. . . in this "Doc Crabtree" live action short from the Early 1930s, THE TRANSATLANTIC MYSTERY. Five criminals involved in a jewel heist are portrayed in TRANSATLANTIC, and four of them receive the Death Penalty--from each other! Homage is paid to SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (or its operatic templates), as one crook is done in by a straight razor, with another being defaced by Todd's weapon of choice. Gunshots provide an actual cause of death for two of the quintet, with the group's only female barely ducking a slug herself. However, it's Big Tobacco which gets the last laugh, as a poisoned "Victory Cigarette" (a double oxymoron, if there ever was one) does in the Last Man Standing to conclude this caper. When Big Tobacco paid MGM for one of its featured players to puff like a chimney, the smoke became a glamorous star. Conversely, Warner realized that Big Tobacco was killing millions, so it sacrificed its biggest box office draw--Humphrey Bogart--by making him chain-smoke unfiltered coffin nails on most every shoot he had, which made him a reverse psychology example for America (by way of his early and gruesome demise from lung cancer). While it's true that all men die, Warner used Bogart (and lots of others, including "Dodge" in TRANSATLANTIC) to warn us that smokers die twice as quickly.

This is a short mystery starring Donald Meek as 'Dr. Crabtree'--a guy who investigates crimes. Apparently he made several of these and I am surprised I never heard of them before--especially since I love shorts, mysteries and character actors like Meek, John Hamilton and Ray Collins.The film begins with a guy (Collins) shooting another man. Apparently he and the valet (Walter Kingsford) are in cahoots together and plan of covering up this crime. Why this occurred and the relationship between the two conspirators is uncertain. And, it's up to Crabtree and the police to unravel the mystery.The film is a very quiet film as you watch, as incidental music seems to be missing. This is not uncommon in early talking pictures, though by 1932 I might have thought it would have had this--especially since it was a Warner-Brothers/Vitaphone release--and they were the world's first and best studio when it came to sound. However, I didn't mind this, as it helped to make the short seem more realistic--after all, most of us DON'T have incidental music following us throughout the day! It's also interesting that for a short film, you don't even see the star (Meek) until late in the film. So, that means that Crabtree must do a lot of sleuthing fast! Why is this the case? Well, another killing occurs--this time aboard a ship. So, when it docked, Crabtree and the New York authorities are invited aboard to investigate. While Meek STILL doesn't say or do that much, his brilliant insights naturally lead to a swift apprehension of the malefactors responsible for the crimes (ooo, I love that word and haven't had a chance to use it in a while).Despite its short running time, this is a pretty entertain little film. Not great but well wroth seeing if you like old fashioned short films and mysteries. Good acting but I would have liked to see this stretched out to B-movie length--it was a bit too rushed.When you watch this film, keep a sharp eye out for familiar character actor Ray Collins. For once, he's NOT a white-haired old guy but dark-haired and with a goatee! I almost didn't recognize him. It helped later after he shaved off the beard--but he still looked so different from the familiar face you'll see quite often in the 1940s and 50s.

These Warner Vitaphone shorts seemed to be hastily put together crime stories involving Dr. Crabtree (DONALD MEEK) and Inspector Carr (JOHN HAMILTON) and the doctor's ability to seize upon small clues and make sense of them.The story is poorly paced within its 22 minute time frame. The dialog is flat, the direction uninspired, and the way in which Dr. Crabtree deducts the truth is totally unbelievable.This one is about some diamond jewel thieves aboard ship enroute to New York. RAY COLLINS plays one of the crime partners who is murdered. Crabtree is able to pin the murder on the correct suspect by means which are highly suspect.Very dated, very poorly produced and even a good character actor like Donald Meek is unable to be convincing.

Trans-Atlantic Mystery, The (1932) ** 1/2 (out of 4) This time out the story starts off in London as some famous jewels have been stolen. The criminal is double crossed and killed making room for his partner to jump on a ship to New York City. Soon he too is murdered and this is when Dr. Crabtree (Donald Meek) and Insp. Carr (John Hamilton) are brought in. This is another winning entry in the series even though the ending is pretty predictable. It's not too hard to figure out who the killer is even though only two red herrings are brought on. The movie features Meek and Hamilton turning in good performance, although their characters aren't brought in until the half-way point of the film. The direction is pretty bland from start to finish and there certainly isn't any technical brilliance to be spotted but the movie goes along at a good pace and fans of crime films will want to check it out.