Murder Is My Beat

Moviecut—Murder Is My Beat

source: Murder Is My Beat

Murder Is My Beat

This is no masterpiece but is a modestly entertaining crime movie...not "noir" by any stretch either but the performances from a good group of "B" players are not bad, and anyway you don't get too much chance to see Barbara Payton in movies. Just don't expect any competition for The Big Heat or The Maltese Falcon and you should have a good time!

Mr. Dean's body is found face down in the fireplace, his features burned beyond recognition. Detectives Patrick (Paul Langton) and Rawley (Robert Shayne) arrest nightclub-singer Eden Lane (Barbara Payton) and she is convicted of the crime. On the way to prison, Eden sees a man through the train window, identifying him as the murderer, and Patrick and Eden jump from the train to search for the man. In a series of plot twists, the murderer is found, and Eden and Patrick are reunited. Directer Edgar G. Ulmer uses flashbacks and elliptical editing to good effect, but the film lacks any strong visual or narrative center. Barbara Peyton delivers a great performance as the ambiguous, mysterious femme-fatale. While still of some interest, Murder is My Beat lacks the power and grim vision of Ulmer's bleak gem, Detour.

Edgar G. Ulmer has a cult following because devotees claim he was able to transcend low budgets and produce films of genuine quality. However, when Ulmer wasn't involved with the material, his films were as routine as any other hack director working under similar circumstances. Such is the case with MURDER IS MY BEAT, a routine "B" thriller about a policeman who risks his job to help a girl wrongly sentenced for murder and find the real killer. The film doesn't have much visual interest, something Ulmer often injected into his films, many of which were made under shakier conditions than this. If you want to know why Ulmer has a cult following, don't see this but go see DETOUR or THE BLACK CAT.

The other reviewer did not have anything good to say about this movie. Well, it is cheaply made and obviously, Edward Ulmer didn't have much of a budget. He mostly directed B-movies anyway. However, this was one of his later films and his star was Barbara Payton. Her sad sad life was on the down-swing at the time she did this, her final film. She was only 28 years old and this marked the end of her career which had started only five years earlier. If you watch this film, you will see a very good performance by Barbara Payton. This may not be a true film-noir, but it is a dark, downbeat drama with a great musical score. I believe this is worth 77 minutes of viewing time. Enjoy!

Police Captain Bert Rawley tracks down homicide detective Ray Patrick (Paul Langton) hiding in a motel room. Ray begs for 24 hours to finish his investigation. The movie flashes back to Ray initially getting the case of a burnt up dead man. He tracks down the man's girlfriend Eden Lane (Barbara Payton). Payton starts like a femme fatale although her character is written as a damsel in distress. I don't think she works as either nor both. I don't really like Langton either. What I do like is the start. I like the opening premise despite the weird opening fight. It's a lot of missed opportunities. The last 20 minutes is also a bit disappointing. Quite frankly, the opening scene sets it up so much that Bert sitting down to have a bite would always deflate the tension. It needs to ramp up to an exciting thrilling conclusion but it fails to do that. This is a somewhat functional B-movie but only somewhat.

When a man is found with his face destroyed by fire in a fireplace, the prominent Police Detective Ray Patrick (Paul Langton) is assigned to the case. Soon he captures the singer Eden Lane (Barbara Payton), who was the man´s mistress, and solves the case. Eden is sentenced to prison and while Ray is transporting her by train, she claims that she has just seen her lover alive in a train station. Ray believes the woman and helps her to escape to hunt the man. Meanwhile Police Captain Bert Rawley (Robert Shayne) hunts the couple down. "Murder Is My Beat" is a flawed but entertaining film-noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer. The plot has many coincidences and most of the twists are not believable but it is worthwhile watching at least once. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "O Morto Desaparecido" (The Vanished Dead")