the death kiss (1932)

"Why not pin the murder on the murderer, of it's not against the rules."
An actor filming a death scene is actually murdered during the take. As the suspects mount up including studio manager Joseph Steiner (Bela Lugosi), Detective Sheehan (John Wray) has to unravel the clues, but is clueless, so its up to writer Franklyn Drew (David Manners) to actually do the gumshoeing.
A tantalising murder mystery.

johnny angel (1945)

"There are two things I've not had enough of in this life, money and you Johnny."
Capt. Johnny Angel (George Raft) boards a deserted ship, where there have been signs of a struggle. It is his father's vessel, and the only clue is a French newspaper and a woman's shoe. With these Johnny hopes to find out who killed his father, and heads for the French Quarter of New Orleans on the trail of a new girl in town (Signe Hasso), taken there by quirky cabbie cabbie Celestial O'Brien (Hoagy Carmichael), who always seems to be around to pick up a fair.
A curious miss-mash of a detective story, that suffers from the casting of Raft, as he underplays the part of the vengeful son.