Tommy Tilton (Ralph Forbes) is the big shot columnist, and when he goes out for a night on the town, a singer is moidered. Tilton must figure out who-dunnit, or face trouble himself. a list of B stars. script is pretty slow. LONG pauses in the script between lines. Meh. shows on Turner Classic, but not very often. Forbes had started in silents, and successfully jumped to talkies. Died quite young at 46, unspecified illness! Tilton's co-hort/co-star is Marion Schilling. Directed by Bernard Ray. Produced by Puritan Pictures, a Sam Katzman company, and according to wikipedia, was only around for about a year before closing down. Like I said... Meh.
8 Reviews
Mediocre Whodunit
Lechuguilla6 May 2017
Instead of a well-known crime detective we get a hotshot newspaper columnist who's hot on the trail of a murderer. Tommy Tilton (Ralph Forbes) writes a gossip column called "Tattle-Tales Along Broadway", and hobnobs with all the big city police brass and attorneys in town.
When one of Tommy's buddies is suspected of murder in a supper club, Tommy's fast thinking and keen deduction work quickly to unmask the killer. The film's title comes from Tommy's ongoing sleuthing efforts described in his daily column.
The script of "I'll Name The Murderer" is b-grade quality, typical of the 1930s. Tommy is something of a gadabout playboy type that I found less than credible as a detective; Charlie Chan and other fictional detectives carry more cerebral heft.
I counted 6 or 7 suspects. The identity of the killer came as something of a surprise to me. I guess I missed the part about the person's motive. Dialogue is fast-paced and perfunctory, though there's a bit of humor in a few scenes. The ending plot segment contains just a bit of spine-tingling suspense, but then the story ends rather abruptly, via some usual plot clichés.
B&W cinematography is fairly good for the most part. But sound quality is a bit muffled. Except for Ralph Forbes, who is not convincing as a detective, the casting is okay. Acting is about what you would expect for the 1930s, slightly amateurish and at times a bit hammy. Most scenes take place on indoor sets minimally furnished, though certainly no more austere than the Monogram sets for Charlie Chan.
As a whodunit, this film is not bad, but there's nothing here that we haven't seen before in countless other murder mysteries. I would describe "I'll Name The Murderer" as mediocre.
When one of Tommy's buddies is suspected of murder in a supper club, Tommy's fast thinking and keen deduction work quickly to unmask the killer. The film's title comes from Tommy's ongoing sleuthing efforts described in his daily column.
The script of "I'll Name The Murderer" is b-grade quality, typical of the 1930s. Tommy is something of a gadabout playboy type that I found less than credible as a detective; Charlie Chan and other fictional detectives carry more cerebral heft.
I counted 6 or 7 suspects. The identity of the killer came as something of a surprise to me. I guess I missed the part about the person's motive. Dialogue is fast-paced and perfunctory, though there's a bit of humor in a few scenes. The ending plot segment contains just a bit of spine-tingling suspense, but then the story ends rather abruptly, via some usual plot clichés.
B&W cinematography is fairly good for the most part. But sound quality is a bit muffled. Except for Ralph Forbes, who is not convincing as a detective, the casting is okay. Acting is about what you would expect for the 1930s, slightly amateurish and at times a bit hammy. Most scenes take place on indoor sets minimally furnished, though certainly no more austere than the Monogram sets for Charlie Chan.
As a whodunit, this film is not bad, but there's nothing here that we haven't seen before in countless other murder mysteries. I would describe "I'll Name The Murderer" as mediocre.
Quota quickie style
Leofwine_draca9 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I'LL NAME THE MURDERER is one of those quota quickies in which a woman is murdered in a nightclub with a list of suspects as long as your arm. Ralph Forbes is the fast-talking gossip columnist who finds himself accused of the crime so must go ahead and figure it out for himself. A wealth of comedic one-liners and the like make this easy to digest, although it's very much par for the course rather than memorable.
Fast-talking newspaperman as amateur detective
csteidler7 August 2011
Ralph Forbes is gossip columnist Tommy Tilton, who excels in slinging nonsense about who is being seen where—and, it turns out, is not a timid bluffer when it comes to coaxing out a murderer.
Yes, an entertainer is murdered in her dressing room. Tommy Tilton's friend looks pretty guilty, but there's a raft of suspects who also had crossed and been crossed by this particular singer. Tilton's game: He uses his society column to draw out the guilty person with taunts and hints, eventually claiming that he will name the murderer in his next column. Whether his boast is backed up is, of course, in great doubt .
Forbes is smooth as the fast-talking and fast-thinking newsman. The other characters, alas, are not particularly unique, although James Guilfoyle is appropriately smarmy as "real" private detective Lou Baron, who attempts his own bluff—at actual competency, among other things—and doesn't fare nearly as well as Tilton. Marion Shilling is cute as "Smitty," Tommy's photographer colleague (and girlfriend?), but she just isn't given enough to do in this picture.
Quick and fun. Plus there's dancing!
Yes, an entertainer is murdered in her dressing room. Tommy Tilton's friend looks pretty guilty, but there's a raft of suspects who also had crossed and been crossed by this particular singer. Tilton's game: He uses his society column to draw out the guilty person with taunts and hints, eventually claiming that he will name the murderer in his next column. Whether his boast is backed up is, of course, in great doubt .
Forbes is smooth as the fast-talking and fast-thinking newsman. The other characters, alas, are not particularly unique, although James Guilfoyle is appropriately smarmy as "real" private detective Lou Baron, who attempts his own bluff—at actual competency, among other things—and doesn't fare nearly as well as Tilton. Marion Shilling is cute as "Smitty," Tommy's photographer colleague (and girlfriend?), but she just isn't given enough to do in this picture.
Quick and fun. Plus there's dancing!
All the clichés, and little of the energy or originality.
planktonrules30 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
In the 1930s, Hollywood made a bazillion murder mystery films--most by tiny studios who cranked them out by the dozen. With "I'll Name the Murderer", you get all the usual clichés but little to distinguish it or make it worth seeking.
The film begins with a smart-talking gossip columnist, Tommy (Ralph Forbes) out on the town. And, considering it's a murder mystery, soon someone ends up dead. Not at all surprisingly, the number one suspect is one of Tommy's friends. But, as is the case with such films, he decides to investigate the crime himself. After all, a gossip columnist is practically a cop, right?! Naturally, the Captain in charge of the case is a total moron who jumps to conclusions (they almost always are) and this isn't where the usual clichés end. At one point, Tommy has cornered a woman who knows more about the murderer's identity. But, she says she'll talk to him later. That's bad old movie code for "I'll be dead soon and so this lead will go no where!". And, in th big climactic scene, Tommy gets the murderer to confess to the killings and the police hop out and grab him.
The bottom line is that this film has zero originality, little energy and is a bit dull. Considering how many such films they made, why not just find one of the better ones instead?!
The film begins with a smart-talking gossip columnist, Tommy (Ralph Forbes) out on the town. And, considering it's a murder mystery, soon someone ends up dead. Not at all surprisingly, the number one suspect is one of Tommy's friends. But, as is the case with such films, he decides to investigate the crime himself. After all, a gossip columnist is practically a cop, right?! Naturally, the Captain in charge of the case is a total moron who jumps to conclusions (they almost always are) and this isn't where the usual clichés end. At one point, Tommy has cornered a woman who knows more about the murderer's identity. But, she says she'll talk to him later. That's bad old movie code for "I'll be dead soon and so this lead will go no where!". And, in th big climactic scene, Tommy gets the murderer to confess to the killings and the police hop out and grab him.
The bottom line is that this film has zero originality, little energy and is a bit dull. Considering how many such films they made, why not just find one of the better ones instead?!
Has its moments - two of them in fact!
JohnHowardReid16 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Ralph Forbes (Tommy Tilton), Marion Shilling (Smitty), Malcolm McGregor (Ted Benson), James Guilfoyle (Lou Baron), John W. Cowell (Captain Flynn), William Norton Bailey (Van Ostrum), Agnes Anderson (Nadia), Mildred Claire (aka Claire Rochelle), (Valerie Delroy), Gayne Kinsey (Walton, Valerie's dance partner), Harry Semels (Luigi), Al Klein (waiter), Miki Morita (Tato), Murdock MacQuarrie (accident witness), Gene Johnston (orchestra leader), Karl Hackett (Bill, a friend of Ted Benson), Phil Dunham (the newspaper editor), Lester Dorr (taxi- driver).
Director: BERNARD B. RAY. Story and screenplay: Phil Dunham. Special dialogue: Edwin K. O'Brien. Photography: James Diamond. Film editor: Charles Henkel. Art director: Vin Taylor. Music: Gene Johnston. Song, "Love Dreams" (Anderson) by Gene Johnston (music) and Carl Dudley (lyrics). Assistant director: George Jeske. Sound recording: Cliff Ruberg. Producer: C.C. Burr.
Copyright 2 March 1936 by Puritan Pictures Corporation. No recorded New York opening. 66 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Gossip columnist has a stab at fulfilling the title boast.
COMMENT: Almost a complete waste of time, except on two counts: — Agnes Anderson and Claire Rochelle. Miss Anderson made only nine films, all between 1935 and 1937, and in two of these she was not credited. Here she not only plays the heavy with charismatic fervor but even sings quite pleasantly. It's a shame she had only the one number.
Miss Rochelle, on the other hand, chalked up no less than fifty pictures from 1933 through 1946, mostly in very small roles. Here she not only looks stunning, but dances delightfully. Unfortunately, aside from these two performances and Mr. Johnston's melodious score (he can be glimpsed briefly in a few long shots), this Poverty Row entry has absolutely nothing to commend it.
We could run through its vices for the next two pages, starting with the hammy Ralph Forbes, taking a pot-shot at Harry Semels' utterly unconvincing nightclub proprietor, labeling production values as virtually non-existent, and finishing off with Mr Ray's abysmally incompetent direction. It's no wonder that our Ray chose to hide his contribution to this penny dreadful under the pseudonym, Raymond K. Johnson.
And yes, this is the same B.B. Ray who was commended for his "first rate technique" by Harry T. Smith when reviewing Ray's "El Crimen de Media Noche" in the 22nd February 1936 edition of The New York Times. Astonishing, but true!
Director: BERNARD B. RAY. Story and screenplay: Phil Dunham. Special dialogue: Edwin K. O'Brien. Photography: James Diamond. Film editor: Charles Henkel. Art director: Vin Taylor. Music: Gene Johnston. Song, "Love Dreams" (Anderson) by Gene Johnston (music) and Carl Dudley (lyrics). Assistant director: George Jeske. Sound recording: Cliff Ruberg. Producer: C.C. Burr.
Copyright 2 March 1936 by Puritan Pictures Corporation. No recorded New York opening. 66 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Gossip columnist has a stab at fulfilling the title boast.
COMMENT: Almost a complete waste of time, except on two counts: — Agnes Anderson and Claire Rochelle. Miss Anderson made only nine films, all between 1935 and 1937, and in two of these she was not credited. Here she not only plays the heavy with charismatic fervor but even sings quite pleasantly. It's a shame she had only the one number.
Miss Rochelle, on the other hand, chalked up no less than fifty pictures from 1933 through 1946, mostly in very small roles. Here she not only looks stunning, but dances delightfully. Unfortunately, aside from these two performances and Mr. Johnston's melodious score (he can be glimpsed briefly in a few long shots), this Poverty Row entry has absolutely nothing to commend it.
We could run through its vices for the next two pages, starting with the hammy Ralph Forbes, taking a pot-shot at Harry Semels' utterly unconvincing nightclub proprietor, labeling production values as virtually non-existent, and finishing off with Mr Ray's abysmally incompetent direction. It's no wonder that our Ray chose to hide his contribution to this penny dreadful under the pseudonym, Raymond K. Johnson.
And yes, this is the same B.B. Ray who was commended for his "first rate technique" by Harry T. Smith when reviewing Ray's "El Crimen de Media Noche" in the 22nd February 1936 edition of The New York Times. Astonishing, but true!
Murder soup with too many ingredients.
mark.waltz19 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Fun for the snappy dialog and show business atmosphere, but messy because of far too many characters, this B mystery is typical of its time so there are no real surprises. Ralph Forbes as a reporter and Marion Shilling as the photographer (given the cliched nickname of "Smitty") happen to be present at a nightclub when a fired dancer is murdered.
There's her dance partner, a jealous singer, the club owner "Luigi" and other assorted characters, all named in suspicion through an abundance of trite dialog. Puritan pictures, one of many forgotten Z grade poverty row studios, cranked out numerous B's like this, and most of them pretty standard. Like those, these are predictable but with fun moments, including a memorably funny scene with Forbes and a rather dimwitted, nasal voiced switchboard operator who gets laughs for how she recites her doubletalk dialog.
There's her dance partner, a jealous singer, the club owner "Luigi" and other assorted characters, all named in suspicion through an abundance of trite dialog. Puritan pictures, one of many forgotten Z grade poverty row studios, cranked out numerous B's like this, and most of them pretty standard. Like those, these are predictable but with fun moments, including a memorably funny scene with Forbes and a rather dimwitted, nasal voiced switchboard operator who gets laughs for how she recites her doubletalk dialog.
1930's newspaper gossip columnist solves whodunit
django-121 May 2002
Florid, over-confident newspaper gossip columnist Tommy Tilton (Ralph Forbes) turns sleuth when his friend is blamed for the murder of an ex-girlfriend with a taste for blackmail. We're introduced to a number of colorful supporting characters, with Tilton gradually figuring out the nature of the crime through a combination of bluff and insight. He also uses his column to "smoke out" the guilty party, even when he doesn't yet know who the guilty party is! Director B.B. Ray was an old hand at low-budget action films and westerns, and with minimal sets and dialogue that describes actions that would be too expensive to film, Ray keeps the action moving at a swift pace. Forbes plays the part of Tilton as something of a dandy, with a lot of empty bravado. When Tilton proclaims "I'll name the murderer" in the next day's paper, even though he doesn't yet have any proof, we audience members pull for him, WANTING him to crack the case. I'll let you see the film yourself to see how all this is resolved... Overall, a solid 1930s poverty-row murder mystery from Puritan Pictures, best known for their 1935-36 series of interesting Tim McCoy westerns, including the classic MAN FROM GUNTOWN.
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