I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Wow! Such a good movie.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is a B-movie from Paramount. How it has lapsed into the public domain, I have no idea--but regardless it's available for download from the link on its IMDb page.The film stars a young Lew Ayers as a smart-mouthed newspaper photographer (as bit of a cliché). When a murder occurs, a lady who is the police suspect (Gail Patrick) asks Ayers to hide her. This is one of the oldest and worst clichés of murder mystery films as in real life no one would shelter a murder suspect no questions asked! And, if they were dumb enough to do this, then the murder suspect would most likely kill them for their trouble! But, in B-movie fashion, you know she CAN'T be the killer. The rest of the film, Ayers investigates and proves that the handsome hero is ALWAYS smarter than the stupid cops (yet another familiar cliché)--led by Joe Sawyer as the investigator (a rather familiar role for him). And how does he intend to do this? Yep, one of the oldest plot ideas--with a supposed photo that will prove who the murderer is! As you can tell from my description, the film abounds with clichés--the sort that fans of classic films will quickly recognize. Because of this, the film is not exactly original act. However, the acting and overall polish of the movie are nice--making it at least a tolerable time-passer.

It probably took me about an hour longer to watch this film than it's stated run time of sixty nine minutes; I just had to keep re-winding to pick up details and dialog that blew by too quickly to catch the first time around. Like the patter in my summary line above, or the clunky line from the police chief confronting a room full of reporters following Redfield's murder - "I'm going to put the guilty person in the chair if I have to build an electrical grandstand". An electrical grandstand? Just check your mental imagery of that one! I've seen Lew Ayres a couple of times now, but not in a picture like this. He had sort of a Jack Lemmon quality both in appearance and attitude. Of course Lemmon came by much later, so I guess you could say that Jack had a Lew Ayres-like quality coming out of "Murder With Pictures". Anyway, you get my drift.Well you better pay close attention, or you're going to miss details in the most unlikely of spots. Like Kent Murdock taking a shower with his pants on. Maybe the film makers knew that Meg Archer (Gail Patrick) would climb in there with him, but as a character in the story, he wouldn't have. Murdock's also shown wearing suspenders under his bathrobe without a shirt on. Does anyone get dressed like that? Just wondering.This one is my favorite though - at the newspaper photo shop department, when Meg comes looking for Murdock, she drops a key, presumably from Murdock's apartment. It was for Room 318, but in more than one shot, Murdock's apartment door clearly showed he lived in 315.Well, as in a lot of mystery pictures of the era, you have a bunch of credibility defying stuff, and this one has a boat load. I don't know how someone could shoot a guy in a room full of people and not know from what general direction the gunshot, excuse me, camera shot came from. It might have been silent in the picture, but you know that doesn't quite work. I'm sure it was necessary for all that intrigue over the missing negative, but still. I guess that's why I keep coming back for these programmers from the Thirties and Forties, just to see all the goofy stuff they tried to pass on movie goers of the era.

When gangster kingpin Nate Girard gets off the hook at his trial for murder, his high-priced shyster lawyer throws a party to celebrate...and the guests are the reporters and news photographers who covered the trial. What a bunch...cigar chewers, bumbling shutter clickers and wise alecks. Yeah, and Kent Murdoch (Lew Ayres) was there, ace photographer always with an angle and a wise crack, fast with his words, especially "Now listen, baby..." when he's with a good-looking dame. He's a decent guy. There's I. B. McGoogin (Paul Stewart), fast- talking, wisecracking news reporter who always winds up one step behind Murdock. But one guest doesn't fit in...a beautiful raven-haired dame named Meg Archer (Gail Patrick). She comes across as so aristocratic that we can't be sure if it's ice water in her veins or just the slow syrup of delayed gratification. And wouldn't you know it, murder shows up, too. Right in the middle of the party, when the flashbulbs are popping, a guy also gets popped. Not Nate, but his lawyer. And who immediately disappears? Yep, Meg vanishes even faster than a pair of straight dice at a crap game. She winds up at Kent's apartment with a story and a plea for help. It's not long before someone realizes that a picture Kent took at the party just might show the murderer, that Kent's former girlfriend wants some money, that Nate Girard is willing to pay big for what he says he has to have, that the cops think Nate is in the middle, that Meg has some sort of side deal, that Kent will go all out to help Meg, that...a lot keeps moving around in this mystery played with a light touch. Murder with Pictures is just what it is, a 69-minute programmer with a few good points, a plot that gets too complicated for its own good, and a production that never received the studio love that might have made it better. Among those good points is seeing Lew Ayres, who played the naive, sincere gun fodder in All Quiet on the Western Front, turn in a wise guy performance by channeling Chester Morris. He handles the role with some style. Ayres was a reliable, likable lead actor whose strong suit was decency. He became a pacifist after making All Quiet. With the Doctor Kildare series that started in 1938, Lew Ayres found himself a matinée idol. When Pearl Harbor was attacked and Ayres was drafted, he declared himself a conscientious objector. He was crucified in the press and his career vanished. He finally was granted his earlier request to join the Army Medical Corps. He served under fire in the Pacific and in New Guinea. After the war, when it became known he had served as a combat medic, he gradually began to get film offers but for seldom more than character roles. Ayres received an Oscar nomination for best actor for the doctor in Johnny Belinda. Just like Dr. Kildare, Ayres was a decent guy with the backbone to stand firm for his beliefs.

Part of the Treeline/Reel Media 50-Movie Mystery Classics Collection from 2003, the sound quality is a little shaky, which probably explains why we NEVER see this one on Turner Classic Movies. Director Charles Barton had helped on a couple of silent movies, but had only been directing for 2 years when he did "Murder with Pictures". Given some quick one- liners by the writers, Lew Ayres stars as photographer Kent Murdock, trying to navigate around everyone involved with the trial he is covering. The part is quite generic, and anyone, like Bogey or William Powell could have played it. Co-stars Gail Patrick and Paul Kelly. Pretty short, at 69 minutes, it was probably considered quality at the time, since Edith Head did the costumes. Lots of cops- and- gangster type threats, guesses, and intrigue, and the bodies start piling up. Lots of car chases and the usual murder mystery antics, but pretty good. Liked Ayres better in "Holiday", which he would make two years later with K Hepburn and C Grant.