Jimmy Dale & Everett G. Northrup (Shadow of Suspicion)

Created by Harold Goldman

New York private eye and would-be ladies’ man JIMMY DALE (Peter Cookson) and his wisecracking partner EVERETT G. NORTHRUP are sent, undercover, to the recently robbed Chicago branch of Cartell & Co. jewelers to protect the legendary Stonehaven Diamond Necklace in the 1944 fast-paced romantic comedy thriller Shadow of Suspicion, from Monogram.

Not that Jimmy is all business, mind you. He still finds time to hit on the secretary, Claire Winter (Marjorie Weaver).

It’s utterly ridiculous, of course, the way only a cheapie B-film can be, starring people who only hardcore film buffs might recognize. The plot has more holes in it than a macrame quilt, and the gags are more strained than baby food, but it’s also sort of fun, in a giddy, train wreck kinda way. Nobody is quite who they claim they are, and everyone else seems to be double-crossing each other, plus there’s a ton of head-spinning jibber jabber and (allegedly) snappy patter to keep things zipping along.

A lot of the cheers (and jeers) should probably be aimed at director William Beaudine,  who was commonly referred to in Hollywood (presumably behind his back) as “One Shot” Beaudine, by supposedly never taking more than one take for a shot. So he was much in demand, particularly among low-budget studios such as Monogram. But Beaudine worked steadily, and had a long, long career, stretching from from 1915 to well within the sixties, directing possibly as many as five hundred films.

FILMS

• SHADOW OF SUSPICION | Watch it now (1944, Monogram) 69 minutes, black & white Story by Harold Goldman Screenplay by Albert DeMond and Earle Snell Additional dialogue by Tim Ryan Directed by William Beaudine Produced by A.W. Hackel Starring Peter Cookson as JIMMY DALE and Tim Ryan as EVERETT G. NORTHRUP Also starring Marjorie Weaver, Pierre Watkin, Ralph Lewis, Anthony Warde, Frank J. Scannel, George J. Lewis, J. Farrell MacDonald

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.