Warren Hull (Bill MacGregor), Kay Linaker (Sonya Manning), William von Brincken (Professor Werner), George Cleveland (John MacGregor), Fern Emmett (Aunt Mary), Edward Keane (Cummings), William Costello (Bowman), Paul "Tiny" Newland (Morris), John Sheehan (editor), Tristram Coffin, I. Stanford Jolley.
Director: HOWARD BRETHERTON. Screenplay: Charles B. Williams, Marion Orth. Story: Charles B. Williams. Photography: Harry Neumann. Film editor: Robert Golden. Assistant director: W.B. Eason. Sound recording: Karl Zint. Producer: T.R. Williams. Associate producer: Fred Sheid.
Copyright 17 January 1940 by Monogram Pictures Corporation. No New York opening. (That's a bad sign). U.S. release: 23 March 1940. Never theatrically released in Australia. (That is another bad sign). 7 reels. 63 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Spies are seeking for the formula for a light metal invented by the reporter hero's dad.
COMMENT: Were it not for the wonderfully engrossing performance by Paul "Tiny" Newland in a key role, this movie would be classed as a total waste of time.
Hull is dull, Linaker the dowdiest heroine we've ever come across, Cleveland plays his usual obnoxious "Gramps" (though in point of fact he's actually the hero's dad), von Brincken a heavy "heavy", and Sheehan an overly splenetic newspaper editor.
Of course, the actors are hampered by their tedious lines and the often routine development of a ho-hum commonplace plot.
Excruciatingly timid direction doesn't help, nor do sparse production values.
Only one of the people in the plot rings true - in both writing and playing - and that is the spying store-man character so astutely played by Tiny Newlan. He almost saves the film. Almost!
Director: HOWARD BRETHERTON. Screenplay: Charles B. Williams, Marion Orth. Story: Charles B. Williams. Photography: Harry Neumann. Film editor: Robert Golden. Assistant director: W.B. Eason. Sound recording: Karl Zint. Producer: T.R. Williams. Associate producer: Fred Sheid.
Copyright 17 January 1940 by Monogram Pictures Corporation. No New York opening. (That's a bad sign). U.S. release: 23 March 1940. Never theatrically released in Australia. (That is another bad sign). 7 reels. 63 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Spies are seeking for the formula for a light metal invented by the reporter hero's dad.
COMMENT: Were it not for the wonderfully engrossing performance by Paul "Tiny" Newland in a key role, this movie would be classed as a total waste of time.
Hull is dull, Linaker the dowdiest heroine we've ever come across, Cleveland plays his usual obnoxious "Gramps" (though in point of fact he's actually the hero's dad), von Brincken a heavy "heavy", and Sheehan an overly splenetic newspaper editor.
Of course, the actors are hampered by their tedious lines and the often routine development of a ho-hum commonplace plot.
Excruciatingly timid direction doesn't help, nor do sparse production values.
Only one of the people in the plot rings true - in both writing and playing - and that is the spying store-man character so astutely played by Tiny Newlan. He almost saves the film. Almost!
