Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

gavin6942 Detective Michael Shayne (Lloyd Nolan) boards a Hawaii-bound ocean liner on the trail of stolen industrial diamonds and a Nazi smuggling ring.I have never heard of the Michael Shayne series, and I know by starting here I am jumping in the middle. Hopefully I didn't miss much, but the story still makes plenty of sense. And actually, it is really, really good. I get the feeling this was something of a B-picture, but today (2017) it feels more fun and fresh than some of the A-pictures of the time.It serves as an interesting blend of detective fiction and spycraft, and has the interesting distinction of being set at least partially in Hawaii. As I understand it, the film was released in 1942 but was probably filmed in 1941... thus they had no idea just how crucial Hawaii would be to the World War II story. In fact, if this was filmed prior to Pearl harbor, America was not technically even in the war yet!

mark.waltz Michael Shane takes on Nazi spies in the fourth entry of this comedy mystery series which moves very quickly but contains far too many characters, red herrings and confusing loopholes. The entertainment value doesn't come from the story itself but from the witty screenplay and the way that Nolan and Mary Beth Hughes play off of each other. I found it to be at times to be too convoluted to follow and while the adventure scenes are exciting, too much seems to be happening at once. Even knowing when this was made. Nolan and Hughes seem to be having a very good time in the making of this film, but the way that the script moves the plot along makes it more irritating and hard to get though. However, if you can stand to watch this several times, you may begin to understand what the plot is all about. I've seen enough of these war movies to know what works and what is filled with unbelievable plot devices, and this seems to be more of the later than the former.

GManfred All in all, this was a good series - better than average, all things considered. Plots, production values, supporting casts all top-of-the-line. Lloyd Nolan is an excellent detective hero as the charismatic Mike Shayne. Funny how Nolan acts and sounds like a New Yorker, even though he was from the West Coast. Here he is involved in a wartime espionage story involving Nazis, but they aren't as big a part of the plot as they could be a couple of years later.It's a good mystery, well written and you won't guess the murderer. But I thought it was interesting to note the bag tag on the steamer trunk that a reviewer alluded to. It says Honolulu - Dec. 6, 1941, the day before Pearl Harbor. I have to think it was just chance that this date was used, because the film was released in Jan. 1942 - but it had to have been made 6-8 months previous, so I don't think there was any intent to be sensational here (unless I misread the reviewer's comments).Anyway, this is a good, worthwhile show in a noteworthy series. But I still think the last one, "Just Off Broadway" (1945), is the best.

MartinHafer The Michael Shayne series is unusual in that the first film was probably the worst of the films starring Lloyd Nolan. After a somewhat disappointing start, they tended to get better.BLUE, WHITE AND PERFECT, like most of the series, was made during WWII, so it's not surprising that the patriotism and Nazi angle was used. The film begins with Mike taking a job as a detective in an aircraft plant. No sooner than he's hired, there's a robbery and an important shipment of industrial diamonds is stolen. I love how with detectives in film and TV how the minute they show up, a crime is committed--it's convenient that way! Mike goes undercover and assumes a couple different aliases until finally the trail takes him to a cruise ship headed for Honolulu. Once on board the ship, he meets an old girlfriend and the oddly named Juan Arturo O'Hara (George Reeves). Naturally there is an attempt made on Shayne's life and O'Hara is shot. He turns out to be a government agent and will survive, but now it's up to Shayne alone to follow the trail.The film has a nice pace, decent acting (for a B-detective series) and doesn't go too far on the silly Nazi angle (instead letting the mystery itself be the focus, not stereotypical snarling Nazis). While not the best of the B-series, the Shayne films rank up there with such films as The Saint and Falcon for entertainment and enjoyability. The only negative I could see was Shayne's relationship with the blonde. She was certifiably insane and took to throwing stuff and behaving rather unhinged. This was supposed to be comic relief but just tended to interfere with the seriousness of the plot. Still, well worth seeing.