Blue, White and Perfect
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Herbert I. Leeds
Lloyd Nolan
Mary Beth Hughes
Helene Reynolds
George Reeves
Steve Geray
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Private detective Michael Shayne promises his girl friend, beauty shop owner Merle Garland, that he will give up detective work and get a less dangerous job so that they can be married. Shayne instead obtains a job investigating sabotage at the Thomas Aircraft factory. On his first day, Shayne is confounded by the theft of $100,000 worth of industrial-grade diamonds, which are used as grinding tools. Suspecting an inside job, Shayne follows Vanderhoefen, the factory's diamond cutter, to the Daisy Bell Dress Co. Disguising himself as a Southern store owner, Shayne meets with the company's manager, Rudolph Hagerman, who is actually a German spy smuggling the diamonds to Honolulu, from where they are shipped to factories in Germany. After Hagerman dismisses Shayne, Vanderhoefen tells him Shayne's real identity, and the smugglers learn that their usual trick of hiding the diamonds in dress buttons has been discovered by custom officials. Shayne then breaks into the warehouse, where he discovers the button ruse and learns that the next load is to go on the ocean liner Princess Nola . Shayne is fired when Hagerman complains to Thomas about his snooping, but he nonetheless tricks Merle out of $1,000 so that he can follow the diamonds onto the ocean liner. Once aboard, Shayne finds that the contact who is to receive the dresses, Connie Ross, is actually an old girl friend named Helen Shaw. Helen explains that she changed her name after being involved in a notorious divorce case and became a couturier in Honolulu. Shayne tries to romance information out of her, which is also the apparent aim of another passenger, Juan Arturo O'Hara. It is not until O'Hara and Shayne are trapped in a cargo compartment by Hagerman that Shayne discovers that O'Hara is an FBI agent. Helen alerts the captain to Shayne and O'Hara's danger as water pours into the compartment, and once he is free, Shayne finds that Hagerman has been murdered. The ship docks in Honolulu, and as Shayne bids Helen farewell, he takes one of the jars of candy she is carrying. Soon after, Shayne finds a diamond when he bites into a piece of the candy. He rushes over to Helen's dress shop and when he confronts her, Helen confesses that she was smuggling the diamonds, but thought that they were being sold for jewelry and did not know that her cohorts were Nazis. Helen is about to tell Shayne the ringleader's name when she is shot by Nappy, a ship's steward. Nappy is actually the leader of the smugglers and was aboard the ship in the guise of a steward to keep an eye on things. Shayne captures Nappy, who killed Hagerman, and returns to the hotel. There he finds Merle, who followed him to Honolulu. Her anger subsides when Shayne shows her the newspaper headlines announcing his foiling of a Nazi smuggling ring, and they decide to get a marriage license.
Director
Herbert I. Leeds
Cast
Lloyd Nolan
Mary Beth Hughes
Helene Reynolds
George Reeves
Steve Geray
Henry Victor
Curt Bois
Marie Blake
Emmett Vogan
Mae Marsh
Frank Orth
Ivan Lebedeff
Wade Boteler
Charles Trowbridge
Edward Earle
Cliff Clark
Arthur Loft
Charles Williams
Ann Doran
Bert Moorhouse
Tim Ryan
Al Kikume
Perc Launders
Gerardo Sei Groves
Mary Gordon
Jack Stoney
Bud Geary
Pat O'malley
Addison Richards
George Melford
Harry Carter
Monica Bannister
Paul Michael
Hans Von Morhart
Lester Dorr
Don Dillaway
Rudy Robles
John Bleifer
Steve O'brien
Ed Stanley
Charles Tannen
Walter Sande
Nora Lane
Basil Walker
Crew
Harry Brand
Alfred Bruzlin
Lewis Creber
Alfred Day
Richard Day
Al De Gaetano
Samuel G. Engel
Herschel
Det. Lieut Frank L. James
Harry M. Leonard
Thomas Little
Glen Macwilliams
Emil Newman
Sam Schneider
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Stanley Rauh and Manning O'Connor worked on the screenplay of this film, but their contribution to the released picture has not been confirmed. For additional information on the series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry below for Michael Shayne, Private Detective.
