Kid Glove Killer

Plot synopsis:
Ambitious young attorney Gerald I. Latimer helps mayoral candidate Daniels and district attorney candidate Turnely to be elected; the pair had vowed to rid the city of its pernicious criminal rackets.
The two elected officials are unaware that Gerald has paired up with one of the city's biggest gangsters, Matty, to get help in getting Gerald elected to the U.S. Senate in exchange for future political favors.
When Turnely becomes troublesome, Gerald and Matty arrange his murder. Gerald is appointed special prosecutor, and gets to meet the crew that investigates the district attorney's murder. His good friend, forensic scientist Gordon McKay, and his assistant, Jane Mitchell, examine the body and determine the identity of the hit man, who dies while trying to avoid capture.
Restaurateur Eddie Wright, tired of being harassed by the racketeers, visits the mayor's office and volunteers to help fight the criminals. The police take him for a hobo and he is taken into custody and questioned.
The mayor questions Gerald about a large insurance policy he bought, wanting to know where the money came from. Gerald is worried that the mayor will find out about his dealings with the gangsters and decides to get rid of him too. He places a bomb in the mayor's car, and the mayor dies when the bomb goes off.
The police suspect Eddie of having placed the bomb, and detain him. Some circumstantial evidence points to Eddie but Gordon is skeptical and continues the investigation although Gerald calls for Eddie's arrest.
Gerald spends a lot of time in the police crime lab and eventually falls in love with Jane. He even asks her hand in marriage, but she rejects him, explaining she can't marry and quit her job until the double homicide investigation is finished. She tells him Gordon has concluded that the man planting the bomb should have gunpowder under his nails.
Gerald rushes off to scrub his hands meticulously, but Gordon later finds a note in the mayor's office implicating Gerald. He suspects Gerald of both murders, and calls on Gerald to surreptitiously obtain a hair sample from him.
After getting the sample, Gordon tells Jane he has found the killer, but he won't reveal his name. When Jane and Gerald meet again and she agrees to marry him, she tells Gerald that Gordon has found the killer through a hair sample. Gerald realizes he has to kill his friend Gordon.
Gerald sets up a meeting with Gordon and Matty, and gives his car keys to Jane so she can drive herself home. She sees the cigar cutter on the key ring and realizes it could have been used to cut bomb wires. She takes it to the crime lab for examination.
Gerald gets a gun from Matty, who shows him how to use it. He rushes to the crime lab to kill Gordon. When he enters Gordon's office he asks him to hand over the evidence incriminating him, and Jane overhears the shouting from the lab.
Gerald is confessing the killings to Gordon when Jane enters the office. Gordon overpowers Gerald and gets the gun. The police arrive at the scene shortly after, and both Gerald and Matty are arrested. Gordon realizes that he is in love with Jane and proposes to her. She willingly accepts.

Tags: murder

Review:
Van Heflin is a forensics man trying to solve a couple of murders in "Kid Glove Killer," a 1942 MGM film also starring Marsha Hunt and Lee Bowman.
As in "The Grand Central Murder," it's Heflin's performance that puts this film across, though this time he is aided by the lovely Marsha Hunt as his assistant, whom he calls "Mitchell." Lee Bowman plays a crooked politician pretending to be a good guy, and as a result, he's eager to see an innocent man put away for murder.
Hunt's role is somewhat dated (or maybe not) - she's on her way to becoming a good forensics person, but says that the job is not for a woman and she wants to get married.
Evidently that will put an end to her career.Heflin was an interesting actor who could do character roles and leads.
This film was made around the time of his breakthrough role in "Johnny Eager," after which he hung up his B movie mantle and moved on to bigger things.
Hunt brings warmth and sparkle to her role.There was, in my opinion, a major problem with the plot having to do with Heflin testing to find particles in the hair of various suspects some time after the crime - wouldn't the particles have come out when they washed their hair?
And yet it's fun to watch VAN HEFLIN and MARSHA HUNT go about solving a crime using old techniques and spouting a lot of artificial dialog, 1940s style.Both of them also smoke frequently.
A cast of standard MGM B-players keeps things going nicely as Heflin and Marsh investigate the murder of a politician, when all the time we know who the killer is--LEE BOWMAN.
Bowman is one of those actors who never quite made it to big time stardom, but he's completely at home here in the role of a ruthless heel.All of the suspense in a story of this kind lies in wondering how the killer will be caught--since he's very manipulative and very cunning.
His charm makes his criminal nature very deceptive to both Bowman and Hunt.Favorite line: "Just bury me with one of your swell hamburgers on my chest." Reply: "With onions?"If you watch carefully, you can spot BOBBY BLAKE as a youngster listening to a car radio and AVA GARDNER as a car-hop waitress.This one, and GRAND CENTRAL MURDER made the same year, are well worth watching and nicely directed by Fred Zinnemann who later went on to A-film assignments..
Within the first five minutes of the film you found out that Jerry is corrupt and you meet McKay, the man who'll certainly solve the crime.
McKay's forensic quest is quite interesting too.Bear in mind that it's a debut and watch a very nice film..
Hinds, for mayor of Chatsburg crusading lawyer and crime-fighting, that's a laugh, radio personality Jerry Lidimer, Lee Bowman, is in the know to just what Daniels is to do to in combating crime after he gets into office.
Turnley, by telling them wheres he's going on vacation and thus away from his police protection, Jerry is now made by the unsuspecting Mayor Daniels special prosecutor which makes him even more effective for the mob not the law-abiding people of Chatsburg who he's sworn to serve.
What Jerry didn't count on is the man in charge of police lab Gordon McKay, Van Heflin.Getting all the evidence together Gordon and his pretty assistant Jane Mitchell, Marsha Hunt, at first exonerates the accused and bewildered Eddie Wright of Mayor Daniels murder.
With Jerry desperately trying to put the frame on poor Eddie and with a little conniving, on his part, Gordon gets the goods on Jerry by getting a sample of his hair which has particles that were found at the murder scene.
The ending has Jerry who found out about Gordon's evidence against him ,from an unsuspecting Jane, have it out with Gordon, who knew he was coming to murder him, who called the police in advance and also gets Jerry pinned with a dart that he was practicing with all through the film.
Van Heflin was both valiant and funny as the somewhat peculiar lab technician Gordon McKay and his scenes with the pretty Marsha Hunt were, besides a number of fight scenes, the highlight of the movie "Kid Glove Killer"..
Forensic pathologist Heflin tries to clear accused killer Quillan from being railroaded by radio cop Lee Bowman.
The best way to enjoy it is to suspend what you know about today's film-making and settle into a more innocent time when plotslike the movies themselveswere in black and white, when characters were labeled good or bad, when dialog was crisply effective (though artificial) and when even the deadliest dramas ended with wedding bells.
One thing that separates "Kid Glove Killer" from similar films of the 1930s and '40s is the fact that its protagonist, Gordon McKay (Van Heflin) is not only a cop.
With the aid of his assistant, Jane Mitchell (Marsha Hunt), McKay solves murders and rids the city of corruption by using a microscope, a spectrograph and other tools thatmutatis mutandiswill be used again in crime-scene-investigation stories for decades to come, up to and including the current "CSI" television series.
(That same year Heflin won a best-supporting-actor Oscar for "Johnny Eager.") Lee Bowman is suavely manipulative as a power-seeker.
Marsha Hunt makes what she can of a role that has her wearing a lab coat one minute and an evening gown the next.
This was Fred Zinnemann's first feature film, and he keeps the whole thing moving to a time clock.
Van Heflin plays the head of the police crime lab who investigates the murder of a district attorney and a mayor.
So when his friend (Lee Bowman), a special prosecutor working for the mayor, starts romancing her we get ourselves a good old-fashioned love triangle.Heflin is terrific and has great chemistry with lovely Hunt.
Pretty good B movie from director Fred Zinnemann (his first film).
Kid Gloves Killer (1942)There might be little to recommend this movie beyond a look at Van Heflin in a constrained early role.
Heflin is an acquired taste these days, but an interesting leading man a little different than the rest (he's great in "Martha Ivers" and "Act of Violence").
The homicide is investigated by forensics expert Van Heflin (as Gordon McKay) and his attractive assistant Marsha Hunt (as Jane Mitchell).
A likely couple, they say "match me" instead of "got a light?" Special prosecutor and crime-busting radio show host Lee Bowman (as Gerald "Jerry" Ladimer) is also on the hunt.
In a "love triangle" subplot that adds tension later on, both men are attracted to Ms. Hunt...As a car-hop, young Ava Gardner asks if anyone wants desert.
This was a good feature length debut for director Fred Zinnemann.
God only knows if Brian Wilson was jotting down song titles while watching.****** Kid Glove Killer (4/17/42) Fred Zinnemann ~ Van Heflin, Marsha Hunt, Lee Bowman, Eddie Quillan.
The feature film debut of director Fred Zinnemann, the man who'd later go on to direct such classics as "High Noon" and "From Here to Eternity," kicks things off with a solid little police thriller.
Van Heflin, an actor who I'm always baffled at how he became a leading man, plays a police chemist uncovering the mayor's murderer.
This is strictly B-Movie material, but it's well done and even if you don't see the brilliance you'd see in later Zinnemann films, you do see that he's a solid filmmaker.
Police forensic expert Van Heflin (Gordon) and his assistant Marsha Hunt (Jane) are given a couple of high profile murders to solve whilst lawyer friend and Mayor hopeful Lee Bowman (Gerald) also gets involved and romances Marsha.
You know who the villain is but it is the journey as to how he is caught that keeps you watching.The actors are good even though I had to warm to Van Heflin as he didn't seem very nice at the beginning.
On the plus side, however, are the colorful characters and some nice touches.Note, for example, how rather unlikable Heflin's criminologist is, always bossing poor Hunt around and slyly demeaning her—not the way a force for good is expected to act.
And Bowman looks and acts like the charming fixer, even if his Jekyll and Hyde is something of a stretch.The business with the cigarettes both defines the Heflin-Hunt relationship and adds character color.
It is rather obvious at times, and the dialogue is often lame, but for Zinnemann fans it should be quite decent viewing, and even for general fans of its type of detective film, it is probably worth a look..
There are a couple of non-laboratory scenes that stand out but most of the intrigue is played out in the exposition of the "new" (you Criminals better watch out) Science now known as Crime Scene Investigation.Nowhere near the richness of good Film-Noir that was rumbling but wouldn't truly emerge until after the War, this is overall worth a watch if not very intriguing.
Fred Zinneman who would go on to direct such classics as High Noon, From Here To Eternity, and The Sundowners made his feature film debut with Kid Glove Killer.
You have to know that a lot of people must have gone into the movie house and while watching Kid Glove Killer had to have sworn they had seen this before.What happens is that the reform mayor of a small city, played by Samuel S.
CSI man Van Heflin with microscope at the ready sorts through the maze of tiny clues to eventually get the responsible party.The big problem with Kid Glove Killer is that what was added was a romance between Heflin and Marsha Hunt with Lee Bowman also showing some interest in Hunt.
The original film, They're Always Caught did have one red herring suspect and in Kid Glove Killer that part is played by Eddie Quillan.
I think Kid Glove Killer would have been much the better for that.Still director Zinnemann got good performances from his cast working from a flawed story..
Van Heflin and Marsha Hunt handle their roles quite well.
Lee Bowman makes much of his sly bad guy role.
It is too bad Van Heflin was not given more roles like this one..
Any movie that has Van Heflin as the lead and Lee Bowman and Marsha Hunt in support has got to be a B.
Van Heflin, on the other hand, turns in an interesting characterization, laconic and intense at the same time, keeping his assistant Hunt at a distance with his ironic smile and refusal to take her seriously.
The movie spends as much time on the triangle involving Heflin, Hunt, and Bowman as it does on the crime theme itself, and not to its detriment.
Given it's relatively high rating and its headliners, Van Heflin and Marsha Hunt, I was expecting much more.
To begin with, the plot about forensic scientists Heflin and Hunt solving a high profile murder on what at least to me seems as extremely weak evidence is pretentious.
While MOST B-movies have plot holes and logical errors, this one is very tight and interesting and seems superior to the usual detective films.Van Heflin plays a brilliant forensic scientist who works for the police.
In addition, he uses standard equipment of the day to investigate the crimes (whereas, CSI often features procedures that are NOT really used today).Van is ably assisted by the pretty Marsha Hunt--who Van seldom seems to recognize for her many talents.
Just be prepared to be impressed by an intelligently written and acted film--and much of the credit should go to the great director, Fred Zinneman, who is able to get the absolute most from the material.
It's not surprising to find that Fred went on to better and more prestigious projects--probably thanks to his success with little films.FYI--Although the forensics are pretty good, at one point Van picks up what's left of a pipe bomb with his bare hands.
Look under the word "dull" in any dictionary, and a small picture of Van Heflin will appear: he's no better in this film than any of the others I've seen.
It has one foot in the fast-paced stories of urban corruption and crime of the 1930s, the other in the more disillusioned, skeptical world of emerging film noir of the 1940s.Instead of a crusading newspaper reporter, Kid Glove Killer gives us a forensic investigator (Van Heflin) working for the police department of a mid-sized city.
But we soon find out that he's on the mob payroll and is actually the killer (who uses not kid gloves but car bombs).He's also romancing Heflin's lab assistant (Marsha Hunt); Heflin's also sweet on her if he'd lift his droopy eyes from a microscope long enough to admit it.
The story turns on Heflin's sifting through the evidence to exonerate an innocent man whom Bowman tries to railroad.
But when the evidence starts building up, Hunt inadvertently spills the beans to the vigilant Bowman.Kid Glove Killer stays a cut or two above the standard programmer by virtue of superior acting (Heflin never had the parts his talent deserved) and its unusual, if primitive, forensic angle.
Lee Bowman, with his little pimp mustache, is a slick assistant to the soon to be blown to smithereens mayor and appears to be Mr. Law and Order.
Van Heflin is a forensics expert with the beautiful Marsha Hunt as his assistant and love interest (although he does not want to admit it).
We get to see the early development of forensic science as Heflin performs spectagraphs,etc on evidence found at the crime scene.
A love triangle develops among Heflin, Hunt and Bowman which does not really detract from the film......in fact it makes it more interesting as Hunt tells Bowman some inside information about evidence, not realizing that he is the killer.
There is a good supporting cast and Heflin's performance is odd but interesting.
Marsha Hunt is lovely and Lee Bowman, not a particularly good actor, is not bad here and come across as a real stinker.
This is Fred Zinneman's first feature film, after directing short subjects and it's a pretty good start to a great career.
Van Heflin stars as a forensics expert who is doing the investigation to find out who is responsible.
It's owing to the over done smoldering looks between Van Heflin and his female assistantsmoldering?
It wasn't settled enough to have conventions yet, except that the bad guy was usually brought to justice.The pre-genre, pre-noir era is the most interesting in film history, so I'll see any mystery from this period, no questions asked.The experiment this time has a wisecracking forensic scientist, complete with lab (and lots of visible paraphernalia), lab coat, and beautiful young woman assistant who he secretly loves.She becomes a love pawn of the criminal, but that's not very interesting.
He doesn't "investigate" in the Hardy Boys manner of stupidly putting yourself in a vacant house with the killer without anyone knowing.He's just a guy in white coat, discovering the cause of things and wondering how to tell the woman he loves that he does.
This is an excellent film featuring Van Heflin and Marsha Hunt as a quirky "odd couple" team.
He is Gordon McKay, a forensic investigator and she is Jane Mitchell, his assistant, who just happens to have a degree in chemistry.
To me, Marsha Hunt is a big key to the film's success.
They were usually vehicles for up and coming talent".When newly elected District Attorney Hunter Turnley is murdered, Jerry Ladimer (Lee Bowman) takes over as special prosecutor and is determined to find the killer.
Van Heflin (Gordon McKay), Marsha Hunt (Jane Mitchell), Lee Bowman (Gerald Latimer), Samuel S.
The head of the police department's understaffed scientific laboratory tries to solve the murders.NOTES: Feature film debuts of producer Jack Chertok and director Fred Zinnemann, both graduates of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's shorts department.COMMENT: Considering the film's "B" budget, both director and producer have brought out a picture of remarkable quality.
Perhaps the film's greatest appeal, however, lies in its players: Lee Bowman, cast against type as a scheming killer and secret ally of avuncular crime boss John Litel, offers the best performance of his career.
we do not have a great script and the support cast tries to help Van Heflin as much as possible.
The girl he gets is a tattletale that keeps screwing up his investigation of the murders.It is a script worthy of New York as we have rampant corruption, a protection racket, a radio guy exposing criminals while being one.
This film hurt Van Heflin's career I am sure..
Van Heflin is miscast (IMO) as a forensic criminologist trying to solve the murder of the anti-corruption mayor.
Marsha Hunt is the love interest and his assistant.
Lee Bowman plays the ambitious young attorney who helped get the mayor elected.
As the film starts, the crime-busting mayor and DA had just gotten elected and the mayor is thanking Bowman.
Cut to the next scene where Bowman secretly meets with crime kingpin and political fixer John Litel and arranges the murder of the DA.
After the DA's body is found, Heflin uses forensics to find the killer and Bowman is made a "Special Investigator" who also make fatuous crime busting appearances on the radio!
Meanwhile, Bowman is romancing Marsha Hunt and she foolishly keeps tipping him to everything that Van Heflin figures out.
Pretty soon Heflin uncovers evidence of Bowman's guilt and, of course, Hunt unwittingly tips him off.
It all come to a head when Bowman goes gunning for Heflin at his laboratory.
A sappy added on final scene has Heflin proposing (successfully of course) to Marsha Hunt.I really enjoyed this movie.
Anyhoo, Van Heflin, although he gives a journeyman performance, is hard for me to accept as a "good guy".
I feel the roles of Heflin and Bowman should have been switched.