''Tell No Tales'' is a 1939 American crime film directed by

Leslie Fenton Leslie Fenton (12 March 1902 – 25 March 1978) was an English actor and film director. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1923 and 1945. Early life Fenton was born on 12 March 1902 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He emigrated to ...

, written by Lionel Houser, and starring

Melvyn Douglas Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy ''Ninotchk ...

Louise Platt Louise Platt (August 3, 1915 – September 6, 2003) was an American theater, film, and TV actress. Early years Platt was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. Her father was a dental surgeon in the Navy. Career ...

Gene Lockhart Edwin Eugene Lockhart (July 18, 1891 – March 31, 1957)"Gene Lockhart"
''The ...

and

Douglass Dumbrille Douglass Rupert Dumbrille (October 13, 1889 – April 2, 1974) was a Canadian actor who appeared regularly in films from the early 1930s. Life and career Douglass Dumbrille ( ) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. As a young man, he was employed ...

. Fenton's feature-film directorial debut, it was released on May 12, 1939, by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

Plot

Michael Cassidy runs ''The Evening Guardian'' newspaper. However, publisher Matt Cooper sends Cassidy a telegram on its 75th birthday, informing him that he is shutting it down that very night. Cooper also owns ''The Record'', a more lurid, scandal-filled paper, and he bought ''The Guardian'' solely to get rid of the competition. Cooper offers him any job he wants on ''The Record'', but Cassidy turns him down. He abhors ''The Record'', citing its shameful treatment of schoolteacher Ellen Frazier, a witness in a current kidnapping case. When Cassidy pays his bar tab, the bartender notices his $100 bill is part of the kidnapping ransom money, the first bill to surface and the first clue in the case. Cassidy got the bill when the bartender cashed his check the night before. The bartender recalls getting it from jewelry store proprietor Charlie Daggett. Cassidy goes to Cooper and begs him to keep publishing ''The Guardian'', offering him a story that will sell many newspapers for weeks. Cooper insists he print it in ''The Record'' or else he will turn him over to the police for withholding information. Cassidy flees. Cassidy decides to track down the kidnappers. He sneaks in past a protective police cordon to see Ellen Frazier and, posing as a lawyer, persuades her to leave with him and identify the crooks if she can. She does not recognize Daggett, but he tells Cassidy who gave him the $100: a Mrs. Lovelake. Mrs. Lovelake's husband, a doctor, recalls receiving the bill from a patient with a knife wound, a black boxer named James Alley. Ellen leaves while Cassidy is questioning Daggett, but later returns after he sees the Lovelakes. He convinces her to go to Davie Bryant at the newspaper, where she will hopefully be safe, but she is abducted at gunpoint on the street. Meanwhile, Cassidy goes to see Alley, but finds himself at his wake. It turns out he was run over by a car. His widow Ruby reluctantly admits she got the money from a friend of singer Lorna Travers, but does not know his name. Posing as a treasury agent, Cassidy gets the name from Travers, none other than Cooper. Cooper got the $100 as part of his winnings at Arno's gambling house. Arno is an old friend of Cassidy's; he points the reporter to two gangsters as the likely source of the bill. However, this information makes him realize his brother Phil must be mixed up in the kidnapping, so Arno reluctantly tips off the crooks that Cassidy is coming. Cassidy is easily captured. Phil Arno, who had laundered money for the criminals, gets a guilty conscience and helps Cassidy and Ellen escape death at the cost of his own life. Cassidy breaks the story for his paper. Cooper then decides not to close ''The Guardian'' after all.

Cast

as Michael Cassidy *

as Ellen Frazier *

Gene Lockhart Edwin Eugene Lockhart (July 18, 1891 – March 31, 1957)"Gene Lockhart"
''The ...

as Arno *

as Matt Cooper * Florence George as Lorna Travers *

Halliwell Hobbes Herbert Halliwell Hobbes (16 November 187720 February 1962) was an English actor. Early years The future actor was the son of William Albert Hobbes (1841-1909), a Warwickshire solicitor, and his wife, Marion Hobbes, née Dennis, (1838-1925). ...

as Doctor Lovelake *

Zeffie Tilbury Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury (20 November 1863 – 24 July 1950) was an English-American actress.
profile at Cinemorgue

as Miss Mary *

Harlan Briggs Harlan Briggs (August 17, 1879 – January 26, 1952) was an American actor and Vaudeville performer who was active from the 1930s until his death in 1952. During the course of his career he appeared on Broadway, in over 100 films, as well a ...

as Davie Bryant *

Sara Haden Sara Haden (born Catherine Haden, November 17, 1898 – September 15, 1981) was an American actress of the 1930s through the 1950s and in television into the mid-1960s. She may be best remembered for appearing as Aunt Milly Forrest in 14 entrie ...

as Miss Brendon *

Hobart Cavanaugh Hobart Cavanaugh (September 22, 1886 – April 26, 1950 ) was an American character actor in films and on stage. Biography He was born in Virginia City, Nevada on September 22, 1886. Cavanaugh attended the University of California. He worked in ...

as Charlie Daggett *

Oscar O'Shea Oscar O'Shea (8 October 1881 – 6 April 1960) was a Canadian-American character actor with over 100 film appearances from 1937 to 1953. Early years O'Shea was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Acting O'Shea was a comic actor who earne ...

as Sam O'Neil * Theresa Harris as Ruby * Jean Fenwick as Mrs. Lovelake *

Esther Dale Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress of the stage and screen. Early years Dale was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend, Vermont. In Berlin, Germany, she stu ...

as Mrs. Haskins *

Joseph Crehan Joseph A. Creaghan (July 15, 1883 – April 15, 1966) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 300 films between 1916 and 1965, and notably played Ulysses S. Grant nine times between 1939 and 1958, most memorably in ''Union Paci ...

as Chalmers * Tom Collins as Phil Arno *

Clayton Moore Clayton Moore (born Jack Carlton Moore, September 14, 1914 – December 28, 1999) was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character the Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1952 and 1953 to 1957 on the television series of the sa ...

as Wilson (uncredited)

Reception

Frank Nugent Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer, who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...

praised Fenton in ''

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 d ...

'', writing, "A director who can take such a thin and unimaginative story ... and still cause it to walk along a knife-edge of suspense and melodramatic excitement, is doing a big favor for everybody concerned, notably, of course, for the author."

References

External links

* * * * {{AFI film, id=7759, title=Tell No Tales 1939 films 1939 crime films American black-and-white films American crime films Films about journalists Films directed by Leslie Fenton Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films