John Litel

  • Arthur Dreifuss – Boss of Big Town (1942)

    1941-1950Arthur DreifussCrimeDramaUSA

    Diligent City Market official Michael Lynn resists overtures by well-to-do gangster Kenneth Craige to fix produce and dairy prices during wartime. Lynn seems unable to stop the resulting sabotage and violence on the part of the mob to bring the farmers and wholesalers into line and so is fired by city attorney Jeffrey Moore. After Lynn’s assistant Bram Hart is murdered for going to the authorities, Lynn takes responsibility for his daughter and feigns co-operation with Craige in order to discover the real boss of the criminal enterprise. Lynn unmasks Moore as the corrupt head, and the conspiracy is exposed and foiled.Read More »

  • Frank McDonald – Over the Wall (1938)

    1931-1940DramaFrank McDonaldRomanceUSA

    IMDB
    Jerry Davis is a street tough and troublemaker who winds up in Sing Sing framed for murder. There he discovers he has a great singing voice, and with the help of prison chaplain Father Connor, Jerry begins to rehabilitate himself.Read More »

  • Lewis Seiler – Murder in the Air (1940)

    1931-1940ActionLewis SeilerThrillerUSA

    Plot: Enemy agents are everywhere and they are sabotaging all important war deliveries. The body of a hobo found in a train wreck had a money belt with $50,000 and a tattoo of a circle and arrow. This is a tattoo for saboteurs for hire and Brass must impersonate the dead man to find out what his orders are. As Steve Coe, he meets with the band of enemy agents in California and everything goes well until the wife of the dead ‘Hobo’ shows up. Luckily, Gabby is able to save Brass and Brass learns what is his assignment. He is to board the USN airship ‘Mason’, which is testing the super secret Inertia Projector, and destroy the airship. Written by Tony FontanaRead More »

  • Abby Berlin – Mary Ryan, Detective (1949)

    1941-1950Abby BerlinCrimeUSA

    Police detective Mary Ryan is given an assignment to break up a gang of jewel thieves and fences. She, using an alias as a convict, is placed in the cell with a suspected member of the gang. Upon release she becomes a gang member but the gang leader is suspicious of her.Read More »

  • James P. Hogan – A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen (1942)

    1941-1950James P. HoganMysteryUSA


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    IMDB Review.
    Ellery Queen is about to leave for San Francisco, where his new book will be set, when he is visited by a woman who asks him to find out if her husband is alive or dead; supposedly he drowned in a boat accident a few years ago, but someone who looks a lot like him was recently seen in SF. Ellery takes Nikki Porter with him and has her impersonating the missing man’s wife, to bring him out into the open. The plan works, but a case of embezzlement and a murder bring Inspector Queen to SF as well, and guess who the chief suspect for both crimes is: the man Ellery was looking for! “A Desperate Chance For Ellery Queen” had the potential to be one of the best entries in the series, but it’s a little too messily put together to achieve that. Kudos, however, to Lilian Bond for her sexy femme fatale. I think it’s the first time in the series where another woman steals the show from Margaret Lindsay.Read More »

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