''Girl Missing'' is a 1933 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

mystery film starring

Glenda Farrell Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971) was an American actress. Farrell personified the smart and sassy, wisecracking blonde of the Classical Hollywood films. Farrell's career spanned more than 50 years, appearing in numerous Broadwa ...

Ben Lyon Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American film actor and a studio executive at 20th Century-Fox who later acted in British radio, films and TV. Early life and career Lyon was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Alvine ...

and

Mary Brian Mary Brian (born Louise Byrdie Dantzler, February 17, 1906 – December 30, 2002) was an American actress who made the transition from silent films to sound films. Early life Brian was born in Corsicana, Texas, the daughter of Taurrence J. ...

. It was directed by

Robert Florey Robert Florey (14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor. Born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, he became an orphan at an early age and was then raised in Switzerland. In 1920 he worked a ...

and released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

on March 4, 1933. Two women stranded in Palm Beach become involved in the case of a new bride who goes missing on her wedding night.

Plot

Kay Curtis (

) and June Dale (

) are two

showgirl A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer's physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing, toplessness, or nudity. History Showgirls date back to the late 180 ...

s living in the Palm Beach hotel. When June refuses one of her wealthy male friend's sexual advances, he chooses to let June and Kay pay for their own hotel bills. They decide to ask Daisy Bradford (

Peggy Shannon Peggy Shannon (born Winona Sammon; January 10, 1907 – May 11, 1941) was an American actress. She appeared on the stage and screen of the 1920s and 1930s. Shannon began her career as a Ziegfeld girl in 1923 before moving on to Broadway product ...

), who is engaged to millionaire Henry Gibson (

), for help paying the bills because Daisy used to be a fellow showgirl. However, Daisy pretends not to know them. Kay tries to win some money gambling, but ends up losing all their money instead. When they run into Daisy's former boyfriend Raymond Fox (

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 ...

) in the hotel, he offers them some money to leave town, but June and Kay accidentally miss the train. Later, Henry and Daisy are married, but Daisy goes missing, and a gangster named Jim Hendricks is found dead in the hotel's garden. Henry offers a large reward to the public for any information about Daisy. Kay and June decide to find Daisy and claim the reward. After Henry, Kay, and June survive a near fatal car accident, Kay suggests that they wreck the car and declare Henry dead from the automobile accident. When Daisy returns to the hotel after Henry's assumed death, she claims that Henry had drugged and kidnapped her and killed Jim Hendricks. However, Kay pulls a gun on Daisy and she confesses that she was going to run away with Raymond, and when Jim Hendricks tried to stop them, Raymond killed him. Raymond and Daisy are arrested by the police, and Henry gives the reward to Kay. Later, Henry decides to marry June, who he has fallen in love with.

Cast

as Kay Curtis *

as Henry Gibson *

as June Dale *

as Raymond Fox *

Guy Kibbee Guy Bridges Kibbee (March 6, 1882 – May 24, 1956) was an American stage and film actor. Early years Kibbee was born in El Paso, Texas. His father was editor of the '' El Paso Herald-Post'' newspaper, and Kibbee learned how to set type at age ...

as Kenneth Van Dusen *

Harold Huber Harold Huber (born Harold Joseph Huberman, December 5, 1909September 29, 1959) was an American actor who appeared on film, radio and television. Early life Huber was born in the Bronx to Jewish immigrants from Imperial Russia, who had arrived in ...

as Jim Hendricks * Edward Ellis as Detective Chief J.T. McDonald *

as Daisy Bradford *

Helen Ware Helen Ware ( Remer; October 15, 1877 – January 25, 1939) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Born to John August Remer and Elinor Maria (née Ware), Ware adopted her mother's maiden name as her professional name. She had ...

as Mrs. Bradford *

Ferdinand Gottschalk Ferdinand Gottschalk (28 February 1858 – 10 November 1944) was an English theatre and film actor. He appeared in 76 films between 1917 and 1938. He was born and died in London, England. He made his first appearance on the stage in Toronto ...

as Alvin Bradford

Production

The film was shot in 30 days with a budget of $107,000. The original working title for the movie was "The Blue Moon Murder Case". Actors

Murray Kinnell Murray Kinnell (24 July 1889 – 11 August 1954) was a British-born American actor, recognized for playing smooth, gentlemanly, although rather shady characters. He appeared in 71 films in the USA between the pre-code era of 1930 and 1937. He ...

Walter Huston Walter Thomas Huston ( ;According to the Province of Ontario. ''Ontario, C ...

and

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Cha ...

were considered for the film. And

Florence Ryerson Florence Ryerson (September 20, 1892 – June 8, 1965) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and co-author of the script for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz''.'' Between 1915 and 1927 she published more than 30 short stories and then join ...

was initially assigned to write the script for the movie.

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' movie review said: "The question of what happened to Peggy Shannon is worrying the principal characters in "Girl Missing", the new film at the Rialto, but the routine and slow-paced quality of the production makes the problem less acute for its audiences. Hidden away in the picture is the material for a lively melodrama which never realizes its full possibilities. The resources that the Warners have summoned to the task of telling this story include a good deal of unintelligent dialogue, feeble direction and an unconvincing arrangement of the narrative. The acting is of no great assistance, either. Ben Lyon plays the wealthy husband, Mary Brian and Glenda Farrell appear as a pair of interested chorus girls and Lyle Talbot enacts the rôle of Daisy's former lover."

Home media

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

released a double feature DVD collection of '' Illicit'' (1931) and ''Girl Missing'' (1933) on December 13, 2010.

References

External links

* {{Robert Florey 1933 films Films directed by Robert Florey Warner Bros. films 1933 mystery films American mystery films American black-and-white films 1930s American films 1930s English-language films