The Amazing Mr. Williams

1939 film by Alexander Hall

November 22, 1939 (1939-11-22)

Running time

80 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Amazing Mr. Williams is a 1939 American screwball comedy film^[2] produced by Everett Riskin for Columbia Pictures and directed by Alexander Hall. The film stars Melvyn Douglas,^[3] Joan Blondell^[4] and Clarence Kolb. It was written by Dwight Taylor, Sy Bartlett and Richard Maibaum. The film is about a police lieutenant who is too busy solving crimes to marry his longtime fiancée, who decides to take action and get him to marry her and settle down. The film was released on November 22, 1939.^[5]

Plot

Maxine Carroll, secretary to the mayor,^[5] waits impatiently for Kenny Williams, who gets called away by Captain McGovern on police business not long after he arrives. Maxine has enough time to try to talk him into leaving the police force to start a family. Kenny joins Detective Deever and Lieutenant Bixler) in the investigation of the murder of a circus performer, which Kenny solves with the arrest of a jealous knife-thrower.

Kenny has another date with Maxine, but this time the captain wants him to pick up Texas Buck Moseby at the jail and take him to the penitentiary by train. Instead of heading straight to the train, however, Kenny passes Moseby off as his college friend so he can keep his date with Maxine. Moseby is introduced to Effie, and the four go to the beach casino, then dancing later.^[6] Maxine suspects something is not right and calls the captain who tells her Kenny is on the train with Texas Buck Moseby, she informs him that they are both with her, which the captain does not believe. Bixler then tells the captain that the prison warden has called and said Kenny and Moseby have not arrived yet. The captain, who is still on the phone with Maxine, asks her to try to keep them there as long as possible. When the cops do arrive, Moseby tries to make a run for it, but Kenny is too quick for him and puts handcuffs on him. Effie faints when the captain announces that Buck Moseby is a notorious convict and killer.

Because of the incident with Moseby, Kenny is suspended for 60 days without pay by the police commissioner at the citizens committee meeting the following day. The Phantom Slugger,^[7] who has been fatally attacking random women on the street, has still not been caught, and the citizens committee is in an uproar about it. Captain McGovern suggests a male policeman wear women's clothes as a decoy to try to catch the criminal. Maxine writes a note suggesting they use Kenny and hands it to the mayor. The police commissioner is willing to reinstate Kenny if he will agree to go undercover, which he does. After 48 hours, Maxine is worried that neither she nor anyone at the police force has heard from Kenny, when they find out he has been spotted. Maxine goes to the location, but as soon as she sees Kenny the Phantom Slugger attacks her and knocks her out. Kenny struggles with the criminal, still in women's clothes, and arrests him.

Kenny visits Maxine in the hospital. She pretends to be sicker than she is and convinces him to turn in his resignation. The next day it is discovered that the night watchman at the First National Bank has been killed in a burglary worth $25,000. The captain finds Kenny's resignation but needs him to investigate the burglary, so Bixler pretends to have resigned as well to pique his interest in the investigation. Meanwhile, Maxine and Effie are planning a wedding for noon at the mayor's office, but Kenny is late as usual. The captain arrives and boasts that Kenny has nabbed the burglar, Stanley. Maxine calls off the wedding. Kenny arrives but it is too late.

Stanley insists he was forced to take part in the robbery by another man. Kenny discovers new evidence that might clear Stanley but he is supposed to take him to the prison by train. Meanwhile, the captain and detectives are trying to arrest Kenny for taking Stanley off the train. Kenny enlists Maxine's help in finding the person who purchased the liquor bottle found in Stanley's car, which leads them to the racetrack to arrest the real killer.

Cast

Melvyn Douglas as Kenny Williams
Joan Blondell as Maxine Carroll
Clarence Kolb as Captain McGovern
Ruth Donnelly as Effie
Edward Brophy as Buck Moseby
Donald MacBride as Lieutenant Bixler
Don Beddoe as Deever
Jonathan Hale as Mayor
John Wray as Stanley
Peggy Shannon as Kitty
Luis Alberni as Rinaldo
James Crane as Johnny
Dick Curtis as Joe
Eddie Laughton as Mousey
William Forrest as Anderson
Walter Miller as Browning
Barbara Pepper as Muriel, Wedding Guest
Sally Payne as Jean, Wedding Guest
Virginia Sale as Miss Mason, Schoolteacher
Lorna Gray as Nurse
Robert Middlemass as Police Commissioner
Robert Dudley as Citizens Committee Man
Frank Jaquet as Citizens Committee Man
Sarah Edwards as Citizens Committee Woman
Lela Bliss as Citizens Committee Woman
Ralph Peters as Tobacco Store Proprietor
Milton Kibbee as Liquor Store Proprietor
Maude Eburne as Landlady
Robert Sterling as Elevator Boy
Wyndham Standing as Elevator Passenger

References

^ Parish, James Robert; Stanke, Don E.; Taylor, T. Allan (1975). The Debonairs. New Rochelle, New York, USA: Arlington House Publishers. p. 124. ISBN 9780870002939.
^ Milberg, Doris (2013). The Art of the Screwball Comedy: Madcap Entertainment from the 1930s to Today. Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland Incorporated. p. 117. ISBN 9780786467815.
^ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Montclair, New Jersey, USA: Applause Books. p. 202. ISBN 9781557835512.
^ Bubbeo, Daniel (2010). The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each. Jefferson, North Carolina, USA: McFarland Inc. p. 17. ISBN 9780786462360.
^ ^a ^b Hischak, Thomas (2017). 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year. Lanham, Maryland, USA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 306. ISBN 9781442278059.
^ "The Movies....1939" (PDF). The Movies...and the people who make them. New Haven, Connecticut, USA: Theater Patrons, Inc. 26 December 1939. p. 18. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
^ Ginibre, Jean-Louis (2005). Ladies Or Gentlemen:A Pictorial History of Male Cross-dressing in the Movies. New York, New York, USA: Filipacchi Publishing. p. 246. ISBN 9781933231044.