PHANTOM KILLER was one of ten films directed by William Beaudine in that golden year of 1942 (and he probably took six or seven months off mid-year for a vacation).
Somebody is strangling financiers, and Assistant D.A. Dick Purcell is certain that John Hamilton, a wealthy deaf-mute philanthropist, is that somebody. Janitor Mantan Moreland swears he saw him at the scene of the latest crime, yakking it up. Feisty female reporter (and Assistant D.A. girlfriend) Joan Woodbury thinks her boy toy is full of crap, as does just about everybody else. Still, with no evidence and no witness besides Mantan, Purcell indicts Hamilton and brings him to trial.
PHANTOM KILLER is one of those very entertaining little B movies that we all love, despite the hoary plot. Writer Karl Brown (who gave us some of the Columbia Mad Scientist pictures with Karloff, plus THE APE MAN and HITLER DEAD OR ALIVE) sprinkles some bright dialog into the mix, including some wartime jokes about the French (50 million Frenchmen cant be wrong? Tell that to em now) and the Japanese (You and the Jap Navy have something in common youre both sunk).
Dick Purcell is the worst Assistant District Attorney in the history of that celebrated office (assuming John Ashcroft never held the position). Without evidence, with only one shaky witness, and without even bothering to have medical personnel examine Hamilton to see whether hes really a deaf-mute, Purcell drags him into court. Still, Dickie boy mustve done something right, because a couple years later hed been elected to the top job (he plays a full D.A. in CAPTAIN AMERICA in 1944, and hes still a rotten D.A. there, and a lousy superhero while hes at it). Why does he suspect Hamilton? Hes guilty I can feel it in my bones, he insists, to which Miss Feisty Female Reporter correctly responds, Are you sure that isnt rheumatism?
Joan, by the way, is the best thing in the picture, and the film which is pretty good regardless gets better whenever shes onscreen. Asking how in the hell Hamilton could be strangling people when he was simultaneously dedicating a new building in front of hundreds of witnesses, she remarks, Two places at once? Even Superman hasnt figured THAT one out.
Unfortunately, the film presented by RetroMedia (as part of its PHANTOMS OF DEATH triple DVD) is truncated, missing an early scene. The running time is only 53 minutes, and even less if you fast-forward through the unfunny comedy relief of Warren Hymer as a henpecked detective. I recommend it anyway, because well, we all love movies like this, dont we?
Somebody is strangling financiers, and Assistant D.A. Dick Purcell is certain that John Hamilton, a wealthy deaf-mute philanthropist, is that somebody. Janitor Mantan Moreland swears he saw him at the scene of the latest crime, yakking it up. Feisty female reporter (and Assistant D.A. girlfriend) Joan Woodbury thinks her boy toy is full of crap, as does just about everybody else. Still, with no evidence and no witness besides Mantan, Purcell indicts Hamilton and brings him to trial.
PHANTOM KILLER is one of those very entertaining little B movies that we all love, despite the hoary plot. Writer Karl Brown (who gave us some of the Columbia Mad Scientist pictures with Karloff, plus THE APE MAN and HITLER DEAD OR ALIVE) sprinkles some bright dialog into the mix, including some wartime jokes about the French (50 million Frenchmen cant be wrong? Tell that to em now) and the Japanese (You and the Jap Navy have something in common youre both sunk).
Dick Purcell is the worst Assistant District Attorney in the history of that celebrated office (assuming John Ashcroft never held the position). Without evidence, with only one shaky witness, and without even bothering to have medical personnel examine Hamilton to see whether hes really a deaf-mute, Purcell drags him into court. Still, Dickie boy mustve done something right, because a couple years later hed been elected to the top job (he plays a full D.A. in CAPTAIN AMERICA in 1944, and hes still a rotten D.A. there, and a lousy superhero while hes at it). Why does he suspect Hamilton? Hes guilty I can feel it in my bones, he insists, to which Miss Feisty Female Reporter correctly responds, Are you sure that isnt rheumatism?
Joan, by the way, is the best thing in the picture, and the film which is pretty good regardless gets better whenever shes onscreen. Asking how in the hell Hamilton could be strangling people when he was simultaneously dedicating a new building in front of hundreds of witnesses, she remarks, Two places at once? Even Superman hasnt figured THAT one out.
Unfortunately, the film presented by RetroMedia (as part of its PHANTOMS OF DEATH triple DVD) is truncated, missing an early scene. The running time is only 53 minutes, and even less if you fast-forward through the unfunny comedy relief of Warren Hymer as a henpecked detective. I recommend it anyway, because well, we all love movies like this, dont we?
