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| William Henry |
THE MYSTERIOUS MR. VALENTINE (1946). Director: Philip Ford.
Colorized.
Janet Spencer (Linda Stirling of
The Crimson Ghost) runs into trouble when a corpse is thrown in front of the car she's driving and she's accused of a hit and run. Private detective Steve Morgan (William Henry of
Nearly Eighteen) comes to Janet's assistance, but he actually gets hired by Rita Armstrong (Barbara Wooddell) to find out who her husband's (Tristram Coffin) girlfriend (Virginia Christine) is. Then the husband, who was the dead man's business partner, is also murdered, and Lt. Milo Jones (Thomas E. Jackson) tells Steve to stick to divorce cases and insurance fraud. But Steve is determined to find out who is pretending to be the "Mysterious Mr. Valentine" who keeps phoning Janet and making blackmail demands no matter how often he gets hit on the head and knocked unconscious.
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| Linda Stirling with Henry |
The Mysterious Mr. Valentine comes off at first like an especially complicated episode of
Perry Mason without the courtroom scenes. Things are a bit convoluted at first with characters and incidents being thrown at you in rapid succession. Henry makes a likable private dick, and although she looks a little odd in this (as if she overdid the dieting) Stirling is spirited and energetic, giving a breezier performance than usual. Tristram Coffin (of
King of the Rocket Men) is as interesting as ever, and Virginia Christine makes a sexy and conniving mistress. Thomas E. Jackson is especially notable as the lieutenant, who -- thankfully -- doesn't play it gruff and nasty as actors playing cops often do in these roles. This is perhaps the only private eye film I've seen in which the hero actually has to go to the hospital for stitches after he gets conked on the head, although it happens again to him and others later in the film and apparently no one gets a concussion. Virginia Brissac, who was the realtor Mrs. Hammond on the "Sublease" episode of
I Love Lucy, plays Janet's housekeeper. Arthur Space also appears in this, albeit briefly. This was Henry's one and only appearance as Steve Morgan; the actor amassed over 250 credits!
Verdict: Minor mystery film from Republic studios with an interesting plotline and some clever touches. **1/2.
