From Headquarters (1933) User Reviews

Just Another Day At Police Headquarters

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 3 November 2006]

I'm betting that George Brent got the lead in From Headquarters because Pat O'Brien had not arrived at Warner Brothers. O'Brien was cast in the lead in the very similar Bureau of Missing Persons and he fit the part of a detective so much better.

Still and all Brent does all right with the part as one of two detectives assigned to the murder of a well known man about town. Only this particular man was seeing Brent's former flame Margaret Lindsay and she's a suspect.

Brent and Lindsay get good support from Eugene Palette who is carrying over his Sergeant Heath character from Philo Vance and Henry O'Neill as the chief inspector.

Two characterizations that should be noted are Robert Barrat as a rather sophisticated, but inpatient suspect who does in his own alibi and Hobart Cavanaugh as a safecracker who really manages to get himself murdered at police headquarters.

One guy I don't think belonged was Hugh Herbert who brought his 'woo woo' act into a serious film as a wacky bail bondsman. I guess someone at Warner Brothers thought he'd be good comic relief, but not here. Also Dorothy Burgess as another murder suspect was way over the top.

Look fast and you'll see Frank McHugh right at the beginning of the film as one of a group of prisoners being brought into the station in a paddy wagon. He gets a line to speak and his voice is unmistakable.

From Headquarters is a not bad B picture that played well on a double bill with their more well known gangster stars.

Forensic science and police procedure as it existed in 1933

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 8 April 2023]

There are two cases being investigated here. One is a safe cracking case, and the other the murder of a wealthy playboy that was initially thought to be suicide. These two cases coincide.

In the first case the suspects are narrowed down by entering criteria into what passed for a primitive computer - without semiconductors. The murder case is more complex. The police start with the playboy's fiancee, Lou Winton (Margaret Lindsay), and there just get to be more and more suspects from there. The complicating factor is that Lou was homicide detective Stevens' (George Brent's) girlfriend before she was the playboy's fiancee.

Fingerprint technology, ballistics, autopsies, and blood testing are all mentioned. And like any WB film of the era there is an interesting cast of supporting characters running around - Hugh Herbert as an overenthusiastic bail bondsman, Ken Murray as an obnoxious crime reporter, Edward Ellis as a medical examiner who loves his work, and Dorothy Burgess as a crazy woman - she did that kind of role so well.

Eugene Pallette is in one of his less cuddly roles as Sgt. Boggs who seems to want arrest everybody for the murder. And you get to see something I don't think I've seen before in a 30s film - the police switchboard employs entirely male operators. At a little more than an hour it doesn't wear out its welcome, and I recommend it.

Fast paced look at cutting edge police technology...in 1933

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 15 September 2017]

This is quite a good film, certainly better than I usually expect from 1933.

First off, it is fast-paced. You won't get bored.

Second, the premise is that modern technology (such as it was in 1933) can solve any crime...provided you have open-minded police investigating the crime. This "new" technology is constantly featured as the story progresses.

Third, there's some pretty good acting here.

On the negative side, this isn't a story where they give you clues so that you can begin to figure out who the murderer is. Instead, it's one of those where you learn facts right along with the police. That may sound good, but it always makes me wonder if they are just making it up as they move forward, rather than that they have it all planned out when they started the script. So are they plot twists, or are they screenwriters just saying, "Okay, what do we do next?" George Brent is very good here as a thinking detective. Margaret Lindsay was good as a murder suspect and love interest or Brent. Poor Eugene Palette...an amusing character actor who, in this film, plays a sort of dumb detective; not his best role, but okay. Always glad to see Henry O'Neill, a fine character actor who played a police inspector here. A different role for Hugh Herbert, still an odd ball, however, as a bail bondsman. Unfortunately, Ken Murray is here as a newspaperman; I never understood the attraction; he's a drag on the film.

This is as good a crime drama as I've seen from these days. Less stereotypical as I film than most crime dramas of the era. I liked it.

Forensic science in 1933

[jimjo1216 · 15 March 2011]

FROM HEADQUARTERS (1933) is a very interesting movie about a police investigation into a murder. The action takes place entirely within police headquarters, as cops interview suspects and scientists analyze evidence.

The movie is short and sweet (just over one hour long), filled with an entertaining cast of characters (ranging from policemen to news reporters to bail bondsmen), and quite enjoyable. It offers a fascinating look into the cutting-edge forensics of the day (how science was used to solve crimes). The movie shows how fingerprints are obtained and matched up. It mentions blood testing and autopsies. And there's a neat look at ballistic analysis (comparing marks on fired bullets).

George Brent, Eugene Palette, and Henry O'Neill play the police investigating a murder case. They parade in a string of the dead man's associates and each offers their piece to the puzzle of what turns out to be a very eventful night for the deceased. Each successive suspect's story is shown in a short point-of-view flashback, picking up where the last witness left off. The "whodunit" aspect is a little convoluted, but as the day goes on, developments in the lab shed new light on the case.

Edward Ellis (THE THIN MAN) plays the lead scientist, who relishes each breakthrough in the "lovely murder". It seems like Warner Bros. wanted to show theatergoers some of the cool new forensic strategies and technologies, and even though science has come a long way since 1933, it's still an interesting look back in history.

FROM HEADQUARTERS is not a top-shelf murder mystery or police procedural, but it's quick and fun, with some racy pre-Code material, a lighthearted sense of the macabre, and a unique historical value.

Directed by William Dieterle (THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR - 1936, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME - 1939) and also featuring Hugh Herbert, Robert Barrat, and the lovely Margaret Lindsay.

6+/10

Energized B holds its own.

[st-shot · 6/10 · 21 March 2011]

From Headquarters is a rather contrived and convoluted murder mystery but its brisk running time of 64 minutes and economic cross cut editing give the film more of a vitality than one would expect with the stolid George Brent in the lead. Clichés abound but a gallows humor among the precinct set nullifies them much of the time as the cops turn the screws on the suspects and the supporting cast steals most of the film.

It's another day down at headquarters of processing common criminals and chasing leads while reporters slovenly lie about waiting for a big story which comes in the way of the murder of a lecherous, blackmailer. Detectives Stevens (Brent) and Boggs (Eugene Palette) are given the case but approach it differently. Forensics meanwhile jumps into high gear gathering evidence through devious means and the killer as well as the victim remains in doubt until the final moments.

With the exception of the retiring Brent From Headquarters entire cast plays it broad and over the top. Margaret Lindsay's suspect and also the ex of Steven's divides her time between being stilted and hysterical while Palette's Sgt. Boggs spends the entire film lunging like a mad bulldog at all the suspects. In the same respect Hugh Herbert's overzealous bail bondsman, Robert Barrat's unctuous rug dealer and Edward Ellis's dark humored pathologist fit well into the spirit of the film.

Director William Dieterle and cameraman William Rees provide a decent look and rhythm to From Headquarters most of the way evoking in moments comparison to His Girl Friday and The Detective Story but its incredulous story line can only elevate it at best to a decent Charlie Chan.

"What a Lovely Murder"!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 12 August 2015]

After a couple of years of exciting, stylized gangster action usually depicting the mobsters as colourful, quirky individuals - enough so that a poll taken in the early 1930s showed that gangsters were high on the list of who the man in the street wished he was, J. Edgar Hoover got involved. He was alarmed that his F.B.I. department was not looked on with the proper respect and went about changing the way the public viewed officers of the law. By 1932,33, it was all about law and order with gangsters playing a very supporting role: new characters made their mark - reporters, gossip columnists and lawyers!!

"From Headquarters" was exactly that, with an emphasis on police procedure and forensics and fortunately Warners was able to make it a showcase for their bevy of character actors - Henry O'Neil is the stolid Inspector Donnelly, Hugh Herbert is the used car salesman for the bail bond business, Murray Kinnell is Horton the enigmatic butler, Eugene Palette in another of his gallery of irascible detectives, Ken Murray a fast talking reporter and henpecked Hobart Cavanaugh, playing against type, as Mugs Manson, a crime boss who knows something vital about the crime but is not listened to. He is a "person of interest" in the murder of Broadway playboy Gordon Bates (who else but Kenneth Thomson). George Brent (at his very dullest) is Lieut. Jim Stevens called in to investigate and shocked to learn that his old flame, showgirl Lou Winton (lovely Margaret Lindsay)is the girl in the picture, supposedly engaged to Bates although she strenuously denies it. Forget Brent and Lindsay, Edward Ellis is terrific as the forensic officer with a mad gleam in his eye who is just itching to get his hands on a good old fashioned murder!!

Just to relieve the procedural tedium and to show you that it is really a pre-coder, Bates is discovered to be a drug addict and Dorothy Burgess has a "way out" scene as Dolly White, an agitated hop head (whose performance of crazy laughter is worthy of "Reefer Madness") - she also saw Bates at his apartment and clocked him on the head with a statue. This fellow was knocked on the head by so many people, did he really need to be shot as well?? Robert Barrett was just a fantastic character actor, equally at ease playing detectives, butlers and in this case Mr. Anderzian, a shifty foreign importer who is involved in the most exciting scene in the movie. Also interesting how the police obtain his fingerprints - he thinks he is pretty nifty but he doesn't reckon on an ungloved hand on a polished wooden desk!!

fast-moving programmer

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 29 March 2016]

When a Broadway playboy is found dead, it's first thought to be a suicide, then a murder. Police Lt. Jim Stevens (George Brent) is on the case. Lou Winton (Margaret Lindsay), a Broadway performer with whom he's in love, is one suspect, but he's sure she didn't do it. It's obvious from her first questioning that she's protecting someone. It turns out to be her brother. Then there's a coke addict, Dolly White (Dorothy Burgess). And what about Anderzian (Robert Barrat)?

This mystery moves right along, and is more interesting than many of these films due to the use of actual police techniques from those days - examining a bullet, getting fingerprints, and my favorite, the use of IBM punch cards and a sorting machine to search a database. This may be the first display of that technology in film. Not only interesting, but fun to see, and also to note that those techniques in one form or another continue to be used.

George Brent is handsomer, I think, without his mustache, and does a good job here as an intelligent inspector.

Hugh Herbert is on hand as a bail bondsman, and Frank McHugh is on very quickly at the beginning. This is an old one!

See if it is on TCM - you'll enjoy it.

from headquarters

[mossgrymk · 6/10 · 26 April 2023]

I imagine that this 1933 Warner Brothers offering is among the first, if not THE first, of the police procedurals. Alas, it is not one of the better ones. Saddled with an extremely dull murder mystery (kind of like Agatha Christie on Darvon) director William Dieterle overcompensates with florid direction that results in hammy performances from usually good actors like George Brent, Eugene Pallette and Margaret Lindsay. And the members of the forensics unit act like The Hardy Boys meet Mad Scientists. However, for being a pioneer entry in a most worthy genre let's give this one a generous C plus.

Oddly, this one looks as if you're watching an actual case being investigated by COMPETENT police!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 21 March 2016]

In the 1930s, detective and crime stories were a dime a dozen. Very few of them were about realism but about entertaining the audiences. Because of this, there were a lot of clichés you could expect in a film about murder....such as the cops being idiots, the bad guy confessing to everything at the end of the film even though the good guys could not prove they did it and police procedures were practically non-existent...they just kept arresting the wrong people until they got the right one!! The films don't age well because of all this and there is a serious sameness to them. Fortunately, among these many cliché-ridden stories is one like "From Headquarters"!

The film begins with a murder. Non-stupid detectives begin investigating and you follow the case from start to finish. You see them taking fingerprints, searching files and early computer systems and questioning various witnesses. While the guy played by Eugene Palette is a bit like the dopey detectives (in fact, this same actor played dopey detectives in several films), he's not over the top and is competent. His boss (George Brent) is quite competent and clever...like you'd hope a detective would be.

The bottom line is that this film is extremely well written, has much better than usual acting and has aged very well. The actors seem more realistic and less like archetypes in this one. Plus, it is fascinating seeing how thing have and haven't changed over the last 80 or so years. Well worth seeing.

Police methods give added interest to routine murder mystery...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 15 March 2011]

GEORGE BRENT doesn't display much enthusiasm for his role as a police detective who finds that his ex-sweetheart (MARGARET LINDSAY) is the chief suspect in the murder of a wealthy playboy. There are several suspects under police grilling and all of them tell their stories in brisk flashback technique that keeps the plot spinning in all directions so that all options are on the table in guessing "who done it." It's a ploy that doesn't work well here. A more straight-forward approach would have worked better in keeping the plot from getting too cluttered. By the time we reach a conclusion, the viewer is left hoping the story is over once and for all. What does work is showing the behind-the-scenes methods the crime labs perform in solving a case.

It's a programmer given what little life it has by a capable cast of Warner supporting players including Ken Murray, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dorothy Burgess, Eugene Palette, Theodore Newton and others and benefits from brisk direction by William Dieterle.

Summing up: A more polished script would have helped and George Brent seems too detached on this occasion to make much of his detective role.

I saw that mug drop this in the gar-boon downstairs

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 29 March 2016]

***SPOILERS*** Murder and blackmail is on the menu of this crime flick that takes place mostly in police headquarters with Lou Ann Winton, Margared Lindsey, accused of killing rich antique gun collector Gordon Bates, Kenneth Thomson, with one of his antique guns. There's no denying that Bates had it coming with him drunk and on drugs trying to force himself on Lou Ann but she claims she had nothing to do with his death and seems to be covering up for the person who in fact did it.

In trying to find Bates's killer Let. Stevens, George Brent, soon comes up with a number of suspects who have as much reason to have killed Bates as Lou Ann did including her hot headed and red haired,a strand of red hair was found at the murder scene , brother Jack Ted Newton, who doesn't deny that he was there. But it's later found out with blackmail letters written in invisible ink there was another reason to knock Bates off that had someone very close to him who just have enough of his actions and took the law into his own hands.

***SPOILERS***The big surprise in all this is that yes another murder was committed that really had nothing at all to do with who murdered Bates. That was when the blackmailer feeling he was going to be exposed had his flunky murdered to keep him from talking. The big mistake on the blackmailer's part was that he murdered him, like the Lee Harvey Oswald killing by Jack Ruby, right inside the police station and was spotted by someone there hiding the murder weapon, a straight edge razor, in a spittoon. Razor sharp and restored black & white photography as well as crisp sound recordings not only makes the movie, now over 80 years old, watchable but we also get to see the back then state of the art police science-fingerprints ballistic and blood-work-that helped in solving the case.

Engrossing Thriller!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 8 August 2017]

Copyright 20 November 1933 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 16 November 1933. U.S. release: 2 December 1933. U.K. release: 12 May 1934. Australian release: 14 March 1934. 7 reels. 63 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Playboy gun collector is found murdered in his New York apartment — shot through the eye with a dueling pistol.

NOTES: This film bears no relationship at all to Warner Bros 1929 movie of the same title.

VIEWER'S GUIDE: Adults.

COMMENT: A engrossing police procedural mystery thriller, well produced in all departments, and featuring as nice a range of suspects as any aficionado of the genre could wish. Led by the wonderful Dorothy Burgess (who, alas, has only the one scene — but with what brilliance she plays it), and Robert Barrat (in his sinister element — and what a perfect accent), our potential heavies include such skilled operators as the lovely Margaret Lindsay (who looks absolutely smashing in her Orry-Kelly evening gown), the oddly-named Theodore Newton (a Donald Woods look-a-like, but twice as personable), the ever-reliable Murray Kinnell (a gentleman's gentleman except for the fact that the killer didn't qualify), and Hobart Cavanaugh (in one of his best of many such little-guy performances) as a hard-pressed, too helpful safe- cracker.

The police line-up are no slouches in unforgettable characterizations either. Brent is okay, a little flat, your typical 'tec; Palette makes with the heavy accusations, but he's no dumb- bell; O'Neill seems competent, if unimaginative; best of all, is Edward Ellis, rubbing his hands with glee at every turn of the laboratory screws.

On the sidelines we discover fast-talking Ken Murray as a lazy reporter, Frank Darien as a fussed executor and Hugh Herbert as a too pushy bail bondsman. (Whilst it seems at first that Hugh is enacting his usual comic relief idiot, this proves far from the case as the story progresses. In fact, Hugh has a startling dramatic scene which he plays most effectively).

I found all the introductory procedural touches absolutely fascinating, though I must admit some people at our Film Index video-showing, thought them all superfluous and kept wondering out loud when the story itself was going to start. I thought the writers and Dieterle handled these sequences most creditably by giving them a lot of humanity and humor rather than opting for a dry, documentary approach. I also much admired Dieterle's inspired use — no doubt he followed the writers' instructions — of a first-person camera during the various flashbacks.

Nothing special but quite watchable.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 5/10 · 24 March 2022]

One of MANY programmers from "Warner Bros." during the 1930s, there's nothing that makes "From Headquarters" distinguished in any way.

The cast is fairly good, especially Eugene Pallette as the gruff city cop. George Brent seems out of his comfort zone as the investigating police officer. Margaret Lindsay hasn't much to do, considering she's the film's leading lady. The annoying Hugh Herbert is doing his usual cringeworthy attempts at humour. How he ever gained employment in Hollywood is beyond me!

The brief running time is a good thing, considering that the entire story revolves around the police department. That reduces the scale of the film and its impact.

A curio of creaky ciminology

[chris-48 · 7 December 1998]

As a mystery, From Headquarters isn't very challenging, but it might hold your interest as a behind-the-scenes glimpse of police procedure. The film is at its best when showing the details of a typical murder investigation, including two scenes that prove how little ballistic testing has changed in more than five decades. Another plus is the photography, which generally rises above other programmers of its ilk. [In one set-up, the camera establishes a shot of an autopsy in progress and then takes the vantage of the corpse looking up at the doctors.] There is also a pre-code reference to drug addiction, personified by a murder suspect (Dorothy Burgess) who is a riot of facial ticks, jitters and hysterical laughter. The cast is competant, if largely uninspired, with leads Brent and Lindsay their usual drab selves. Some of the supporting players--Hobart Cavanaugh's non-comic safe cracker, Hugh Herbert's pesky bail bondsman, Edward Ellis's enthusiastic forensics man and Robert Barrat's eccentric rug importer--are decidedly better. Not one of director Dieterle's best, but an interesting curio all the same.

Another Pre-Code, Warner Brothers' Crime Thriller!!!

[zardoz-13 · 10/10 · 11 January 2023]

This snappy, fast-talking, Pre-Code, Warner Brothers murder mystery "From Headquarters" clocks in at an hour and four minutes. Nevertheless, working from a story by Robert N. Lee of "Little Caesar," director William Dieterle and "Kennel Murder Case" scribe Peter Milne have scribbled a crackerjack little melodrama with twists and turns. The standout in this gifted cast is Edward Ellis, who plays Dr. Van de Water, could put Grissom on "CSI" to shame with his lab analysis and sardonic wit. A slim George Brent heads up the cast as Lieutenant Stevens, the lead detective on the case with his fussing and fuming sidekick, Sergeant Boggs (Eugene Pallette of "Mr. Stitch"), playing bad cop to Stevens' good cop. Mind you, the whole thing is formula driven, but Dieterle and his writers peel back this onion with skill and guile. Surprisingly, science plays a significant role in "From Headquarters" with the equivalent of a wacky scientist who craves the prospect of a murder and relishes the way the evidence unravels the truth in the matter. Naturally, Dieterle plays the rotund Pallette with his bulldog tenacity off Brent cool, inquisitive Stevens who refrains from Boggs' pugnacious, in-your-face, obstinance. The damsel in distress, Lou Winton (Margaret Lindsay of "Jezebel") happens to be Stevens' old girlfriend, and Boggs is convinced beyond a doubt based on partial evidence that Lou shot a gun collector in the eye and killed him when he tried to take advantage of her. Warners stocked this thriller with the faces of some of his most familiar contract players. Hugh Herbert plays a bail bondsman who is desperately searching for prospective client and wounds up uncovering a murder in the police station. The pace is breathless, the performances first-rate, and the outcome a surprise. Basically, everything in "From Headquarters" transpires at police headquarters, so the film lives up to its title. This makes me think it may have been a stage plays since everything takes place in one setting. The first-person sequences when witnesses relate their side of the tale is done from a first person perspective. Perhaps the most risqué scene takes place during an autopsy. Dr. Van de Water and his assistant walk into the walk. The shape of a corpse under a sheet is obvious. As Dr. De Water bids his assistant to open the corpse's head, or what he refers to in snarky terms as "bread basket," we in the audience are treated to a low-angle shot from the corpse's perspective as the assistant starts to crack open his cranium. One delicious, Pre Code moment occurs when the camera zooms in on a golden statuette of a woman and then hovers even closer on her derriere. Utterly gratuitous! The Hays Office would have censored it. Meantime, there isn't a bad performance and you'll never get bored.

All Paths Lead To Murder

[boblipton · 5/10 · 6 April 2023]

Broadway Johnnie Kenneth Thomson is discovered dead in his apartment. Detective George Brent and Sergeant Eugene Pallette draw the case, which becomes more and more confusing as it proceeds.

Warner Brothers made several of these 'cops doing their jobs' movies in the Pre-Code era, and delighted in showing the unattractive side of police work. Here, it's Edward Ellis, best remembered for playing the murder victim in THE THIN MAN, who draws the honors as a creepy police scientist who seems to have all humanity drained out of him in his pleasure at his investigative tools. But there's also Hugh Herbert as a bail bondsman, Dorothy Burgess as an addict, and James Burtis and Ray Cooke as a crime reporter and his photographer, trying to get a cheesecake photo of suspect Margaret Lindsay who add to the sleaziness.

Although there are plenty of red herrings ragged across the scene of the crime, the actual murder is solved with a clue that is not in the possession of the audience when it is done. Still, William Dieterle does well with the movie, with the usual large cast of Warners character actors including Henry O'Neill, Hobart Cavanaugh, Ken Murray, and Matt McHugh showing up for small bits.

Forensics Best Part of the Movie

[view_and_review · 3/10 · 23 January 2024]

There are a few murder mystery tropes from the 30's I've had my fill of and "From Headquarters" had a couple of them.

1.) The perpetually wrong cop. Eugene Pallette seems to have written the book on the perpetually wrong cop. If jumping the gun were an Olympic event he'd have the world record. He did it in EVERY Philo Vance movie, he did it in "Strangers of the Evening" (1932), and he was doing it again in "From Headquarters." It was getting quite annoying. I wanted to say, "Please shut up and let the real detective solve the case."

2.) The cop who's a human lie detector. This is also bothersome. It's as if police didn't even need evidence, all they needed to do was question a suspect and they could divine if they're telling the truth. Well you know what, so could I. A beautiful woman = truthful. Crying while giving a statement = truthful. Swearing it's the truth = truthful. Stammering = lying. Sounding fake or rehearsed = lying. Deception must've been a thing unheard of in the 30's, or at least being good at deception was unheard of.

In "From Headquarters," Lieut. J. Stevens (George Brent) was the lead detective on the Bates murder case. The early suspects were Lou Winton (Margaret Lindsay) and her brother Jack Winton (Theodore Newton).

Well, you could throw them both out because early suspects are never the perpetrators. Furthermore, you could throw out Lou because 1.) she was a woman and 2.) Lieut. Stevens was in love with her. Women are hardly ever the murderers and they certainly aren't if the main character is in love with them (in the 30's that is).

We had to endure the gentle and fatherly detective who knew who was lying or not and who always had a correct "hunch." And we had to endure Sgt. Boggs (Eugene Pallette) being wrong time and time again all while staking his shield on his assertions. The only bright spot of the movie was the forensics. The scientist Dr. Van de Water (Edward Ellis) compared fingerprints, analyzed blood, did an autopsy, and checked for markings on bullets. He was indispensable, except he would insert his opinion into the investigation as well instead of just stating the facts.

2.99 on YouTube.