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Michael Shayne - Murder and the Wanton Bride
episode 1.11
USA 1960
produced by Joseph Hoffman for Four Star Productions
directed by Gerald Mayer
starring Richard Denning, Jerry Paris, Patricia Donahue, Herbert Rudley, Gary Clarke, Philip Carey, Beverly Garland, Fred Beir, Shirley Ballard, Robert Ellenstein, John Clarke, Percy Helton, Byron Morrow, Tom Holland, Jackie Russell, Barry Brooks
screenplay by William F.Leicester, based on characters created by Brett Halliday, music by Leith Stevens
TV-series Michael Shayne, Michael Shayne (Richard Denning)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Health club owner Carson (Byron Morrow) is murdered just before an
appointment with private eye Michael Shayne (Richard Denning), then
Carson's secretary Helen (Beverly Garland), unaware of her boss's death,
pays Shayne a visit, urging him not to accept the case Carson will be
proposing. Being sucked into the murder case whether he wants it or not,
Shayne starts to investigate and finds out Helen's husband Dave (Fred
Beir) had an affair with Carson's wife Belle (Shirley Ballard), then
there's gangster Curley (Robert Ellenstein), and all had a motive for
killing Carson - but he was shot with Helen's gun, who did not have a
motive. Of course, Helen is not exactly an innocent angel, she actually
knew about her hubby's affair with Belle and wanted to sell him to her,
but wanted to prevent Shayne from investigating Belle's unfaithfulness
because in that case Carson would have divorced her without giving her a
penny - which means she could no longer have bought Helen's hubby,
right? In the end, Bewlle shoots Curley, pretending it was in
self-defense, everything is linked to a kidnapping case from years back,
and surprisingly the kidnappers were Carson and Belle, who somehow managed
to make Curley take the blame for everything. Carson though was shot by
Dave, who is ultimately arrested for it. Helen on the other hand gets away
scot-free, even if she has done more than anyone else trying to prevent
the case from being solved ... Very ok crime drama that
features quite a few more twists and turns than your usual TV-fare and in
the end actually lets a culprit off the hook scot-free. So ok, maybe this
is not an outstanding milestone in TV entertainment, but interesting and
well worth a look anyways.
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