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The Murder Man

1935 Directed by Tim Whelan

He knows the truth BUT HE CAN'T TALK!

Steve Grey, reporter for the Daily Star, has a habit of scooping all the other papers in town. When Henry Mander is investigated for the murder of his shady business partner, Grey is one step ahead of the police to the extent that he often dictates his story in advance of its actual occurrence. He leads the police through an 'open and shut' case resulting in Mander being tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Columnist Mary Shannon is in love with Steve but she sees him struggle greatly with his last story before Mander's execution. When she starts typing out the story from his recorded dictation, she realizes why.

Spencer Tracy Virginia Bruce Lionel Atwill Harvey Stephens Robert Barrat James Stewart William Collier Sr. Bobby Watson William Demarest John Sheehan Lucien Littlefield George Chandler Fuzzy Knight Louise Henry Robert Warwick Joe Irving Francis X. Bushman Jr. Lita Chevret Jeanie Roberts Theodore von Eltz Howard Hickman Selmer Jackson Al Bridge Heinie Conklin Edward Keane Stanley Andrews Cyril Ring Charles Trowbridge Harry Tyler Show All…

Alternative Titles

Der elektrische Stuhl, Der Mann für Mord, La voz que acusa, La Double vengeance, Ultime notizie

Genres

Thriller Drama Crime Romance

Theatrical

12 Jul 1935

USANR

USA

12 Jul 1935

TheatricalNR

69 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Mandrakegray ★★★½ 5

A decent-sized box office hit in its day, and most notable as the feature film debut of Jimmy Stewart, this Spencer Tracy starring drama about a drunken reporter getting the scoop on a high-profile murder case is quite good...thanks to the cast of players and a great hook/reveal to the main plot.
Tracy stars as Steve Grey, a bitter but constantly out-in-front newshound working for a major New York newspaper ('The Daily Star'). A corrupt but prominent businessman is murdered, and the city's journalists are eager to break the story. Steve beats 'em all to the punch when he fingers the businessman's associate, but for some reason his heart isn't in his work...and the toll of alcohol (he's brooding over…
Review by Gentry ★★★ 3

“I spent last night on a merry go round.”
Kind of a clever little yarn, and a good performance by new star Spencer Tracy as a pained, hard drinking news writer in a Front Page-esque story that punches above its weight. He’s not given much to do, but keep an eye out (up?) for baby Jimmy Stewie as “Shorty.” My biggest question: shooting galleries with real, live rifles in the middle of the city? Were these really a thing that existed?
Review by PUNQ ★★★

There is something lacking in the writing to knock one down emotionally, but there are so many other qualities here that The Murder Man becomes a highly watchable movie without draining your feelings. For one is Spencer Tracy's very mellow drunken portrayal of the Star reporter. Tracy is excellent when toned down. Virginia Bruce as his semi-love interest looks the screen blond anyone would want. Lionel Atwill as a growling police captain and Robert Barrat as a even louder newspaper editor! And then you have for many the main attraction. James Stewart is his feature film debut! And it's Jimmy Stewart as we know him! Doesn't get to do all that much, but he still manages to steal the scenes he's in by doing very little! The story twists itself to unexpected places, so definitely one worth a look.
Review by Nathan Hale ★★★

James Stewart’s first words in a movie: “Hi, Joe.”
This being his first movie was my sole purpose for watching. Not a big fan of Spencer Tracy, who was the actual star. The movie is actually pretty funny, and it’s not supposed to be. Less than 5 minutes in we see a lady unhook a rope and jump off a Ferry Boat. Then it cuts to some people talking and they’re casually like “Awww another ferry jump eh?” DOES THIS HAPPEN OFTEN?!
Best part of the movie was obviously seeing JS so young and knowing it’s his first role. It was also neat because I’m reading a book on his life right now and it mentioned this movie. It’a less than 70 minutes but I’ll probably forget it by next week 😺
Review by Lowbacca ★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I'll admit it here, I've seen so many 1930s movies that are about a reporter getting involved in a murder investigation that I blinded myself a bit by expecting this to follow the conventions I was used to. I caught on before the reveal, but at the point it had started making it very clear that in this case the reporter (played by Spencer Tracy) is actually the murderer, and that he had found the perfect setup to kill one con man and frame his partner for it as part of a vendetta. I'm also a bit surprised that this movie got made with that much of a revenge reveal (and the suggestion that a jury might be forgiving at…
Review by cupofcoffinjoe ★★★½

There's this group of streetwise, fast talking reporters, see? But they're all mugs, seein' how they can't keep up with ace reporter Spencer Tracy.
Then there's these banker types that done stole some cabbage from some salt of the earth types, and one of 'em gets knocked off, see? The coppers don't know who done it, but Tracy is a smart cookie. He keeps a step ahead of the trigger man and sends him to the big house. But hold the phone: did he really throw the lead, or was he just a patsy?
The picture is a gas, with wise guys making with the jokes for most of the movie. The performances (especially Jimmy Stewart and Tracy) are aces,…
Review by hellohildy ★★★★

It doesn’t sound right to say of a drama about murder that it was a pleasant surprise, but it was! Spencer’s first MGM flick and wow does he deliver. His natural style blows onto the back lot like a breath of fresh air. And he’s accompanied by rookie James Stewart in his first film!
This isn’t one of those cocktail party murders like we usually get from MGM, this goes for a grittier, ripped-from-the-headlines feel of a Warner Brothers murder yarn. But you know your not in WB anymore when you see the spacious NY streets on their backlot.
A far-fetched but clever and powerful script and solid performances across the board made this a much better watch than I had expected.
Review by RKO_Chester ★★

Part of my list of movies with the word MURDER in their titles
The motivation of the character Spencer Tracy plays in this newspaper drama is not even hinted at until the last few minutes so those saying that Tracy shows a lot of range in this movie is something I didn't see. His character is lauded for the stories he writes for his paper, too, but Tracy's character, as a writer (when dictating stories), never utters an interesting line.
I suppose they couldn't get Lee Tracy so Jimmy Stewart and William Demarest play supporting roles as New York City newspaper men. Demarest is believable as such.
Most others in this picture, however, seem content to think that just yelling (as well as barking orders into candlestick telephone receivers) in lieu of acting is sufficient to make this plot move along.
5/10
Review by Kari ★★★

I'm not a big Spencer Tracy fan but he was tolerable here. The main reason I watched was to see James Stewart in his feature film debut. His part was small but he held his own. The supporting cast was great with some well-known character actors. Virginia Bruce was lovely but she didn't get a chance to do much.
The story itself was interesting and the twist at the end surprised me. The pace and tone were uneven, though. Tracy had a few nice scenes with William Collier Sr. who played his "Pop".
Review by Brian Rowe ★★★

James Stewart gets only one moment to shine in his 1935 feature film debut, but it’s a good one. He plays reporter Shorty in The Murder Man, starring Spencer Tracy, and in his brief role, Stewart has a great scene where with pluck and charm he entices Tracy to come out of hiding.
Review by Timmy ★★★★

Another newspaper reporter flick with that same stock rear projection newsroom backdrop. I can't get enough of these newspaper stories.
Review by CradeVescent ★★★

Yeah, I don't like rats. I'm not sure I like the idea of killing them either.
The Murder Man creates an intriguing premise, but delivers it a bit clumsily. The runtime is quite short for a story like that and at times it resembles His Girl Friday which had a perfect runtime for a farce. The Murder Man on the other hand suffers from it and only one character has a proper arc.
This character is wonderfully played by Spencer Tracy who doesn't look like a big shot, but certainly has such energy in him. Virginia Bruce is very sweet, but her character doesn't have much depth. Same with Harvey Stephens which is even more crucial, given the nature of…

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The Murder Man

Synopsis

He knows the truth BUT HE CAN'T TALK!

Cast

Director

Producer

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Editor

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Releases by Date

Theatrical

12 Jul 1935

Releases by Country

USA

12 Jul 1935

Popular reviews

Where to watch

The Murder Man

Synopsis

He knows the truth BUT HE CAN'T TALK!

Cast

Director Director

Producer Producer

Writers Writers

Editor Editor

Cinematography Cinematography

Art Direction Art Direction

Composer Composer

Studio

Country

Language

Alternative Titles

Genres

Theatrical

12 Jul 1935

USA

12 Jul 1935

Popular reviews

Director

Producer

Writers

Editor

Cinematography

Art Direction

Composer