Midnight Phantom (1935)

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To say that the Chief of Police, James A Sullivan, is intimidating would be an understatement—everyone who enters his office does so with hesitation, expecting to get their ass chewed out. He’s frustrated because of the criminal element in his city, and nobody on the force seems to know how to apprehend those responsible. The opening scene, after an edited series of events such as crime and the police pursuing suspects in the Big City are presented to us, has consecutive visits to the Sullivan’s office, almost everyone he has a bone to pick with. Whether it be an officer eyeing political office to steal his job (rubbing noses with the kind of people he despises), a policeman under his command unable to catch a murderer plaguing the streets, or his captain over the Vice squad, from Paris, who might be receiving inappropriate funds to support a lavish existence, each person poses an annoyance or aggravation which fuels his temper. Chief Sullivan understands that those under his command care little for his tactics, the way his voice is stern and serious, how he approaches certain officers who he considers slack in their duties or questions possible improprieties in their performances as they pertain to law and order. He accepts their prejudices and harsh feelings for his methods as a commanding officer, taking them in stride because he expects results and cannot tolerate crooked cops taking bribes from gamblers/criminals with power.

A lot of these public domain relics do not follow a barometer regarding pace as is evident in Midnight Phantom. I was twenty minutes in and the story had yet to introduce us to the title character. I felt that the point of the movie was to present a mysterious killer and equip the viewer with enough suspicious characters in the opening minutes to decide who he might be and why he would kill a specified target or targets. Midnight Phantom seems interested more in showing the overall crime rate in the Big City, what Chief Sullivan must contend with while in charge, and the alternating problems and characters within his orbit. Lots of story elements are introduced which concern Sullivan but it takes up an incredible amount of the film’s running time, interrupting the true reason why we are watching Midnight Phantom to start with.

Sullivan attempts to avoid scandal at all costs. The gamblers have spread rumors that he is having an affair with the police office secretary (her mother is a hard-nosed policewoman, and convinced the rumors are true, unwilling to listen to reason even though Sullivan denies such allegations), and the man who is engaged to his daughter had a crook brother killed during a heist getaway. Sullivan will not consent to Lieutenant Daniel Burke’s marriage to Diana, his daughter, concluding, “…as long as I live.” That’s an “uh oh” moment in the screenplay which pretty much condemns Sullivan to a grim fate, already established earlier with threatening phone calls not traced while the Chief was in communication with the unknown person.

The acting in the movie illustrates the uncomfortable positions the cast seem to be in front of a camera, instead of on stage in a theater setting. The actors look apprehensive and the dialogue is spoken in a hesitant tone, while other times the cast stumble over their words. Not to mention, the camera is stagnant, lacking a strong sense of style which might lift the movie out of its lurch, where the performances and the lingering, uneventful story are unable to do so.

The movie goes out of its way to present a laundry list of enemies with a motive to kill Sullivan. Even Burke, who persists on marrying Diana, is a suspect because Sullivan insists that he will not be granted such betrothal.
Professor David Graham is the character whose shit doesn’t stink, a revered and respected character throughout the movie toted as one of the world’s “outstanding criminologists”. You just know his Sherlock Holmsian genius will be mined when the midnight phantom’s identity is sought. Graham’s intellect, his quality as a criminologist, is presented for an attendance of police officers as criminals of different types are paraded in front of them, where the Professor profiles each type for the audience, the performance establishing his qualifications as a premier detective/scientist. It is during this performance that someone kills Sullivan. It will be up to Graham to determine the one responsible. It takes damn near 45 minutes of exposition before we get to this point which, by then, might have lulled the audience watching into a coma.

This is the point in the movie where Midnight Phantom becomes an Agatha Christie mystery, the suspects locked in the same room, the poisonous needle which caused a paralysis stopping Sullivan’s heart the possible culprit behind the murder. What is unfortunate is that the investigative portion of the movie is about ten minutes and the reason behind the murder is rather blah, the dismantling of the “perfect crime” too easy, the murderer, while surprising (the formula is turned on its head regarding who usually is the person responsible and who the actual killer is in this movie’s case), discovered not long after the crime is committed. The motive, over the love of a woman, really underwhelmed me personally, in particular, considering the killer seemed too held together to make such a foolish mistake when he could easily win the hand of any number of ladies (and, to be honest, Diana is such a bore, I’m not sure why he’d be so interested in her).

The cast: Reginald Denny as Graham, Claudia Dell as Diana, Lloyd Hughes as Burke, and Jim Farley as Chief Sullivan. Midnight Phantom is the very definition of a poverty row quickie. Slow, uneven/stiff performances, bloated plot, and a deadening dull pace, Midnight Phantom struggles to capture your attention because it takes too long to get to the point we’re interested in.

I believe this film, if not found in those Mill Creek sets available, can be found on the Internet Archive if you are interested.