Crime by Night *** (1944, Jerome Cowan, Jane Wyman, Faye Emerson, Charles Lang, Eleanor Parker, Cy Kendall) – Classic Movie Review 13,752

The 1944 American crime thriller film Crime by Night stars Jerome Cowan and Jane Wyman as a private detective and his secretary who are hired to solve an axe murder.

Director William Clemens’s 1944 Warner Bros American crime thriller film Crime by Night is based on the novel Forty Whacks by Geoffrey Homes [Daniel Mainwaring], and stars Jerome Cowan, Jane Wyman, and Faye Emerson, along with Charles Lang, Eleanor Parker and Cy Kendall.

New York private detective Sam Campbell (Jerome Cowan) and his secretary Robbie Vance (Jane Wyman) are hired to solve an axe murder while on holiday, in a bright support mystery thriller feature, taken at a fast lick, with an amusing script by Richard Weil and Joel Malone, securely based on the novel by Daniel Mainwaring, author of Build My Gallows High (1946), filmed as the 1947 film noir classic Out of the Past.

Stuart Crawford plays Larry Borden, whose wealthy ex-father-in-law Harvey Carr is found dead from a blow by an axe. Borden is the prime suspect as his hand was chopped off by an axe after a dispute with Carr, so he hires Campbell and Vance. Also on the scene is Carr’s daughter and Borden’s ex-wife Irene (Eleanor Parker), now engaged to singer Paul Goff (Charles Lang), whose agent is Ann Marlow (Faye Emerson).

Crime by Night is even better Jerome than its excellent predecessor Find the Blackmailer, also starring Jerome Cowan and Faye Emerson, but it didn’t stop the nimble and appealing Cowan falling back to support player status hereafter.

Cast: Jerome Cowan as Sam Campbell, Jane Wyman as Robbie Vance, Faye Emerson as Ann Marlow, Charles Lang as Paul Goff, Eleanor Parker as Irene Carr, Cy Kendall as Sheriff Max Ambers, Stuart Crawford as Larry Borden, Charles C Wilson as District Attorney Hyatt, Juanita Stark, Creighton Hale, George Guhl, Hank Mann, Bill Kennedy, Dick Rich, Fred Kelsey, Eddie Parker, Jack Mower, Frank Mayo, and Jack Stoney.

Release date: September 9, 1944.

It was originally intended for Humphrey Bogart as a follow-up to The Maltese Falcon.

Crime by Night is directed by William Clemens, runs 72 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Richard Weil and Joel Malone, based on the novel Forty Whacks by Geoffrey Homes [Daniel Mainwaring], is shot in black and white by Henry Sharpe, is produced by William Jacobs, and is scored by  William Lava.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,752

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