Despite the term 'B-movie' often being used to describe a bad or super-cheap film, this isn't exactly what a B was. During the 1930s and 40s and even into the 50s, local theaters usually had double-features where you got to see two films instead of just one. But studios weren't about to make two expensive films and lump them together on the marquee...so they began making Bs. A B-movie was usually between 55-65 minutes in length, featured second or third-rate actors and were rushed into production with second-string directors. But this wasn't exactly the truth with all of these movies. While the so-called 'Poverty Row Studios' did have minuscule budgets, major studios like MGM, Warner Brothers and RKO (among others) also made tons of Bs. Sometimes these larger studios used A-level actors and directors in these cheaper films...such as in "Nick Carter, Master Detective"...with Walter Pidgen and directed by Jacques Tourneur. It was NOT a cheapie but a reasonably well executed film not a craptastic film by a fly-by-night outfit...and it ran at 59 minutes...the perfect length for a B.
In this first of three Nick Carter films from MGM, he battles evil spies who are trying to steal plans for American military aircraft. In fact, as he's flying to meet with the head of a production company, his plane narrowly avoids falling prey to armed bandits bent on stealing blueprints of the aircraft! And soon, bodies start piling up...murdered by these unknown thugs!
It's not surprising this sort of plot was made... after all, WWII just began a few months prior to the movie being released. But like nearly all the American films of the day, the enemy in the films like this one (and there were plenty) were NEVER mentioned!! Obviously the audience thought that these enemy agents were fascists...but no mention of Germany, Italy nor Japan occurred in the films because the studio heads were mostly cowards and didn't want to hurt film sales in these countries. Plus, Congress passed an unconstitutional law which mandated the nation AND film studios would be neutral. Only Warner Brothers violated this law with "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (also 1939).
So is this B-movie any good? Yes. In fact, it's the best of the three films in this MGM series starring Pidgeon and his sidekick, Bartholomew (Donald Meek). In fact, Meek is probably the best thing about this movie, though the plot is also quite good. Entertaining...I wish MGM had made more than just three of these films!
In this first of three Nick Carter films from MGM, he battles evil spies who are trying to steal plans for American military aircraft. In fact, as he's flying to meet with the head of a production company, his plane narrowly avoids falling prey to armed bandits bent on stealing blueprints of the aircraft! And soon, bodies start piling up...murdered by these unknown thugs!
It's not surprising this sort of plot was made... after all, WWII just began a few months prior to the movie being released. But like nearly all the American films of the day, the enemy in the films like this one (and there were plenty) were NEVER mentioned!! Obviously the audience thought that these enemy agents were fascists...but no mention of Germany, Italy nor Japan occurred in the films because the studio heads were mostly cowards and didn't want to hurt film sales in these countries. Plus, Congress passed an unconstitutional law which mandated the nation AND film studios would be neutral. Only Warner Brothers violated this law with "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (also 1939).
So is this B-movie any good? Yes. In fact, it's the best of the three films in this MGM series starring Pidgeon and his sidekick, Bartholomew (Donald Meek). In fact, Meek is probably the best thing about this movie, though the plot is also quite good. Entertaining...I wish MGM had made more than just three of these films!