LADY FROM NOWHERE

(director: Gordon Wiles; screenwriters: from the story “Find the Witness” by Ben Grauman Kohn/Joseph Krumgold/Fred Niblo Jr./Arthur Strawn; cinematographer: Henry Freulich; editor: James Sweeney; cast: Mary Astor (Polly Dunlop), Thurston Hall (Mr. Barnes), Rita La Ray (Mabel), Victor Kilian (Zeke), Norman Willis (Ed Lustig), Gene Morgan (Mike), Spencer Chambers (Gramp), Charles Quigley (Earl Daniels), Claudia Coleman (Mrs. Banks), Mattie Fain (Frankie); Runtime: 60; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Irving Brisking; Columbia Pictures; 1936)

“Modestly entertaining crime drama.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Gordon Wiles(“The Gangster”/”Prison Train”/”Forced Landing“) directs this modestly entertaining crime drama. It’s based on the story “Find the Witness” by Ben Grauman Kohn. The screenwriters are /Joseph Krumgold, Fred Niblo Jr. and Arthur Strawn.

Polly Dunlop (Mary Astor), a Manhattan hotel manicurist, is the sole witness to a mobster hit by Ed Lustig (Norman Willis). The fearful Polly takes a bus out of town and stops at the small town of Clearview, Connecticut. Using the alias Dorothy Barnes, she finds work as a waitress and befriends schoolteacher Earl Daniels (Charles Quigley). When eventually a reporter spots her, Earl hides her at his grandfather’s (Spencer Chambers) farm. They mistake Polly for a runaway heiress, and call her family. Mr, Barnes (Thurston Hall) calls her a fraud and notifies the newspapers. A picture of her is printed in all the newspapers. Before she can flee with Earl, Lustig and his goons appear at the farm. But it leads to a happy ending.

REVIEWED ON 4/18/2016 GRADE: B-