''70,000 Witnesses'' is a 1932 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

mystery film A mystery film is a film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, ...

directed by

Ralph Murphy Ralph Murphy (May 1, 1895 – February 10, 1967) was an American film and television director. Born in Rockville, Connecticut, Murphy was active in films from 1931 through 1962, with some work in television. From 1941 to 1944 he was married to G ...

, written by Garrett Fort, Robert N. Lee, Allen Rivkin and P.J. Wolfson, and starring

Phillips Holmes Phillips Raymond Holmes (July 22, 1907 – August 12, 1942) was an American actor. For his contributions to the film industry, he was posthumously given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early life, education and career Born in ...

, Dorothy Jordan,

Charlie Ruggles Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the e ...

, Johnny Mack Brown, J. Farrell MacDonald, Lew Cody and David Landau. It was released on September 9, 1932, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

David S. Garber. In the film, a star player of

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

collapses during a game. He dies shortly after, and his death is initially ruled accidental. But a police detective wants to re-enact the football game, in an attempt to find who killed the player.

Plot

Buck Buchanan plays football for State, but his criminal brother Slip Buchanan has placed a whopping $350,000 wager on University defeating State in the upcoming big game. Slip attempts to coerce his brother into drugging a star teammate, Wally Clark, so he is unable to play. Buck refuses to do so, but is distracted on the field of play by his suspicions that Slip will find another way to do Wally harm. Sure enough, just as Wally is about to score a State touchdown, he collapses at the 5 yard line. As 70,000 spectators look on, Wally is carried from the field and expires. A doctor rules the death accidental, but a police detective, Dan McKenna, is so convinced of foul play, he has the players reassembled and the entire football play re-enacted, solving the case.

Cast

as Buck Buchanan * Dorothy Jordan as Dorothy Clark *

as Johnny Moran * Johnny Mack Brown as Wally Clark * J. Farrell MacDonald as State Coach * Lew Cody as Slip Buchanan * David Landau as Dan McKenna *

Kenneth Thomson Kenneth Roy Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet (September 1, 1923 – June 12, 2006), known in Canada as Ken Thomson, was a Canadian/British businessman and art collector. At the time of his death, he was listed by ''Forbes'' as the richest pe ...

as Dr. Collins * Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Connors

References

External links

* 1932 films 1932 mystery films 1930s sports films American black-and-white films American football films American mystery films Films directed by Ralph Murphy Paramount Pictures films 1930s English-language films Films with screenplays by Garrett Fort 1930s American films English-language sports films English-language mystery films {{mystery-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links