The Westland Case (1937)
Directed by Christy Cabanne and based on Jonathan Latimer’s novel Headed for a Hearse, The Westland Case is a brisk, 62-minute murder mystery that launched Universal’s short-lived but stylish Crime Club series. With a locked-room murder, a ticking clock, and a wisecracking detective duo, it’s a classic example of 1930s pulp brought to life on screen.
Plot Summary
Robert Westland (Theodore von Eltz) is on death row, convicted of murdering his wife in a locked room. With only six days left to live, he receives an anonymous note promising to prove his innocence. Enter Detective Bill Crane (Preston Foster) and his sardonic sidekick Doc Williams (Frank Jenks), who dive into the case.
As Crane investigates, every promising lead ends in another corpse. The mystery deepens around the missing gun, the two keys to the locked room, and a cast of shady suspects. The film builds to a tense unraveling of the truth, with Crane racing against time to save Westland from the gallows.
Cast Highlights
- Preston Foster as Bill Crane
- Frank Jenks as Doc Williams
- Theodore von Eltz as Robert Westland
- Carol Hughes as Emily Lou Martin
- Barbara Pepper as Agatha Hogan (noted for her Mae West–style performance)
- Clarence Wilson, George Meeker, Russell Hicks, and Ward Bond in supporting roles
Behind-the-Scenes Trivia
- This was the first of Universal’s Crime Club mysteries, a series of B-pictures adapted from pulp novels
- The film was based on Latimer’s novel Headed for a Hearse, which introduced the Crane-Williams detective duo
- Barbara Pepper’s brief performance as Agatha Hogan was praised for her uncanny imitation of Mae West—a standout moment around the 25-minute mark
- The film was televised as early as December 2, 1946, on New York’s DuMont station WABD, making it one of the first major studio films aired postwar
- Later broadcasts occurred in cities like Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, San Francisco, and Albuquerque, between 1947 and 1949
