Any movie from the Michael Shayne Detective series can be counted on to deliver an enjoyable mystery story. In this film Lloyd Nolan once again delivers a good performance as he works to solve a murder which took place at the estate of a wealthy US Senator. Everything wraps-up neatly in about 65 minutes which means that there is no wasted time with boring sub plots or long talky scenes ala todays' crop of over hyped and over long releases. A good supporting cast helps Nolan turn this into a fine stylish film. Olin Howlin does a great job and provides just the right amount of restrained comic relief as the police chief. Enjoy
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reve-29 October 2000
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Mike Shayne is back with us in The Man Who Wouldn't Die, one of the last of the seven Shayne movies Lloyd Nolan cranked out in a three-year period. While the acting for the most part is no better than you'd expect in a quickie B, it's got the old dark house cliché down pat. Mike Shayne is called upon to pretend to be the new husband of the daughter of a wealthy businessman, now under investigation back in Washington. The man has a lush, young wife, an obsequious male secretary, an older and discrete butler and a live-in, tall and handsome doctor/scientist. Most of all, the man has a huge, isolated mansion with lots of corridors and rooms. And at night, the shadows are dark, the grounds are scary, a murderer creeps about and a buried corpse has trouble staying buried. Shayne's job is to find out why someone took a shot at his female friend in her bedroom, and why everyone, including her father, insists that it was her imagination. Things get even more dicey when the young lady's real husband shows up.
Lloyd Nolan brings all of Michael Shayne's wise-cracking confidence to life as he puzzles out a murderous mystery that involves revenge and slow breathing. Except for Nolan, the acting is B level clunky. Still, it's always fun to see Olin Howland do his gullible hayseed routine, this time as Police Chief Meek. In a small part as the town's coroner is Jeff Corey, a good actor when given half a chance. To see him at his best, watch his performance as Blinky Franklin in The Killers.
Like all the Michael Shayne mysteries Lloyd Nolan made in the early Forties, nowadays the reason to watch them is Lloyd Nolan. Shayne's good-natured confidence and shrewd thinking is a perfect match for Nolan. -
blanche-224 April 2012Lloyd Nolan is Michael Shayne, private detective in "The Man Who Wouldn't Die," a 1942 entry into this short series from Twentieth Century Fox.
A friend of Mike's, Catherine (Marjorie Weaver) gets him to pose as her husband while investigating a shooting at her family home. Her father (Paul Harvey) is in government and under investigation by the Senate, and one night, Anna is shot at. Mike finds plenty to investigate. He also has plenty to explain when Catherine's real husband shows up unexpectedly.
There's lots of humor and "dark stormy night" atmosphere in this neat programmer, which also features Henry Wilcoxon and Helen Reynolds as Anna, Catherine's stepmother.
Nolan is a delight as a singing, happy but very clever Shayne. I'm surprised that Marjorie Weaver didn't get further in her career, though by all accounts, she loved the career she had - she's very pretty and vivacious.
Very enjoyable. -
jhumlong20 February 2002What a great old film. I am lucky enough to have found over the years a mint 16mm sound print an a very good vhs copy (Captain Bejoiu). The story starts out with a very mysterious burial scene on a cold windy nite. There is the "Old Forboding Mansion" and the usual cast of 20th Century stock players including Paul Harvey who is great as Dudly Wolfe. But as usual, Lloyd Nolan steals the show as Shayne with his whimsical irish humor and dapper acting. Marge Reynolds is great as his wife? With the reoccuring thunder storm as a backdrop and the "undead" body with glowing eyes trying to kill any and everyone in the house, it makes for a spine-tingling murder mystery that is as good as most of the sad new ones w/o the sex and overdone violence. 1942 appears to be one of the best years for movies in Hollywood. So many great features with outstanding character actors of the time. LeRoy Mason is great as the "undead" killer who stocks the remaining frightened guests and family at the Wolfe Mansion. If it shows up on Fox Movie Channel, do yourself a favor and watch it!
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gridoon202422 December 2012An intriguing and surprising mystery, an exciting car chase, a killer whose eyes glow in the dark, a pretty leading lady, a great femme fatale (I cannot understand why Helene Reynolds did not have a better career - maybe it was her own choice to retire early?), and some well-placed bits of comedy (like Michael Shayne stalling for a moment to see if any more beautiful showgirls will run in front of him, of the butler giving an irritated look when the door bell rudely interrupts his eavesdropping!) make "The Man Who Wouldn't Die" (great and appropriate title for this movie, by the way) one of the best entries in the "Michael Shayne" series - for me, it's between this one and "Blue, White And Perfect" for the top spot on the list of the first five films at least. **1/2 out of 4.
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ebach-264-95348415 March 2015I ended up catching this on the Movies!network-the digital TV channel broad-casted by a lot of fox affiliates. I thought it was a fun movie. Lloyd Nolan was great. I knew him more from his character bits on TV in the 1970s. I really enjoyed him in the McCloud episode of the western cowboys that rob an armored car. This movie had a nice mix between comedy and a nice if not ground breaking mystery story. Great chemistry between Nolan and his costar. I had not seen others in this series but would not mind checking it out. The style reminds a little of the Thin Man series or some of the better written Abbott and Costello movies (I always liked their two mystery type movies Who Done It and Meet The Killer Boris Karloff).
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planktonrules6 July 2009A young woman awakens at night to see a man with glowing eyes staring at her. This man shoots at her but misses and when she tells others, there's no evidence she was there! They act as if it's some sort of dream, but she's sure it isn't.
Now how Michael Shayne gets involved is pretty odd. This same woman later meets him along the road and asks him to pose as her husband. She is apparently married but wants to pass Shayne off as her new husband. None of this made sense--why didn't she just bring her real husband? Why didn't she just tell people that he was a private detective--especially when he found the bullet shot at her--proving someone DID shoot at her! Odd indeed!
In the midst of this mystery, a man takes off from the mansion and is chased by Shayne and the police chief. The car crashes and the man is thrown. The chief very quickly pronounces him dead. Inexplicably, the body disappears later! Was he really dead or did someone steal the corpse? This is all getting very strange and confusing (especially for the audience), as there are lots and lots of seemingly divergent plot points in the film. Supposedly, this is all related somehow to some strange magician, Zorah Bey.
This is an enjoyable Michael Shayne film, mostly due to the seemingly relaxed performance by Lloyd Nolan as Shayne. However, the story is a tad confusing and seems to perhaps have too many twists and turns...but it never is dull. For lovers of B-detective films, this one is certainly worth finding. -
bkoganbing16 September 2019Marjorie Weaver who is Paul Harvey's wild child comes home and announces she has a husband. Her dad has troubles enough with a Senate Investigating Committee looking at him for God knows what. Harvey and a few others have just buried a body, but a second look reveals an empty grave.
Weaver hires Michael Shayne, but in order to have him at the house she says Lloyd Nolan is her husband. Nolan's crackling wit does not near and endear to the rest, but he gets the job done.
All I'll say is that it wasn't quite what I expected.
The cast gives a good account of themselves and Nolan is as breezy as ever. -
Norm-309 June 1999This mystery has everything: dead bodies that won't stay buried, a weird laboratory, an old house during a thunderstorm, and a "phantom" (with "glowing" eyes) that appears in the house and attempts to kill someone!
The hero & heroine add both a comedic and suspenseful touch to the entire proceedings.
This film is difficult to find, but I highly recommend it! -
mark.waltz9 November 2015It was on a dark stormy night when a wealthy man and his second wife played witness to the bearing of a body. The interruption of his daughter with the news that she has just married brings more problems to her family. Along comes Lloyd Nolan as her old pal, Detective Michael Shayne, who pretends to be her husband, and of course, he finds himself become involves with the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the corpse.
A delightfully fast moving mystery with both supernatural and comic elements, this is one of the better B mysteries of the golden age of B movies. Nolan gets lots of opportunity to display his knack for street smarts and wisecracks. Paul Harvey is also very good as the wealthy political bigwig with scandal breathing down his neck as well as an obvious opportunistic wife and incorrigible daughter who has given him nothing but trouble. There's also a dumb private detective who needs some education from Shayne as to how to handle such complicated cases. This is truly enjoyable with a great conclusion that isn't quite a surprise but handled quite nicely. -
rmax3048239 June 2012It's one of those inexpensive B features that were ground out by the studios to accompany their major releases. The direction and editing, by studio hacks you never heard of, rush the pace so there's never a dull second as brash Lloyd Nolan, as Private Investigator Mike Shayne, unravels a somewhat complicated plot involving blackmail, murder, and a magician's act.
The plot is almost dispensable. It opens with a dark and stormy night and a body being buried hurriedly in somebody's back yard. The central figures are Marjorie Weaver, who is petite, sassy, and cute. She hires Nolan to find out why someone took a shot at her in the dark bedroom of her father's country mansion. It HAS to be a mansion because there's so much rushing about from room to room that you could hardly place the story in a mobile home.
I rather like Lloyd Nolan. He sounds a lot like a New Yorker but was born in a San Francisco neighborhood populated with immigrants from New York City. His features are those of everyman. They have all the interest of a hard-boiled egg, yet they're reassuring. Lloyd Nolan -- movie star. Why, he's a beacon for all of us.
The Michael Shayne movies were a series similar to many others. If it wasn't Mike Shayne it was The Falcon. They were all unpretentious time fillers and kept the kids involved through sheer mindlessness. The Shayne series would occasionally come up with some bon mots and they'd be done effortlessly. In one of them, a dead body is found strangled with piano wire, it's head under the pedals. "Oh, suicide, eh?" Here, a butler is "as quiet as a moose." And someone wasn't really eavesdropping, he just happened to be passing by and got his ear caught on the door knob.
If you're not in search of a challenge, this is a satisfying flick. -
JohnHowardReid21 August 2008All the Lloyd Nolan Michael Shaynes are worth viewingand this one rates as close to the best! Breezy, nonchalantly aggressive and off-handedly slick Nolan is not only handed a really spooky mystery but is required to impersonate the heroine's husband as well. This aspect leads into some risible, if innocent fun which the players, the actors and the screenwriter all manage to blend with plenty of flesh-creeping thrills and fascinating intrigue. Olin Howland's equally enjoyable comic turns are also integrated into the action with considerable flair and know-how.
Marjorie Weaver, although none too enticingly costumed, makes a winning, convincing, vivacious heroine. Blonde siren, Helene Reynolds, also makes quite an impression, although her role was sufficiently strong to dispense with some last act padding. By "B" levels, production values come across as surprisingly lavish, with lots of action and changes of scene, plus a cavernous main set. Leeds' stylish direction also proves quite an eye-opener, though he was helped along by Joe MacDonald's attractively atmospheric camera-work. -
CinemaSerf6 December 2023We start with a sinister scene in the grounds on an eerie country mansion. A burial - but of whom, and why in the dead of night? Well, it doesn't take us long to find out why and soon daughter of the house "Cathy" (Marjorie Weaver) engages the services of the sleuthing "Shayne" (Lloyd Nolan) to find out just what is going on. Have Burke & Hare moved into the neighbourhood? Snag for "Cathy" - her wealthy father "Dudley" (Paul Harvey) is no fan of cops, so the two have to pretend that they are... married...! Maybe not the easiest of disguises but as the story gathers pace there develops quite a fun dynamic between the two trying to stay one step ahead of their increasingly sophisticated and menacing nemesis. It's quite a decent little crime-noir, with a gradually accruing sense of menace helped by the basic, but effective, dark photography and some quite clever close ups on the eyes of our perpetrator (almost Karloff-esque, at times). The denouement is a touch far-fetched, but there's enough in the story to keep in interesting for an hour.
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johnnydogg18 September 2018One of the most boring, confusing movies I've ever watched. Makes little sense from beginning to end. Ending is beyond confusing and probably the most confusing ending in film history. This is probably one of the worst movies ever made. Save your time and watch anything else.
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dougdoepke10 May 2012Detective Shayne helps out an old girlfriend, following some mysterious happenings at her family mansion.
That Gothic opening is a real grabber. So what's going on with guys that are digging a nighttime grave in the middle of a storm with a sinister mansion in the background. It takes the rest of the 60-minutes to find out. Speaking of spooky effects, there're also the two glowing eyes in the dark looming over an hysterical Cathy (Weaver). No wonder she screams bloody murder.
But these creepy effects, along with the ever-reliable Lloyd Nolan as Shayne are probably the best parts of a sometimes murky narrative. The whodunit part is treated rather casually; at the same time, maybe you can figure out the solution-- I got lost. But that's okay, because the Shayne series depended more on characters than mystery. Here, Nolan and Weaver spark the proceedings with some lively dialog, including some surprisingly suggestive bedroom banter. Include Olin Howland as the addled hayseed sheriff, plus an ambulatory corpse, and it all adds up to an entertaining, if unexceptional, series entry. -
utgard149 April 2020Another fun Michael Shayne movie starring Lloyd Nolan. Hearing Nolan with his distinctive voice and accent rattling off the snappy patter is music to the ears. This time around private eye Shayne journeys to an estate to help a friend in danger. The friend is played by likable Marjorie Weaver in her second of three Michael Shayne movies. She played a different character in each one. Olin Howland is a great deal of fun as an incomplete police chief. Highlights include a great car chase, some nice old dark house mystery atmosphere, and one particularly effective scene where the camera zooms in on a shadowy figure whose eyes are practically glowing. Cool stuff!
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holn25 May 2022A good movie has to have good writing. If a movie doesn't have a good story it doesn't matter who stars in it I won't go to see it. This movie had that and more. Its not a horror movie. Its a mystery with twists and turns and some comedy. My family and I watched it and nobody left the room while it was playing. Another mark of a good movie. Too bad we don't have Hollywood movies today that start with good writing. Instead we get remakes of other remakes.
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GManfred5 July 2012I was so impressed by "Dressed To Kill", the first Mike Shayne film I saw, that I decided to buy the boxed set of four other Shaynes. "The Man Who Wouldn't Die" was the first I watched and I was disappointed. For some reason it lacked the professionalism of the first in several areas; the script lacked the sparkle and cleverness of "Dressed To Kill" and the acting seemed forced and unnatural. The story is too far-fetched, about a magician who was married to the wife of an important Senator and who comes back to blackmail him through his wife. The magician is thought to be killed and buried, but comes back to collect his blackmail money... oh, never mind. It gets even more confused and loopy as the story continues. Through it all Lloyd Nolan, as the affable title character, tries to solve the mystery for his friend, played in over-the-top fashion by Marjorie Weaver. I thought her acting job particularly hammy and detracted from the movie, as she was an integral part of the story.
Starting a new paragraph for Olin Howland, who was especially bad and out of place as the investigating Police Chief. It was poor casting on Fox's part as Howland acted as if he had wandered on to the set during a break from a Judy Canova picture. The damage, however, was already done with the weak, unbelievable script and plot.
I rated this one a five, due mainly to the presence and efforts of Lloyd Nolan.