Being a big fan of the Michael Shayne mysteries, my eyes glazed over when I heard about the MICHAEL SHAYNE MYSTERIES: VOLUME 1 DVD set. My expectations were surpassed in a huge way, as 20th Century Fox did a totally unexpected, top-notch job on films for such a niche audience. Not only did Fox do a great clean-up – restoration examples are provided for each of the four flicks – but they packed the discs with some great extras.

Now, if you’ve read Brett Halliday’s books and you’re expecting all the sex and violence that went along with them, I’m sorry to report the movies are pretty prude, having been made in the 1940s. They also make Shayne – played by Lloyd Nolan throughout, giving it his all – a more lovable type of detective, like Sam Spade with a big helping of Nick Charles. But these films are just a blast for any mystery fan.

First up is the aptly titled MICHAEL SHAYNE: PRIVATE DETECTIVE, the only one directly based on a Halliday book. Shayne is hired to babysit an heiress while her father is out of town, since the young lady tends to run with the bad element. Shayne aims to scare her out of it, but things don’t go so smoothly

Shayne sets up her errant boyfriend by drugging him with a mickey, then uses a bottle of ketchup to make it look like he was shot. But once Shayne brings the girl to the setup, it turns out someone has killed the man for real. The movie is played for laughs with lots of bumbling cops, contrasting with Shayne as the man with all the answers. This is a fun ride in the world of Halliday.

The second film in the collection is the Halliday-like whodunit THE MAN WHO WOULDN’T DIE, with Shayne needing to act like a newlywed husband for a woman he knows. The night before, someone took a shot at her while she was in bed. She claims it was a ghost, so Shayne again plays the coyish type (and Nolan looks like he is having a blast).

The suspect behind the mysterious bullet seems to be a man who is actually dead. It’s pretty straightforward, with some of Shayne’s pals feeding him all the clues he needs. Again, you get the dopey cop – this time a chief of police from upstate New York. Too bad the disc’s scene selection card gives away the culprit. That’s a big no-no, Fox!

Third in the collection is SLEEPERS WEST, all of which takes place on a train where everyone seems to be there for differing reasons that later tie together. Shayne is present to escort a witness to a case that will clear the name of a man called Callahan.

There’s also a female reporter friend of Shayne’s hot on the trail for a big scoop, hoping for Shayne’s cooperatipn; the reporter’s fiance, being pressured to find the witness himself; and a man running away from his family with a suitcase filled with cash, leading us to porters so stereotyped, it’s not even comical.

But again, this was made in the ’40s, when that type of prejudice was commonplace. I mean, I was expecting one of the porters to say, “Feet, don’t fail me now!” That aside, with a lot of mistaken identity and a detective who has the wrong idea, you get yourself a fine little film, even if it’s not really a mystery per se.

Finally, there’s BLUE, WHITE AND PERFECT, based on the novel of the same name that pits Shayne against German diamond smugglers. This film is very much of its time, taking place during the war years, with everyone being on the lookout for saboteurs and spies.

This time out, Shayne closely resembles a FLETCH-like character, assuming new identities throughout the film. Meanwhile, his girlfriend wants him to settle down, so he starts working for an aircraft firm, one which has been robbed of its industrial diamonds.

Naturally, this leads Shayne to follow the smugglers on a cruise, where we meet George Reeves, an actor most of us only know as the original Superman. The story flies by with a nod and wink, with Shayne coming out on top at the end. Of course the good guys are going to win; it’s a wartime effort!

The extras are where this set really shines, in my opinion, since each disc has its own special feature. The first one is the featurette “The Detective Who Never Dies,” a brief history of Mike Shayne and the man who created him: Brett Halliday, aka Davis Dresser. Sporting interviews with Dresser’s widow, Otto Penzler and others, the piece goes through the books and how they evolved, showing that Shayne was just a normal guy who happened to be a detective. It also touches on how Shayne has still been popular with Dresser’s wife, thus raising the story of how KISS KISS BANG BANG wanted to use a Shayne story, but no Shayne.

Next up is seven minutes of bliss for any paperback fan: a conversation with the legendary cover artist Robert McGinnis. He describes his process as we watch him paint and see samples of his artwork. This alone made my day since I’m a huge McGinnis fan.

There’s a trivia game called “Follow That Lead,” which shows how some actors have ties to others in the series and other detective films of the era. Finally, we get “Nabbing Crooks the Mike Shayne Way, which is more interviews from the initial featurette, but this time showcasing moments in the film and describing how Shayne was unlike other detectives of the time. As an added bonus, the package comes with an informative booklet comparing the Shayne books and films.

Fox really did pulp fans a favor by making these all-but-forgotten films available. They could’ve just dumped them as some budget release, but instead they admirably took time and effort to do it right. Just as Shayne’s paperback adventures are mainstays of my bookshelf, MICHAEL SHAYNE MYSTERIES will be spinning in my player for a long time to come. –Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BODIES ARE WHERE YOU FIND THEM by Brett Halliday
• COUNT BACKWARDS TO ZERO by Brett Halliday
• GUILTY AS HELL by Brett Halliday
• NEVER KILL A CLIENT by Brett Halliday
• TARGET: MIKE SHAYNE by Brett Halliday

OTHER RECENT BOOKS 2 FILM REVIEWS:
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 2 – Rough Magik
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 3 – Out of Mind
• BOOKS 2 FILM >> Silver Bullet