When a Broadway playboy is found dead, it's up to detective Jim Stevens to pick the murderer out of several likely candidates.When a Broadway playboy is found dead, it's up to detective Jim Stevens to pick the murderer out of several likely candidates.When a Broadway playboy is found dead, it's up to detective Jim Stevens to pick the murderer out of several likely candidates.
Eddie Borden
- Jailbird
- (uncredited)
James P. Burtis
- Reporter
- (uncredited)
Spencer Charters
- Teletype Man
- (uncredited)
Ray Cooke
- Photographer
- (uncredited)
Frank Darien
- Lawyer Manley
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAt about 6½ minutes, the police department uses IBM punch cards and a sorting machine to search a database. This may be the first display of that technology in film.
- GoofsAt 00:29:00 when Jack Winton says "And who are you?" the boom mic shadow passes over Eugene Pallette's (Sgt. Boggs) hat.
- Quotes
Jack Winton: I'm her brother and I demand the right to see her. You can tell Inspector Donnelly - Lt. Stevens that I'll have their scalps unless they allow me to see Miss Winton at once!
Sgt. Boggs: Oh yeah? What Indian reservation do you come from?
- SoundtracksShuffle Off to Buffalo
(1933) (uncredited)
Music by Harry Warren
Whistled by the policeman as he walks up the stairs
Featured review
A curio of creaky ciminology
As a mystery, From Headquarters isn't very challenging, but it might hold your interest as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of police procedure. The film is at its best when showing the details of a typical murder investigation, including two scenes that prove how little ballistic testing has changed in more than five decades. Another plus is the photography, which generally rises above other programmers of its ilk. [In one set-up, the camera establishes a shot of an autopsy in progress and then takes the vantage of the corpse looking up at the doctors.] There is also a pre-code reference to drug addiction, personified by a murder suspect (Dorothy Burgess) who is a riot of facial ticks, jitters and hysterical laughter. The cast is competant, if largely uninspired, with leads Brent and Lindsay their usual drab selves. Some of the supporting players--Hobart Cavanaugh's non-comic safe cracker, Hugh Herbert's pesky bail bondsman, Edward Ellis's enthusiastic forensics man and Robert Barrat's eccentric rug importer--are decidedly better. Not one of director Dieterle's best, but an interesting curio all the same.
helpful•197
- chris-48
- Dec 7, 1998
Details
- Runtime1 hour 4 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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