The Westland Case (1937)
Directed by Christy Cabanne
Genres - Mystery, Crime |
Sub-Genres - Detective Film |
Release Date - Oct 30, 1937 (USA - Unknown), Oct 30, 1937 (USA) |
Run Time - 62 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
The Westland Case was the opening volley in Universal's "Crime Club" series. The film was based on Headed for a Hearse, a novel by Jonathan Latimer which had to be toned down considerably for the filmgoers' consumption. Latimer's cynical private-eye team of Bill Crane and Doc Williams are here played by Preston S. Foster and Frank Jenks, who'd repeat these roles in subsequent entries. This time out, Bill and Doc try to clear a wrongly condemned man before his date with the electric chair. This they do on behalf of the poor fellow's desperate fiancee Emily Lou (Carol Hughes) -- who, like most of the other characters in the film, knows a lot more than she's telling. If The Westland Case doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it certainly can't be faulted for a lack of energy.
Characteristics
Keywords
death-penalty, detective, door, electric-chair, evidence, false-accusation, gathering, innocence, investigation, investigator, killing, murder, privacy, private-detective, room, search, window