John T. Ryan WITH THIS SHORT subject we have yet another example of how diverse and all encompassing the field of the film short really was at one time. With the coming of Television and the accompaniment of the Post War Baby Boomer generation, the short was thought to be only comedies. The very plentiful and quite frequent occasions where the likes of LAUREL & HARDY, THE 3 STOOGES, OUR GANG and the PETE SMITH SPECIALTIES in so many markets via local stations stands a a testimony to this. Of course, there are many other shorts series that appeared so often, but even those were usually of the belly-laugh variety (or attempted).ALTHOUGH THIS FILM maintains a light tone and definite leaning toward the whimsical, it is deep down a Detective Story. Much in the same manner as the very popular Radio feature called MINUTE MYSTERIES, this movie presents the crime, all the facts and even shows us how the forensic investigation is conducted.AS ONE MIGHT EXPECT, there was no "Cast of Thousands" here. We have Donald Meek (Dr. Crabtree), future "Chief" of the Daily Planet on Superman TV Series, John Hamilton (Inspector Carr), Frances Dale (Dorothy Paige a prime suspect) and Hobart Cavanaugh ( Martin Hill-also suspected). The cast was rounded out by an actress who portrayed an Irish cleaning woman and a Black comic actor as the elevator operator.ANYWAY, WE DID enjoy seeing how this little forerunner of these forensic and crime scene investigator series of today. There is a distinct interaction between Messers. Meek and Hamilton in which one was the straight man and the other the stooge As is so commonplace in film of his era, the Doctor solves the case; because everybody's smarter than the Police, right ?

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . concludes this Warner Bros. live action short (and America probably yawned, sighing, "What else is new?). "Callous" is the key word in THE WALL STREET MYSTERY. The two dead brokers were callous. The police are plenty callous about their demise. Their bookkeeper is callous, and their secretary is nonchalant. Doc Crabtree, Manhattan's amateur sleuth, is downright jocular about the whole affair. The two swindled Fat Cats are bitterly callous. This story is set in 1931, when America--at the onset of the "Great Depression"--was almost as bad off as it is today. Back then, the Middle Class had not yet been created by Labor Unions. (Today it's been all but eliminated by the "trade agreements" and "right to work" doublespeak edicts that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce bribed Repugs and Dems alike into imposing.) As the 1930s opened, the financial system was ruined by "buying short," and the crooked brokers dropped like flies from skyscraper windows. Now, "derivatives" and "pyramid schemes" have impoverished we 99%, as token One Per Centers such as the Madoff Clan kill themselves with ropes and guns (since the penthouse windows do not open any longer). In the 1930s, CEO's made 100 times a wage slave's pay. Now, it's a multiple of 500 times and up. The real puzzler is the fact that Americans still are allowing Wall Street to rig our Economy and get their jollies by conducting their Real Life PURGE and HUNGER GAMES in 2015 (as if no one remembers anything from the early 1900s): that's the true WALL STREET MYSTERY!

Neil Doyle Another Vitaphone short with DONALD MEEK as the criminologist Dr. Crabtree working on a case with Inspector Carr (JOHN HAMILTON).Again, the solution comes out of nowhere and is one nobody could have expected given the small amount of clues involved. But not Dr. Crabtree. As he describes what really happened, we see the entire event in flashback as he convinces Inspector Carr that he is wrong about the identity of the real killer.These lifeless little shorts were an attempt to cram a decent mystery into seventeen minutes or so, meant to entertain audiences between showings of the feature films on the program.Today, they seem like no more than curiosity pieces.

Michael_Elliott Wall Street Mystery, The (1931) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Third film in the S.S. Van Dine series has a couple men murdered inside an office on Wall Street. Insp. Carr (John Hamilton) believes he has the case solved but Dr. Crabtree (Donald Meek) has a theory that might lead to a major twist. This is another pretty good entry in the series but I must admit that the way the mystery plays out is somewhat weak. The twist in the movie is downright great and you won't see it coming but at the same time you can't help but role you eyes and feel you've been cheated in some ways. The ending didn't make me mad and I did get a smile out of it but it pretty much comes out of no where. Hamilton plays his character a lot tougher than some of the future shorts that I've seen from the series. We also get a touch of humor thrown in with a joke about Sherlock Holmes as well as a black elevator man calling himself "Amos Andy", after the radio show of course.