Jim Hanvey, Detective

April. 05,1937      
Rating:
6
Trailer Synopsis Cast

Jim Hanvey is a genial but top-notch detective who has retired to his country home. An insurance company hires him to find a missing emerald so they won't have to pay out the $100,000 for which the jewel is insured. It doesn't take him long to find the emerald, but he discovers that finding it was the easy part; the difficult part is getting it back to its rightful owner, and he winds up involved in a murder in which an innocent man is framed.

Guy Kibbee as  James Woolford 'Jim' Hanvey
Tom Brown as  Don Terry
Catherine Doucet as  Adelaide Frost
Edward Gargan as  O. R.Smith
Edward Brophy as  Romo
Helen Jerome Eddy as  Mrs. Tom Ellis
Theodore von Eltz as  Dunn
Kenneth Thomson as  W. B. Elwood
Howard Hickman as  Herbert Frost
Oscar Apfel as  Lambert

Reviews

Hellen
1937/04/05

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Evengyny
1937/04/06

Thanks for the memories!

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GazerRise
1937/04/07

Fantastic!

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filippaberry84
1937/04/08

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

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utgard14
1937/04/09

Pleasant comedy mystery starring legendary character actor Guy Kibbee as a country detective who helps out two annoying lovebirds tangled up in a jewel theft plot followed by a murder. I love Guy Kibbee (who doesn't?) but this just didn't fly. That's sad because the parts are there but the whole thing just never quite clicks. It would be easy to blame it all on Republic or even on the inferior quality of the available prints but I can't. The problem is it's just such a bland effort and the whole thing rests entirely on Kibbee's shoulders. Frankly, some actors are just better suited to supporting roles and he's one of them. That may sound harsh but, to quote his character from this film: "If the truth's insulting, I can't help it." The two actors playing the young couple, Tom Brown and Lucie Kaye, don't help matters much. They're often spouting lines that should be funny or cute but just comes across as whiny and petulant. I kinda wanted Brown's character to be guilty. He annoyed me that much.

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JLRMovieReviews
1937/04/10

The bad news is that I saw the shortened 53 minutes of this Guy-Kibbee-as-a-retired-detective mystery. The good news is that I loved it. I wish they could have found the whole film and preserved it. Oh well. But it concerns a young couple who stole some emeralds as a joke and wants to return them. They go to Guy Kibbee for help, but he tells them to go home and leave him alone. He's retired. But when he finds out they've got a tail on them and that he knows the low-class mugs, he doesn't like the situation and decides to help out after all. An attempt to return the jewels goes awry with a murder and the jewels being stolen again. What makes this mystery entry so enjoyable besides Guy's usual likable disposition was the clever and snappy dialogue. I found this film because I was perusing Amazon's array of old mysteries and this had high marks. So I bought a copy not knowing that there would be missing footage. If you come across it, don't miss this Guy Kibbee rare gem. There may have been a Hugh Herbert (check him out, too,) but there was nobody like Guy Kibbee. And, here he saves the day.

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MartinHafer
1937/04/11

Warning: The Alpha Video DVD of this film is only 53 minutes long--18 minutes shorter than the time listed on IMDb. So, this print is most likely a severely truncated version. Who shortened the film is beyond me--and I'd sure like to find the full version of the movie.The idea of making a movie where Guy Kibbee plays a SMART private detective is strange. After all, Kibbee made a career out of playing affable boobs--the last sort of person you'd ever expect to be solving crimes! While I like the idea of doing this odd casting, the film itself is only okay--an agreeable enough time-passer. Not a particularly interesting film but Kibbee's pleasant persona made even this weak film seem watchable. An odd curio and no more.

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dbborroughs
1937/04/12

Guy Kibbee plays the titled detective in a meandering good natured romp that turns deadly. The plot of the film has an insurance company coming to call on Hanvey, a unique detective who has retired to the sticks. It seems a priceless jeweled necklace as gone missing and they want Hanvey to find it so they don't have to pay out the hundred grand. Hanvey finds out almost instantly that the jewels were taken as part of a bet and now they have to be put back with out anyone finding out. Unfortunately things turn deadly as the butler is killed and the wrong man is on the run with only Hanvey standing between him and the chair.Much of what happens is funny. Much of what happens seems to meander out of left field, but that's okay since its the loopiness of the proceedings that make this so watchable. This isn't the greatest film ever made but it is a good one that is far from run of the mill.I recommend this, especially if you've become tired of all of the other detective programmers of the 30's and 40's.(though try to find the full version since some discount releases are well under an hour)

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