Review of Detective Story (1951) by Martin T — 27 Sep 2009

Something of a precursor to "Barney Miller" and "Hill Street Blues". It's quite obviously a stage adaptation, and like The Children's Hour, one wonders how much Wyler watered down the subject matter for Hollywood.

I suspect that Dr. Schneider's crimes were originally meant to be illegal abortions. The real-time (or close to it) telling of the story doesn't quite work here. Too much exposition, too much rapid character development.

But it was okay in some ways. The comic bits worked well.