Okay, I think that I missed this: who killed Phil Byrnes, a.k.a. Ralph West???
It wasn't Dancer? The only person to be arrested by the end of the story was David Graham (Jimmy Stewart). Did David Graham also kill Polly's "brother", or former husband, Phil Byrnes, a.k.a. Ralph West??
Looks like David (James Stewart) killed Robert and wanted to blame Selma for the murder. He hated her because she threw him over for Robert. He killed a few others too so he could cover his tracks. Uh Oh!!! Nora is knitting a bootie, end of film! Just noticed how gorgeous William Powell's eyes are.
shareDavid was being blackmailed by Phil/Ralph and that's why David killed him. Remember, Polly said he had been in prison for blackmail. Phil had been following Robert from the club and saw David kill him. That's why he followed David to his apartment and Nora saw him out the window.
"Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency."
Did anyone recognize the actor who played Phil Byrnes/Ralph West? It's a young Paul Fix, who went on much later to play Micah Torrance, the Marshal friend of Lucas McCain (Chuck Connors) on The Rifleman. He played the grandfather of the homicidal little girl in The Bad Seed, and many more movies. Great character actor.
"What do you say we have a picnic?" - Ingrid Bergman (an inebriated Alicia, after just meeting Dev)Cary Grant in Notorious.
Hey, I've The Bad Seed in my queue of films to watch - I'll keep an eye out for Paul Fix! Thanks!
shareYou're very welcome! That movie is unbelievable, really well made. You'll enjoy it. Paul Fix is a lot older in The Bad Seed than he was in After the Thin Man. I never even recognized him. I saw his name in the cast members list for After the Thin Man and was so surprised. He happens to be one of my favorite character actors. He is so much better looking when he got older. I guess it would be about 20 years after he did the Thin Man movie. Let me know how you liked The Bad Seed and what you thought of Paul Fix.
When I was a little girl, my older sister used to always say that I looked like the "little girl who kills people in The Bad Seed!" I could have 'killed' her for saying that!Lol! But she was bigger than me!Lol! Take care and thanks for your reply!
David killed Polly's husband because he saw David shoot Robert. He tried to blackmail David and was why he was on David's fire escape.
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."
-Dennis
Fix was also the original medical officer of the USS Enterprise on "Star Trek".
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