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Absolutely Brilliant!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

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

Suave newspaper editor Melvyn Douglas proudly runs the Guardian, a noble institution that has served the public for 75 years. But look out—tabloid owner Douglas Dumbrille has just purchased the Guardian and intends to kill it to increase his own rag's circulation. Seems like a serious newspaper melodrama....But the picture quickly morphs into a detective story when sharp- eyed Douglas stumbles on a $100 bill that he recognizes as a marked bill used as ransom money in a recent high profile kidnapping case. He sets out to trace the bill's journey, hoping it will lead him to the kidnappers.The search for the bill leads Douglas through an interesting series of vignettes….Each clue he follows leads him to a new stop where his visit has a strange and surprising effect (an imminent wedding is abruptly called off, for example). A post-funeral family gathering is the film's most somber and serious moment.Douglas also manages to connect with schoolteacher Louise Platt, who witnessed the kidnapping. Although the police have her school pretty well surrounded specifically for her protection, clever Douglas manages not only to sneak into the school and find her, but to talk her into sneaking out with him to go chase the crooks….Okay, so it gets a little far-fetched at times. However, despite some silliness the picture is not only entertaining but fascinating—even if it's not particularly good or believable, somehow you care what happens. Melvyn Douglas and Louise Platt are both easy to watch, and the supporting cast is full of fine performances from MGM's great roster of character actors.

A rather unrealistic happy ending prevents me from giving Tell No Tales a higher rating. A lot of the plot premises of this film can be found in the Humphrey Bogart classic Deadline,USA, but that one was far more true to life.Melvyn Douglas is the editor of a respectable paper that has been bought by a Rupert Murdoch like publisher played by Douglass Dumbrille who wants to just close the paper. Well if they got to close the paper Douglas edits will go down in a blaze of glory.A kidnapping that has been sensationalized in Dumbrille's paper and the main witness Louise Platt has become a target because of it is what Douglas uses as his cause. The editor turns detective and of course finds out who the kidnappers were. It's a rather methodical process that puts him into contact with all kinds of people. Back in the 30s kidnapping was a hot issue because of the Lindbergh case and a lot of films were made on the subject.Besides those mentioned look for a good performance by Gene Lockhart as a gambling house proprietor. It's not quite the usual Gene Lockhart role.To bad a lousy ending spoiled a good B film from MGM. There B films could have been A products at other studios.

Melvin Douglas stars in the 1939 B movie, Tell No Tales.Douglas plays Michael Cassidy, who is the editor of a newspaper whom he's told is about to close its doors. In the meantime, a rag has been sensationalizing a kidnapping; a witness (Louise Platt) is being kept a virtual prisoner at the school where she teaches. While Mike is having a drink in his usual bar, the bartender checks a list and realizes that he has one of the bills the kidnappers received. This gives Mike the idea of tracking down and catching the kidnapper himself and giving his newspaper a great final issue.I often wonder how Melvin Douglas must have felt, breezing his way through one film after another, possibly knowing that he was one of the finest actors of the century. It was a talent he wouldn't be able to show until he was an old man, but when he did, one saw how wasted he had been all those years. He's wonderful here in a spirited performance.It was nice to see Mantan Moreland and Theresa Harris in this film, as they were two black actors deserving of more recognition. Moreland is probably best remembered as Birmingham, Charlie Chan's chauffeur. He had a friendly face and an enormous comic talent. Theresa Harris for some reason had better roles in precode films than she did later on. I suppose in a way this is a film about wasted talent - Moreland and Harris, a beautiful and sexy woman, were victims of their time and Douglas was in a groove from which he did not escape until much later.Good movie with some very good performances.

This remarkable little action-drama follows newspaper editor Melvyn Douglas as he traces back the ownership of a $100 bill, used as ransom money in a notorious kidnapping case, from hand to hand. The clever premise is absorbing in itself, but also serves as an excuse for a series of dramatically charged vignettes revealing the complex lives of a myriad of well-drawn, idiosyncratic characters, as the investigation descends the social scale. Director Leslie Fenton packs a wealth of detail into the 60-plus minute running time, keeping the camera and actors moving at all times, but knowing when to pause for effect. Many have remarked on the moving sequence of a black boxer's wake (surprisingly dignified and emotional for the time), but just as stunning is the chilling look of murderous intent in the ancient Halliwell Hobbes's eyes as he learns that his much younger wife is being unfaithful. The cast is filled with veteran bit players (including Mantan Moreland in a don't-blink cameo), there are a few nice comic touches, and the small-city newspaper office scenes are authentic looking. By the way, Seinfeld fans should note that Douglas must have been the original "close talker" as he blusters about imposing himself on people's lives.