MikeMagi Okay, it was the height of the depression. But who at MGM back in 1935 signed off on making a depressing murder mystery? I'd say more but then I'd have to add a spoiler alert. The tale centers on Spencer Tracy as a boozy, embittered crime reporter who's hauled back from a bender to cover the murder of a crooked financial guru. He not only helps homicide detective Lionel Atwill solve the case but becomes a star witness when the accused killer goes on trial. Along the way, he's assisted by Virginia Bruce as a lonely hearts columnist who's clearly nuts about the drunken newsman as well as a gangly young reporter nicknamed "Shorty" -- Jimmy Stewart in his feature film debut. "Murder Man" also gives stage actor Robert Barratt the chance to deliver a terrific performance as Tracy's long-suffering editor. The movie clips along at a fast pace and the twists keep building nicely although I found myself wondering how a carnival shooting gallery wound up across the street from an investment firm's high-rise HQ? But I guess that's the cinematic version of poetic license. As a curiosity piece, "Murder Man" is well worth watching -- and quite entertaining. But I'm still surprised that in those dark days when moviegoers went to the movies to escape the gloom, the screenplay ever got approved.

tedg The thirties was an amazing time in film. Noir was to be refined, with one of its main elements being our on-screen detective. Before the conventions matured, we had a good 6- 7 years of experiments about embedded story and on screen surrogates. Some of those surrogates were detectives of different kinds, including newspaper reporters and insurance guys.This is one of the most interesting experiments. The large shape has our detective being both outside and inside the story, what I can folding. He is a writer, and writes both the outside and inside stories. An inner observer of our folded man is an earnest woman. There are a lot of symmetries in this thing — very tight writing and lots of screen details.One screen detail is a good example. We have a nervous street huckster who factors as an innocent in the murder. He is portrayed with a delicate balance of confidence and control when he is in his element and slightly hidden deference when with the law. He is court to testify as to what he saw. As he is called, he hands his hat to the surprised cop beside him. There is a 3 second — not even that — interplay concerning the hat, and its role in the social order. It is perfect. I came to not like Spencer Tracey in his later career, his stock mannerisms and one-size- fits-all reflexes. But here he is fresh, spontaneous, right on.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

CCsito This movie includes the first significant starring role for James Stewart who has a supporting part as a newspaper reporter. The main focus of the movie is on Spencer Tracy who is the ace reporter for the New York Star newspaper who is good at reporting on murder cases. The movie starts off with a scene that involves two rather shady money financiers. You need to pay attention to what happens at the start because it is crucial to explaining the conclusion of the movie's storyline. The story involves a murder of one of the shady financiers and the trial of his partner for his murder. Spencer's character appears to have the jump on all of the other newspaper reporters when the headline news comes out during the murder trial. The trial ends with the conviction of the partner and he is sentenced to die. The movie then has a twist that turns the storyline completely in a different direction. Spencer's character makes a voice recording that explains the events that occurred at the start of the movie. Spencer plays a somewhat "bad" character which differs from his many other movie roles in this film. There also wasn't a final conclusion at the end of this movie, so it might leave some viewers disappointed. However, it was a very interesting movie with a surprise twist at the end.

CitizenCaine The Murder Man is one of several newspaper films from the 1930's that ran the gamut of dramatic to comedic, like The Front Page and His Girl Friday respectively. What it has in common with both is its lightning quick pace and snappy dialog. What it lacks is a believable story and compelling, well drawn characters. Spencer Tracy plays Steve Grey, the murder man, so named because he handles all of the Star newspaper's homicide stories. Tracy played this hard-bitten, dramatic type of role well throughout his career, and this film is no exception. Lionel Atwill is on hand as a police official in an unusual good guy role for him. Virginia Bruce plays an unusually unglamorous role for her, that of Tracy's newspaper co-worker. The film contains a few welcome supporting performances from William Demarest, Lucien Littlefield, and a guy by the name of James Stewart (in his feature film debut). The film rests solely on Tracy's performance to carry it, and he does to a certain extent. However, the twist ending is not that believable and seems almost abrupt. In retrospect, everything in the film leading up to the ending seems contrived. It's still worth viewing for an early Tracy performance and Stewart's debut. **1/2 of 4 stars.