Hey! Let me out of this taxi before I die of starvation!
The Phantom of 42nd Street (1945) is a pleasant, empty-minded whodunit which has the charming differentiator of a chief crime solver being a drama critic for the newspaper, and the victims are all connected to the theater. His name is Tony Woolrich, and it all is centering on the family named Moore, near-royalty of the theater of New York City. When the business minded elder brother dies, he’s found hung with a witty quote from a play on him. The younger brother, elderly and on his last legs, is thought to be the next target, but a night watchman dies next, killed by someone in a pirate costume, again leaving a witty note.
Tony is catching flack, first from his editor, who chews him out for not getting the story on the first murder, and then by the police for meddling, and then by his taxi driver – he leads a life of criticism. Hey! But soon he gets into the swing of things, finding this whole crime solving gig to be amenable to his thought processes.
But this story is about thrills, not deduction. The audience never really has a chance to solve the murders for themselves as too much information is withheld. But the acting is good and even fun in places, so if you can find a good print of this flick and an hour of down-time, it may be worth your time.
