THE SUNSET MURDER CASE

US, 1938, 63 minutes, Black and white.
Sally Rand, Paul Sutton, Reed Hadley, Kathryn Kane, Dennis Moore.
Directed by Louis J. Gasnier.

This is a very modest production, of slight historical interest except for the presence of Sally Rand but otherwise very ordinary – the musical number sequences, very arty or very artsy – but not particularly interesting; Sally Rand doing a performance, lightly clad, with a giant balloon, another where there is an introduction by heavily clad dancers followed by her exotic performance with a large fan due to. Kathryn Kane, billed as Sugar Kane with the punning character name, Penny Nichols, has a musical number.

And the film is not a murder mystery. Rather, a police chief is killed in action, investigating a blackmailing crime series. His daughter, Sally Rand, has previously been an exotic dancer in London, called Valerie, and plans her return to the US after five years as a cover for her to infiltrate the nightclub world and bring to justice the killers of her father. This she does, although getting into complex difficulties towards the end, getting the attention of the club owner who authorised the murders and managed the blackmailing cases, put under guard where she applies the man with drink as well is the villain’s girlfriend.

She has caught the attention of a newspaper reporter who keeps investigating the case, getting the help of Penny Nichols, Sugar Kane hamming it up as dumb except in her singing performance. The daughter also has the attention of a rather censorious lawyer who becomes infatuated with her – and they will come to the rescue at the end.

The film was directed by Louis J. Gasnier, a Frenchman who went to the United States to work for Pathe in 1912, promoted Pathe films and then directed a number of small budget features.