Find the Blackmailer *** (1943, Jerome Cowan, Faye Emerson, Gene Lockhart) – Classic Movie Review 13,751

The 1943 American crime thriller film Find the Blackmailer stars Jerome Cowan as a private detective hired to track down a blackmailer‘s talking bird.

Director D Ross Lederman’s 1943 Warner Bros American crime thriller film Find the Blackmailer is based on the story Blackmail with Feathers by G T Fleming-Roberts, and stars Jerome Cowan, Faye Emerson and Gene Lockhart.

World-weary private eye D L Trees (Cowan), hired by politician John M Rhodes (Lockhart), tries to find a talking bird that could spill the beans on a murder, in this spruce, zippy, neatly written comedy thriller programmer.

The bird is owned by Fred Molner, who uses it to blackmail Rhodes. Trees finds Molner murdered and his bodyguard Ray Hickey (John Harmon) unconscious. Molner’s girlfriend Mona Vance (Faye Emerson) is involved with her lawyer Mark Harper (Robert Kent).

Commonplace as a spoof on, or homage to The Maltese Falcon, and perhaps routine in most ways, it would be only a forgotten B-movie, except for the sterling performances from Cowan, Emerson and Lockhart, the witty, crackerjack lines, and a considerable zest in its handling.

It runs just 55 minutes, and is one of Warner Bros’ shortest feature films.

The bird may be a crow, which is good at mimicking human speech. The collective name for a group of crows is a ‘murder’.

Cast: Jerome Cowan as D L Trees, Faye Emerson as Mona Vance, Gene Lockhart as John M Rhodes, Marjorie Hoshelle  as Pandora Pines, Robert Kent as Mark Harper, Wade Boteler as Detective Lieutenant Cramer, John Harmon as Ray Hickey, Bradley Page as Mitch Farrell, Lou Lubin as Mr. Olen, and Ralph Peters as Mr. Coleman.

On a $81,000 budget, it earned $307,000 worldwide, so Warner Bros were hungry for more. The 1944 film Crime by Night, also with Jerome Cowan and Faye Emerson, followed. Nevertheless, Warner Bros soon abandoned production of these short B-movies.

Release date: November 6, 1943.

The film was released in 2010 on DVD by Warner Archive in the six-film Horror/ Mystery Double Feature collection.

Find the Blackmailer is directed by D Ross Lederman, runs 55 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Robert E Kent, is shot in black and white by James Van Trees, is produced by William Jacobs, is scored by Heinz Roemheld, and is designed by Charles Novi.

Bradley Page, who plays Mitch Farrell, retired from acting after this film but lived till 1985. He made over 100 films between 1931 and 1943.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,751

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