''Murder Is My Business'' is a 1946 American

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Sam Newfield Sam Newfield, born Samuel Neufeld, (December 6, 1899 - November 10, 1964), also known as Sherman Scott or Peter Stewart, was an American B-movie Film director, director, one of the most prolific in American film history—he is credited with d ...

and written by

Fred Myton Fred Myton (November 15, 1885 – June 6, 1955) was an American screenwriter. He wrote 168 films between 1916 and 1952, mostly low-budget "B" pictures for Poverty Row studios and independent producers. He wrote many films for Producers Rele ...

. It is based on the 1940 novel ''The Uncomplaining Corpses'' by

Brett Halliday Brett Halliday (July 31, 1904 – February 4, 1977) is the primary pen name of Davis Dresser, an American mystery and western writer. Halliday is best known for the long-lived series of Michael Shayne mysteries he wrote, and later commissioned ...

. The film stars

Hugh Beaumont Eugene Hugh Beaumont (February 16, 1909 – May 14, 1982) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on the television series '' Leave It to Beaver'', originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963; and as private detec ...

Cheryl Walker Cheryl Walker may refer to: *Cheryl Walker (actress) Cheryl Walker (August 1, 1918 – October 24, 1971) was an American fashion model and actress. Early years Walker was born in South Pasadena, California, to Everett Dale and Pauline S. W ...

Lyle Talbot Lyle Florenz Talbot (born Lisle Henderson, also credited Lysle Talbot; February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on ...

George Meeker George Meeker (March 5, 1904 – August 19, 1984) was an American character film and Broadway actor. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Meeker made several films such as ''Crime, Inc.'' (1945) and ''A Thief in the Dark'' (1 ...

Pierre Watkin Pierre Frank Watkin (December 29, 1887 – February 3, 1960) was an American character actor best known for playing distinguished authority figures throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood. He is best remembered for his roles of Mr. Skinner the b ...

, and Richard Keene. The film was released on March 7, 1946, by

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...

Synopsis

The film depicts Arnold Ramsey and his two grown children Dorothy and Ernest. The children hate Ramsey's second wife Eleanor who has money of her own, but refuses to spend it on supporting their lavish lifestyles. Eleanor meets with private detective Mike Shayne to hire him to investigate threatening letters she has been receiving. In flashback the viewer sees the details of her home situation. As Shayne is leaving this meeting, Arnold Ramsey wants a word with him. Insultingly implying that Shayne is on the shady side, Ramsey asks if Shayne will find someone to stage a phony jewelry burglary. He has hatched an insurance fraud scheme in which the actor would break in and find $1000 in an empty jewelry case in his wife's bedroom. Shayne cautiously tells Ramsey he will think it over. At the office Shayne vents his frustration to his secretary Phyllis, but does not see that his old friend, reformed ex-convict, and down on his luck, Joe Darnell and his wife are present in the office and overhear. Darnell's wife Dora is pregnant, Joe needs $1000, and he anxiously volunteers to play the burglar. Shayne instead offers good advice to stay on the up-and-up, handing him a $50 gift check. However, later that night, Darnell takes it upon himself to go to the Ramsey home, claiming Shayne hired him, and he is accepted by Ramsey. Having set the stage, Ramsey strangles his wife as she sleeps. When Darnell breaks in and arrives in the bedroom, he discovers this and tries to revive her, which provides Ramsey the excuse to shoot and kill him, claiming he caught Darnell in the act of murder. The police believe this lie and close the case. But Carl Meldrum, an ex-con gigolo dating Dorothy, just happened to be present and witness the actual murder. As a con man, he begins blackmailing Ramsey. Now Ramsey has to kill Meldrum, for which he tries to frame Eleanor's brother Buell Renslow, who was also at odds with her over money. From the beginning Shayne has suspected Ramsey—his work was assembling the proof—and at the end he is able to conclusively show the police who the actual innocent and guilty parties are.

Cast

Michael Shayne Michael "Mike" Shayne is a fictional private detective character created during the late 1930s by writer Brett Halliday, a pseudonym of Davis Dresser. The character appeared in a series of seven films starring Lloyd Nolan for Twentieth Century Fo ...

as Phyllis Hamilton *

as Buell Renslow *

as Carl Meldrum *

as Arnold Ramsey *Richard Keene as Tim Rourke *David Reed as Ernest Ramsey *Carol Andrews as Mona Tabor *Julia McMillan as Dorothy Ramsey *Helene Heigh as Eleanor Renslow Ramsey *

Ralph Dunn Ralph Dunn (May 23, 1900 – February 19, 1968) was an American film, television, and stage actor. Early years Dunn was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania. His father was a veterinarian for the U.S. Army during World War I, and his mother ...

as Pete Rafferty *Parker Garvie as Joe Darnell *

Virginia Christine Virginia Christine (born Virginia Christine Ricketts; March 5, 1920 – July 24, 1996) was an American stage, radio, film, television, and voice actress. Though Christine had a long career as a character actress in film and television, she i ...

as Dora Darnell

References

External links

* {{Michael Shayne 1946 films 1940s English-language films American action films 1940s action films Producers Releasing Corporation films Films directed by Sam Newfield American black-and-white films 1940s American films English-language action films