Honest stock promoter Eddie Nugent is happy to see his brother, missionary Lloyd Hughes back from the wilds. He is getting ready for an evening with Hughes and his fiancee when in comes an investor in the oil company he is promoting. She has a letter from a relative who says they aren't drilling. He confronts the partners, and they deny it. He's going to fly down and look at the olflield before he sells another share.
When he is gone, the partners confer. They have used the funds raised for private speculation and lost heavily. One of them, John Hamilton, dictates a confession and kills himself. The other two decide to claim it is a murder, frame Nugent and use Hamilton's insurance to pay back the investors. Nugent is convicted, escapes and then the plot takes a turn straight into Damon Runyon land.
This early Republic mystery-comedy is cheaply produced and the direction by John Auer is pedestrian. The plot, however, goes off in such bizarre directions as boxing clergy and crooks investigating a crime --"When the police investigate, where do they get their ideas? From us!" -- that the movie redeems itself like Lloyd Hughes among the cannibals. The first half is involved in getting the set-up accomplished, with many a trite musical sting. If you can get through that, however, you'll find that Dorrell and Stuart MacGowan's script is delightful nonsense.
When he is gone, the partners confer. They have used the funds raised for private speculation and lost heavily. One of them, John Hamilton, dictates a confession and kills himself. The other two decide to claim it is a murder, frame Nugent and use Hamilton's insurance to pay back the investors. Nugent is convicted, escapes and then the plot takes a turn straight into Damon Runyon land.
This early Republic mystery-comedy is cheaply produced and the direction by John Auer is pedestrian. The plot, however, goes off in such bizarre directions as boxing clergy and crooks investigating a crime --"When the police investigate, where do they get their ideas? From us!" -- that the movie redeems itself like Lloyd Hughes among the cannibals. The first half is involved in getting the set-up accomplished, with many a trite musical sting. If you can get through that, however, you'll find that Dorrell and Stuart MacGowan's script is delightful nonsense.