Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

CCsito This movie includes the first significant starring role for James Stewart who has a supporting part as a newspaper reporter. The main focus of the movie is on Spencer Tracy who is the ace reporter for the New York Star newspaper who is good at reporting on murder cases. The movie starts off with a scene that involves two rather shady money financiers. You need to pay attention to what happens at the start because it is crucial to explaining the conclusion of the movie's storyline. The story involves a murder of one of the shady financiers and the trial of his partner for his murder. Spencer's character appears to have the jump on all of the other newspaper reporters when the headline news comes out during the murder trial. The trial ends with the conviction of the partner and he is sentenced to die. The movie then has a twist that turns the storyline completely in a different direction. Spencer's character makes a voice recording that explains the events that occurred at the start of the movie. Spencer plays a somewhat "bad" character which differs from his many other movie roles in this film. There also wasn't a final conclusion at the end of this movie, so it might leave some viewers disappointed. However, it was a very interesting movie with a surprise twist at the end.

MartinHafer This is an exceptional little film due to an excellent script. Spencer Tracy stars as an alcoholic newspaper man who specializes in covering murder investigations. His ability to guess what occurred and how it occurred is amazing--as again and again he's able to piece together the little it of evidence they have to determine the facts of the case. As a result, he always beats out the competing papers for breaks in the investigation. However, Spencer actually has a bit of an edge in this particular case, but I don't want to say more as it would spoil the film.The writing, acting and direction are all exceptional and the film is well worth seeing. Overall, an excellent effort by Tracy playing a role VERY close to home, as he himself was an alcoholic and binge drinker in real life--just like the character in the film. Also, look for a very young Jimmy Stewart in a rather bland supporting role before he became a star.

CitizenCaine The Murder Man is one of several newspaper films from the 1930's that ran the gamut of dramatic to comedic, like The Front Page and His Girl Friday respectively. What it has in common with both is its lightning quick pace and snappy dialog. What it lacks is a believable story and compelling, well drawn characters. Spencer Tracy plays Steve Grey, the murder man, so named because he handles all of the Star newspaper's homicide stories. Tracy played this hard-bitten, dramatic type of role well throughout his career, and this film is no exception. Lionel Atwill is on hand as a police official in an unusual good guy role for him. Virginia Bruce plays an unusually unglamorous role for her, that of Tracy's newspaper co-worker. The film contains a few welcome supporting performances from William Demarest, Lucien Littlefield, and a guy by the name of James Stewart (in his feature film debut). The film rests solely on Tracy's performance to carry it, and he does to a certain extent. However, the twist ending is not that believable and seems almost abrupt. In retrospect, everything in the film leading up to the ending seems contrived. It's still worth viewing for an early Tracy performance and Stewart's debut. **1/2 of 4 stars.

edward wilgar I predict that when junk like Big Brother and The Weakest Link are gone and forgotten from our TV screens movies of the vintage and caliber of `The Murder Man' will still be providing us with superb entertainment.I love these old thirties `Newspaper dramas' which probably culminated with the sublime `His Girl Friday' and this one stands up well despite lack of realism. Did New York papers really produce fresh editions all day long? Come to think of it perhaps they did in the days pre-TV.I agree with the many judges who rate Spencer Tracy one of the greatest of all screen actors but feel he goes a bit over the top here, he certainly reined in his performances later. On the other hand James Stewart in his debut (?) appears fully formed with all the shy gawky charm which made him a star for the next fifty years already apparent.`The Murder Man' is an excellent fast-moving film with a twist in the plot that I challenge you to pick. See this one if you can.