User Reviews

Other than Nana Bryant, who has the bit part of an ailing, grieving mother, whoever heard of the rest of the cast? Is it any wonder, considering that they made a film where the plot seems awfully good only to be swallowed up. I am referring to when the detective said that events shall now move very quickly and they sure did, too fast. What were they trying to do save money? Everything comes into focus real fast as the two villains are quickly discovered for what they have done.

In addition, the end was too preachy. The detective saying to another if only these girls would stay home with their mothers instead of venturing out to the world unknown for glamour and ultimate stardom. These preachy lines show how outdated this film really is. Would girls listen today as they didn't in the 1940s?

A girl is shot to death and we never know the exact reason why it occurred. She had left home for the supposed glamour of life in New York City.

A friend reveals to the police where she had specifically gone. When the case seems to drag on, her older sister goes to New York and does undercover work leading her to the killers who owned both a so called professional school and nightclub.

Her spilling the beans to a drunken girl really put her in danger. Of course, the girl mouthed off but the police were there to capture it all. The film is too fast paced to capture my fancy.

It's another "B" picture from Monogram Pictures (aka "Poverty Row"). The weird thing about it is that it was made in the UK but set in New York. At one point one of the characters refers to police officers as "constables."

The story begins with the killing of Helen Howard, a young woman who comes from her home in Ohio to make it big as an actress in New York City.

We eventually learn that the "acting school" she attends is a front for escorts at the Blue Jay Nightclub club run by Benny Nordick (John Gallaudet). The odd thing about the shooting is that Helen grabs Benny's gun from a drawer first and during a struggle it goes off killing her.

Even odder is Benny's cohort, Nick Mantee (Kane Richmond), entering at the exact moment when Helen is killed. He ends up blackmailing Benny for a piece of the "action" (a 50 per cent cut in the nightclub and the rest of Benny's holdings).

Cut to the police investigation starring Conrad Nagel as Lt. Williams and his neophyte associate Sgt. Tom Ramey (Ralph Byrd).

Nagel is awful in the role as the police investigator as he looks too old for the part and does not seem like a character from NYC in the least. There is also some additional lame comic banter between Williams and Ramey with the boss constantly castigating his subordinate in regard to his inexperience on the job.

The plot proceeds lugubriously as the intrepid officers make their way to Ohio where they have the unenviable task of informing Helen's parents of her death. The female protagonist is introduced: Helen's older sister Nancy (Audrey Long-who notably had a significant role in the well-known noir "Born to Kill" a year earlier).

It's unfortunate that Long never made it big in Hollywood as she proves her mettle as a good dramatic actor here. As Nancy she has a major part to play in this film as she decides to go to New York to try and investigate her sister's killing on her own after the police don't seem to be making much headway in their investigation.

Suffice it to say Nancy goes "undercover" at the nightclub where Nick takes a big liking to her. In an extremely poorly scripted scene, she blabs to one of the hostesses about Helen and that she's trying to obtain evidence that could lead to charges against Nick and Benny.

Now why would Nancy tell a drunken hostess about her sister, blowing her cover, which almost leads to her demise at the hands of Nick?

Obviously, it's all a setup for the police to save the day. It's Barda, the undercover detective masquerading as a crooked nightclub operator who saves Nancy and records Benny's confession on one of those new fangled tape recorders the gangsters happen to enjoy toying around with in the office.

Richmond as Nick is decent enough as the charming bad guy and has some chemistry with Long in the nightclub scenes.

Still, it's hard recommending Stage Stuck. It's not the worst "B" movie in the world but don't expect anywhere close to an A-list script.

Okay, so the death of Wanda McKay was accidental, but it wasn't reported, so naturally when her body is discovered, the cops are going to think that it's murder. okay go to her hometown to inform her parents, and her sister (Audrey Long) goes to New York to get a job with the same agency that her sister was in. You've got John Gallaudet, head of the agency, seen fighting with McKay as the film opens, and Kane Richmond as his partner who witnesses the struggle that ends with McKay on the floor dead, having earlier pulled the gun on Gallaudet. Then you've got detectives Ralph Byrd ("Dick Tracy") and Charles Trowbridge who have to break the bad news to Long and her parents, Selmer Jackson and Nana Bryant. Trowbridge and Byrd are not thrilled to find Long in New York, especially when she gets a job at the cafe where her sister worked, but it's obvious that determined young woman will aide them in solving this case.

While this is not classified as a film noir, it has many of the elements that made that genre click in the 1940's. Sinister characters, sharp dialog, thrilling twists, brilliant photography, and a setting that screams the darkness before dawn. For a monogram film, this is very lavish, and probably one of their better films of the late 1940's. The insinuations of what the girls actually do at this club is pretty risky for its time, showing what the poverty row studios could get away with that would have had the code up in arms if it had been done at the major Hollywood studios. This certainly will not be confused with the 1936 Dick Powell/Joan Blondell musical and the 1958 remake of "Morning Glory" which featured the same name.