Grand Central Murder

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Grand Central Murder
theatrical poster
Directed by	S. Sylvan Simon
Produced by	B. F. Zeidman
Written by	Sue MacVeigh (novel) Peter Ruric (screenplay)
Starring	Van Heflin Patricia Dane Sam Levene
Music by	David Snell
Cinematography	George J. Folsey
Editing by	Conrad A. Nervig
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	May, 1942
Running time	73 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Kid Glove Killer
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Grand Central Murder is a comedy/mystery film released in 1942. It was based on Sue MacVeigh's 1939 novel of the same name, and stars Van Heflin as a private investigator who is one of the suspects in a murder on a private train car in Grand Central Terminal. The film was directed by S. Sylvan Simon.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Actress Mida King (Patricia Dane) is killed in a private train car on a siding in Grand Central Terminal in New York while trying to run away from her gangster ex-boyfriend Turk (Stephen McNally), who's escaped from police custody. Police Inspector Gunther (Sam Levene) assembles all the suspects, including wisecracking private detective "Rocky" Custer (Van Heflin), and they all tell their stories. They include Turk; David (Mark Daniels), her rich boyfriend; the boyfriend's ex-fiancee, Connie (Cecilia Parker) and her magnate father (Samuel S. Hinds); Mida's spiritualist step-father Ramon (Roman Bohnen); her ex-husband Paul (George Lynn) and her producer Frankie (Tom Conway). Also mixed in are Mida's maid, ex-burlesque singer Pearl Delroy (Connie Gilchrist) and her daughter "Baby" (Betty Wells), Mida's understudy.

[edit] Cast


	Van Heflin as "Rocky" Custer
	Patricia Dane as Mida King
	Cecilia Parker as Constance Furness
	Virginia Grey as Sue Custer
	Samuel S. Hinds as Roger Furness
	Connie Gilchrist as Pearl Delroy
	Tom Conway as Frankie Ciro

Sam Levene as Inspector Gunther
Mark Daniels as David V. Henderson
Stephen McNally as "Turk"
Betty Wells as "Baby" Delroy
George Lynn as Paul Rinehart
Roman Bohnen as Ramon
Millard Mitchell as Detective Arthur Doolin

Cast notes

Stephen McNally made his film debut in Grand Central Murder under the name "Horace McNally".^[1]
Tom Conway is brother to actor George Sanders, and took over the role of "The Falcon" in that film series when his brother left.^[2]
Patricia Dane was married to bandleader Tommy Dorsey. Her career hit the skids in the mid-40s after she told off a MGM executive who was critical of her work.^[3]
Sam Levene, who was the original "Nathan Detroit" in Guys and Dolls on Broadway, often portrayed police investigators who played second-fiddle to private investigators. He perfomed that function several times in the "Thin Man" series.^[4]
Millard Mitchell is best known for playing producer "R.F. Simpson" in Singin' in the Rain.^[5]

[edit] Production

Grand Central Murder is a sequel of sorts to Kid Glove Killer, in which Van Heflin played a similar part.^[6] Donna Reed and Reginald Owen were originally cast in the film, but were replaced.^[1] The film was in production at MGM's studios in Culver City, California from 19 February to 13 March 1942,^[7]^[8] and premiered in New York City on 23 May of that year.^[7]