ThiefHott
Too much of everything
MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Brendon Jones
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Michael Morrison
Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland made a great team and both were great actors. They were very well directed here by Howard Bretherton in a good story, although there were times the dialogue was a bit over the top and rather too breathlessly delivered.Still this is fun, and one to watch again.I saw an excellent version at bnwmovies.com and I highly recommend that site.
bkoganbing
I'm not sure if being lucky and being Irish go hand in hand, but that proposition is certainly tested in this Monogram Picture with hotel employees Frankie Darro bellhop and Mantan Moreland janitor solve a couple of murders and break up a bond theft ring.This hotel that employs Darro and Moreland is being used as the drop and pickup spot for stolen bonds. Being set up as those taking the fall are brother and sister Dennis Moore and Sheila Darcy. As their name is Monahan they can't possibly be guilty according to Darro as Buzzy O'Brien and his sainted Irish mother Lillian Elliott. Darro is the son of a police detective and can't wait to get on the force, so much so he's finding mysteries to solve where he works. It's all to the distraction of his father's friend on the force Dick Purcell who has a relationship to Darro similar to Chief Clifford and Sam McCloud. Irish Luck hasn't worn well over the years and Mantan Moreland's eye rolling janitor is especially not wearing well. He seems to be warming up for playing Birmingham Brown on the Charlie Chan series.I doubt we'll see this one restored any time soon.
Mike-764
Hotel bellhop Buzzy O'Brien plays detective with the various guests of the hotel, much to the unhappiness of police detective Lanahan and hotel detective Fluger. Buzzy's latest case involves Thaddeus Porter, a banker, who was found murdered in his hotel room. Suspicion falls on Kitty Monahan, whose brother is escaping the law for stealing $10,000 in bonds. Buzzy and Jefferson (hotel janitor) deduce that someone in the hotel must be a go between for the hot bond racket, and have to catch the criminal before they themselves become the next victim. If there was a B-movie that can be stereotyped as generic programmer, this would be it. The killer is very easy to figure out, even by the audience members who are half paying attention. The cast and the characterizations are really bland, primarily since we've seen these types of people in hundreds of movies before. The scene at Buzzy's house with his mother helping Kitty only because she's Irish, just seems so corny that its hilarious. Rating, 3.
rsoonsa
Produced by actor Grant Withers, this is the initial entry of a Frankie Darro starring series for Monogram Pictures during which this foremost exponent of the Boyish Enthusiasm genre plays as a hotel bellhop and "Amateur Detective" (the movie's title in England), and it is also the first of six works for which Darro is cast along with comic actor Mantan Moreland as his foil who wishes to exercise no part of crime solving, a chronic habit and avocation of Darro's characters, "Buzzy O'Brien" in this archetypal instance. The short (51 min.) film begins in brisk fashion and continues on a smooth roll throughout with Buzzy, son of a former police detective, becoming entangled in shady goings-on at his place of employment, the Regal Hotel, including multiple murders and a theft of negotiable bonds, with the young bellboy being in the midst of it all, as the temptation to be a nonprofessional gumshoe ensures that his job, his good standing with old family friend Detective Lanahan (Dick Purcell), and his very life will be in hazard. Very popular upon its release, the film still generates approval from viewers due to excellent casting and delivery of rapid-fire and crisp dialogue by the players, with ill-starred Monogram mainstay Purcell earning the acting laurels for his effortless performance as a no-nonsense detective in charge of the many investigations at the hotel; the direction, editing and scoring are not equalled by the studio's 1944 recrafting of the story as THE ADVENTURES OF KITTY O'DAY, featuring Jean Parker.
