover his real objective…breaking into the bank next door through the cellar to steal another valuable gem.
Melville predicted the robbery and a special edition of the paper has been made ready with the story of the robbery. It doesn’t happen and Melville is fired. The rest of the movie is dragged out and in a word…dumb. Skip it.
Victor Killian, known to TV fans as the grandfather Raymond Larkin on “Mary Hartman,Mary Hartman” (1976-77) plays Mark Gibbs.
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