A Tragedy at Midnight (1942) User Reviews

More slick and funny and twisty than you'd expect from a B B-movie

[secondtake · 6/10 · 9 February 2011]

A Tragedy at Midnight (1942)

This is a snappy, genuinely funny movie. It's very short, and it's certainly a contrivance--a catchy idea and a necessary series of pratfalls and twists--but it entertains, which was the idea for a second feature like this, a counterpart to a bigger A-movie. Remember also that this is not a noir, but a crime film in the mold of the 1930s "Thin Man" series, with a combination of wise cracks and narrow escapes.

The hook is that the leading man, played by John Howard (who played the "other man" in "Philadelphia Story"), has a radio show where he makes fun of the police for not solving crimes, and then solves them on the air. He comes home to find a dead woman in his wife's bed. His wife, Margaret Lindsay, helps him solve this crime, which they eventually do right on the air in a fun ending.

I see that this has a very low rating, and that surprises me. Yes, the movie is slight and obvious, but only like the best television shows are (and t.v. shows get inflated ratings here). What I mean is, I think you'd find the movie rather well done and a fun time if you don't expect a full feature experience. Howard and Lindsay are both strong, likable, and convincing. The echoes of "The Thin Man" do make you realize that Powell and Loy are a different caliber altogether. But if you have a lazy 45 minutes, give this a shot.

Amusing diversion of murderous proportions.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 6 January 2019]

For the police, reporter John Howard is a major pain, solving murders and other crimes in his column that they couldn't. Police Commissioner Paul Harvey, sick of the embarrassment, orders cop Roscoe Karns to find some way of framing Howard for a crime. Whether or not a dead body in his wife's bed is the way Karnes chooses to get even is the mystery here, with Howard's wife, Margaret Lindsay, walking into the bedroom and seeing a woman's head under her sheets. Further investigation by Howard's valet, Keye Luke, reveals that the woman is indeed dead, and after complaining to her grandmother Helena Phillips Evans, Lindsay is out and about with her husband trying to solve the murder.

There are many amusing moments in this Republic mystery comedy, greatly edited from its original length down to TV running time. It is doubtful that the original prints exist anywhere, because discoveries of similar films among Republic's hundreds of B movies reveals the same situation. but fortunately, what remains is entertaining and inclusive enough to leave little doubt what is going on and to leave no gaps in the plot, even though a sudden blackout to me indicated a spot where footage was removed. Comparisons to Nick and Nora Charles are obvious, and while John Howard and Margaret Lindsay are certainly no William Powell and Myrna Loy, they are amusing with the material they have to deal with here.

Fast-moving quickie

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 16 December 2011]

I become aware of Margaret Lindsay fairly recently, (not through her more famous films where she had a supporting role to Bette Davis, but) through the low-budget mystery film series "Ellery Queen", where she played the title character's loyal and smart secretary, Nikki Porter; her presence brightened up those films, and I became a fan. Now I will watch any mystery movie that Lindsay made around that period (let's say, 1935-1945), and she made plenty. But of course most of them are extremely hard to find today, even in DVD-R copies. Luckily, I did manage to get one such copy (of acceptable quality) of "A Tragedy At Midnight", where she is teamed up with John Howard, another actor prolific in this genre (he played Bulldog Drummond several times). Lindsay and Howard play a loving couple (he's a radio detective, she's a writer) who find a dead body in their own apartment (which is actually not quite their own apartment), and go on the run so that they can solve the case and prove their innocence. The two leads do click together, and Lindsay is once again delightful to watch. Keye Luke is also amusing as their jiu-jitsu-practicing butler! The film moves fairly fast and has more than enough twists packed into its short (just under an hour) running time. It's a pleasant watch, but more of an appetizer than a full-course meal. **1/2 out of 4.

The 15-minute gap

[johnnydollar01 · 24 July 2011]

A ripoff of The Thin Man series, but entertaining in its own right. But the TV prints (like the one used by Netflix streaming) slash about 15 minutes out of this 69-minute movie! There's a big chunk missing at the beginning, which is apparently where the relationships with the neighbors is set up and who is sleeping where (an important fact). And there's another few minutes eliminated about halfway through the film.

In the early days of TV Republic would edit its movies down to about 53 minutes so that TV stations could run them in an hour time slot (back then they only had 3 minutes of commercials per half hour!). So beware the edited TV prints of this title.

Thin Man ripoff, complete with "Mommy"

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 17 June 2013]

John Howard and Margaret Lindsay star in "A Tragedy at Midnight," a 1942 film from poverty row Republic Studios.

Greg Sherman (John Howard) is a radio personality who solves cases that the police have failed to do. So the police hate him. His wife Beth (Lindsay) is a mystery writer. One evening, Beth goes out to visit her sister while Greg goes to a party. The next morning, he wakes up and nudges his wife, who doesn't move. When he looks more closely, it's not his wife, but a dead woman he doesn't recognize. She has a knife in her back.

When Beth returns, she thinks he spent the night with another woman and calls the police. Greg escapes and, once Beth realizes the truth, the two of them try to find out the identity of the woman and also who killed her.

This is a good mystery, actually, and it goes quickly, perhaps more quickly than intended since I understand the version on Netflix is cut. John Howard and Margaret Lindsay are fine. Howard calls her "Mommy," which William Powell calls Myrna Loy in the "Thin Man" films, so this is an unashamed ripoff. It probably was supposed to be a B version series of films as well, but it didn't happen.

Keye Luke plays the couple's servant and he's not what one would call politically correct today.

Entertaining.

Fun mystery

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 19 April 2021]

The host of a whodunit radio show finds himself involved in his own mystery when he awakens to find a woman with a knife in her back in his bedroom.

Ok, it is like the Thin man, so what? In Hollywood, when something is successful, it's naturally replicated by another studio, but Tragedy at Midnight starring Margaret Lindsey and John Howard is entertaining in its own right, both stars gel well together, Margaret, especially, is animated and energetic. It's standard mystery, but a fun one which moves at a good rate. Keye Luke ( number one son from Charlie Chan) also stars.

Tragedy at Midnight

[tesab-1 · 6/10 · 27 August 2011]

Great movie, but I couldn't help comparing it with William Powell/Myrna Loy combination movies. The lead, John Howard, even looks similar to Wm. Powell, but slimmer and a bit more handsome. Margaret Lindsay has not the class nor looks that Myrna Loy has (the way she comports herself, especially in the evening-gown scene. Notice her gait is not very feminine). The evening gown is not very classy, either. Her delivery is not as polished, and her eyelashes are a bit too chi chi. The scene in Pierre's was funny, other than the part where she starts taking scissors to the hat---as a hat collector, it pained me to see her mutilate a one-of-a-kind original hat! Other than her, the only complaint is the overacting of the "comic" foils (like the scene when the studio guy's hair is left standing up in a "Mohawk" and he has a stupid, pained look on his face; too vaudeville for me). I hated the way he called his wife "Mommy" all the time, especially as they had no kids! The servant steals the show in many scenes; great lines, great acting, and great fun. Fast beat and some great lines, it's a good mystery flick.

Ah, Fooey!

[boblipton · 3/10 · 3 August 2020]

John Howard is a radio broadcaster whose programs solves crimes the police can't. This annoys the boys in blue, so the local Police Commissioner orders the force to find something on Howard. They can't, but he does: a dead woman in his bed. He and feuding wife, mystery-writer Margaret Lindsay go on the run to find the real killer before the cops shoot them down, aided by their houseboy, Keye Luke, whose character rejoices in the name of Ah Foo.

It's one of those movies that are supposed to be filled with snappy patter, but the jokes are like Rice Crispies that have been soaked in cottage cheese for a week. Miss Lindsay does her best, delivering her lines in a nitwitted, high-speed manner, but even director Joseph Santley can't make anything interesting out of this mess of a script.

A comic 'tragedy'.

[froberts73 · 10/10 · 24 April 2012]

Let's get over all this stuff about Powell-Loy. Howard-Lindsay hold their own in this Republic gem. I am all for 'the Republic for which it stands'.

The plot, not too original but, who cares? It was carried out beautifully by a cast of some of the era's most popular character actors.

The dialog, penned by a femme, was great fun and so well handled by John Howard and Margaret Lindsay. Why she never achieved greater fame, I will never know. She has a Lamarr-like beauty, gorgeous from any angle, and when it comes to line delivery excuse me - but - she equals Loy.

The chemistry between the stars - and they are that - is beautiful, the dialog is clever and witty.

The judo moves were very convincing as delivered by Keye Luke who also was A-plus in line delivery.

"A Tragedy at Midnight" is thoroughly enjoyable at any hour.

Crime comedy

[happytrigger-64-390517 · 5/10 · 4 May 2021]

Entertaining crime comedy with a radio detective and his girlfriend (called Mommy, very bad idea in my way) about a crime of a woman found stabbed in Mommy's bed. It's kind of Thin Man adventure, quite silly. I really love the shadows scene. Not a must.

A radio detective and his wife anger the police by solving crimes before they do.

[stltape · 9/10 · 20 January 2009]

"A Tragedy AT MIDNIGHT" was a very entertaining mystery romance. John Howard and Margaret Lindsay made a great romantic detective team. Keye Luke, was also good as their ingenious servant, always on the spot to get them out of trouble.They were always one step ahead of the police in solving crimes and broadcasting solutions of crimes on their radio program, thereby frustrating the police who then wanted to get them off the air by finding something they could be arrested for.this appeared to be solved when our hero woke up one morning and found a woman with a knife in her back in his wife's bed.They then proceed to unravel the mystery. In some ways this picture is similar to the Thin Man series.

I had a VHS copy of this film that I made off the air but the tape oxide eventually went bad. I hope the last remaining copy on nitrate based film is restored before the nitrate turns to powder. it would be a shame if the picture were lost.

Don't watch it on Netflix

[m2mallory · 3/10 · 20 October 2012]

In the best of circumstances, meaning complete and uncut, "A Tragedy at Midnight" still could not be called a good movie. The writing is awful, the direction slipshod--shots rarely match, and in some scenes the actors don't seem to realize they're on camera; they stare down until their cue comes, at which time they suddenly leap into character--and the acting in many cases is pure burlesque. Most Abbott and Costello movies are more realistic. The goal was obviously to do a screwball mystery, ala "The Thin Man," with a little "Ghost Breakers" thrown in, but the characters here act like imbeciles. Having said that, the version of this film that is readily available on Netflix makes matters even worse by having had about one-quarter of its original running time chopped out, so as to fit into an hour time slot for television. This 53 minute version makes no sense--none--since the eliminated footage was apparently all exposition. What's left of the film involves a radio sleuth who makes the cops look like idiots (no big task here), and wakes up one hungover morning next to the corpse of a woman, not his wife. Can he solve the mystery, clear himself, elude the police, appease his wife, and still make his Wednesday broadcast? John Howard and Margaret Lindsay have very little chemistry, and Keye Luke's servant role makes the work of Mantan Moreland look dignified. There is also a huge cast of solid solid character actors, mostly wasted in virtual extra roles. Republic should have stuck to serials.

Obscure for a Reason

[dougdoepke · 31 January 2016]

All in all, the programmer's a pretty obscure entry in the amateur sleuth sweepstakes so popular at the time. Here it's radio crime broadcaster John Howard and his spunky wife Margaret Lindsey trying to figure out who put a dead woman in his bed, much to wife Lindsey's chagrin. The trail gets complicated, such that the whodunit part is secondary to colorful byplay. Happily though, Lindsey really shines; in fact, her smile alone lit up my gloomy living room. It's really her spark that carries the proceedings.Then too, the little byplay with the prissy hat designer remains a comedy highlight. Too bad Keye Luke's factotum has to call Howard "master". Still, he shows his jiujitsu skills in spades, and without use of a double that I could detect. Note, the naughty innuendo around finding a strange woman in the marital bed, even if it is a double one. Apparently, censorship relaxed a bit on this one. Note also presence of Roscoe Karns as the humorous cop Cassidy, a role similar to his TV Rocky King, Detective (1951-54). Nothing special about the 57-minutes, even though the cast does its best with what amounts to a murky script that's better in parts than as a whole.