Murder with Pictures (1936)

One of the best films i have seen

I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Routine mystery programmer from Paramount. The mystery part –- who killed lawyer Redfield —is too scattered to immerse viewers. (But I have to admit that like others the sound quality of my DVD was fuzzy. So I may have missed some important threads.) Anyway, instead of the whodunnit, interest for me lies with an energetic cast of B-list players. Ayers plays a fast-talking reporter (are there any other kinds) who becomes an amateur sleuth while cops stumble around in the popular manner of the day. Ayers' career later suffered from his conscientious objector's status during early WWII, which he managed to convert to medical corpsman for the remainder. Perhaps the movie's biggest focal point is the statuesque Gail Jackson-- later executive producer of the highly popular Perry Mason series (1957- 66). Check out her bio; she's every bit the brains that her regal appearance implies. Here, she tends to rivet viewer attention. Also, watch for Paul Kelly as a reporter. He was briefly jailed in real life for killing his lover's husband. If I'm going on about the cast, it's probably because the movie itself amounts to little more than a routine time-passer, fuzzy sound or no. There's one amusing moment when Ayers and Patrick share a shower with, guess what, their clothes on. Thanks, Production Code.

Murder With Pictures finds Lew Ayres and Paul Kelly as a pair of breezy reporters who are tracking the same story, namely the acquittal of murder by gangster Onslow Stevens. It seems as though a key witness Gail Patrick is located and arrives too late to testify. Stevens is giving a bash and he invites the press to the party.Where his high priced defense attorney Ernest Cossart is shot to death after apparently recognizing someone in the room. Suspicion falls on Patrick, but Ayres shields her and starts his own investigation with Kelly dogging his every move. A couple of murders later and it's all solved.Ayres gives a nice account of himself in a film which if done at Warner Brothers would have starred James Cagney with Kelly in the Pat O'Brien part. The how is not terribly original, this particular murder gambit was used before and after still it is done with style. As for the motives, Murder With Pictures is a story of greed and revenge.One cliché seems to be present a lot in these kind of films. The cops are always wrong and the hero always sorts it out. I've seen it in God knows how many films, but in real life I've seen it to be true. Not that the police are dumb, but what people have a problem being is flexible. More than cops will get wedded to a certain notion and then just won't change no matter how the facts are explained to them. In solving cases that's a natural barrier. In my former job with New York State Crime Victims Board I've seen it happen more than once.It was also nice to see Gail Patrick for once not playing the second lead or the other woman. Murder With Pictures is a nice, fast moving and entertaining film and it's a pity it seems to have dropped into obscurity. The fact that it also has dropped into the public domain may gain it new viewers and fans who've not seen it as of yet.

This is a B-movie from Paramount. How it has lapsed into the public domain, I have no idea--but regardless it's available for download from the link on its IMDb page.The film stars a young Lew Ayers as a smart-mouthed newspaper photographer (as bit of a cliché). When a murder occurs, a lady who is the police suspect (Gail Patrick) asks Ayers to hide her. This is one of the oldest and worst clichés of murder mystery films as in real life no one would shelter a murder suspect no questions asked! And, if they were dumb enough to do this, then the murder suspect would most likely kill them for their trouble! But, in B-movie fashion, you know she CAN'T be the killer. The rest of the film, Ayers investigates and proves that the handsome hero is ALWAYS smarter than the stupid cops (yet another familiar cliché)--led by Joe Sawyer as the investigator (a rather familiar role for him). And how does he intend to do this? Yep, one of the oldest plot ideas--with a supposed photo that will prove who the murderer is! As you can tell from my description, the film abounds with clichés--the sort that fans of classic films will quickly recognize. Because of this, the film is not exactly original act. However, the acting and overall polish of the movie are nice--making it at least a tolerable time-passer.

When gangster kingpin Nate Girard gets off the hook at his trial for murder, his high-priced shyster lawyer throws a party to celebrate...and the guests are the reporters and news photographers who covered the trial. What a bunch...cigar chewers, bumbling shutter clickers and wise alecks. Yeah, and Kent Murdoch (Lew Ayres) was there, ace photographer always with an angle and a wise crack, fast with his words, especially "Now listen, baby..." when he's with a good-looking dame. He's a decent guy. There's I. B. McGoogin (Paul Stewart), fast- talking, wisecracking news reporter who always winds up one step behind Murdock. But one guest doesn't fit in...a beautiful raven-haired dame named Meg Archer (Gail Patrick). She comes across as so aristocratic that we can't be sure if it's ice water in her veins or just the slow syrup of delayed gratification. And wouldn't you know it, murder shows up, too. Right in the middle of the party, when the flashbulbs are popping, a guy also gets popped. Not Nate, but his lawyer. And who immediately disappears? Yep, Meg vanishes even faster than a pair of straight dice at a crap game. She winds up at Kent's apartment with a story and a plea for help. It's not long before someone realizes that a picture Kent took at the party just might show the murderer, that Kent's former girlfriend wants some money, that Nate Girard is willing to pay big for what he says he has to have, that the cops think Nate is in the middle, that Meg has some sort of side deal, that Kent will go all out to help Meg, that...a lot keeps moving around in this mystery played with a light touch. Murder with Pictures is just what it is, a 69-minute programmer with a few good points, a plot that gets too complicated for its own good, and a production that never received the studio love that might have made it better. Among those good points is seeing Lew Ayres, who played the naive, sincere gun fodder in All Quiet on the Western Front, turn in a wise guy performance by channeling Chester Morris. He handles the role with some style. Ayres was a reliable, likable lead actor whose strong suit was decency. He became a pacifist after making All Quiet. With the Doctor Kildare series that started in 1938, Lew Ayres found himself a matinée idol. When Pearl Harbor was attacked and Ayres was drafted, he declared himself a conscientious objector. He was crucified in the press and his career vanished. He finally was granted his earlier request to join the Army Medical Corps. He served under fire in the Pacific and in New Guinea. After the war, when it became known he had served as a combat medic, he gradually began to get film offers but for seldom more than character roles. Ayres received an Oscar nomination for best actor for the doctor in Johnny Belinda. Just like Dr. Kildare, Ayres was a decent guy with the backbone to stand firm for his beliefs.