THE WESTLAND CASE (1937)

Bob Westland is six days away from execution for the murder of his wife—she had money which was left to him and he had a mistress to take care of. Westland’s lawyer gets an anonymous  letter saying that the writer knows Westland is innocent, and the lawyer hires private dick Bill Crane (Preston Foster) to investigate. The casual, flippant Crane and his equally flippant associate Williams (Frank Jenks) dig into the circumstances of the murder, in which Mrs. Westland was found shot dead in her locked apartment. Reports of phone calls and visits that evening, and the whereabouts of some keys and guns are all followed up on. Among the other suspects: Emlly Martin, the mistress; two of Westland’s possibly shady business partners and the company accountant; a gangster; and a blonde totsy who is now living in the old Westland apartment. After a number of fairly unlikely incidents (including the realization that the change to daylight savings time on the night of the murder may throw some testimony in doubt), Crane cracks the case mere minutes before the scheduled execution. 

This is the first in a series of eleven Crime Club B-mysteries that Universal released between 1937 and 1939 with a variety of actors playing a variety of sleuths. Earlier this summer, I watched a later film with Foster and Jenks as Crane and Williams (THE LADY IN THE MORGUE), and my review of that one could be repeated here: fun bantering chemistry between Foster and Jenks, decent supporting players (including the sexy Barbara Pepper in both films, as different characters), a convoluted plot, an old-fashioned roomful-of-suspects finale. They are also both short (between 60 and 70 minutes) though this one starts to drag about halfway through. None of the suspects is particularly likeable (and neither is Westland), so I didn’t have much invested in who was or wasn’t the killer. Still, it’s painlessly watchable and the suspects roundup leads to a satisfying ending. Pictured are Preston Foster and Frank Jenks. [YouTube]