They Met in a Taxi (1936)
J.T.M.
Published: September 7, 1936
Without wishing to appear soft where Hollywood's double-feature factories are concerned, this reviewer feels compelled to give one or two very short cheers in regard to the Globe's current quickie, "They Met in a Taxi."
One cheer is for the rubicund Raymond Walburn and the other belongs to the beetle-browed Lionel Stander. With some nicely written dialogue at their disposal, Mr. Stander's tuba-tongued argot achieves a pleasing balance with the nicely phrased nonsense of Mr. Walburn. They almost make one forget that "They Met in a Taxi" is just another typical Chester Morris vehicle, with Mr. Morris (thanks to unimaginative casting directors) again portraying the rough guy who wishes the women would let him alone, while Miss Fay Wray is exerting all her archness to win him over.
Mr. Morris is a cab driver, and Miss Wray is a model who escapes in Mr. Morris's cab from a very nasty situation involving a missing string of pearls. Mr. Walburn is a society reporter who has been chronicling some forthcoming nuptial matters in the very apartment from which the pearls disappear. Mr. Stander is another taxi driver, a reformed dip, who keeps in shape by picking the pockets of his friends.
The problem is to clear the young lady of suspicion, which is rather tough, because a string of pearls very like the missing ones is found in the folds of the wedding dress that she has been displaying. They turn out to be imitations, of course, and from then on Mr. Walburn turns detective, and traps the real culprit. Miss Wray traps Mr. Morris at about the same time, and then Mr. Walburn picks Mr. Stander's pocket, just to be versatile, and there's an end to matters.
THEY MET IN A TAXI, from a story by Octavus Roy Cohen; screen play by Howard J. Green; directed by Alfred E. Green; a Columbia Production.
Jimmy . . . . . Chester Morris
Mary . . . . . Fay Wray
Fingers . . . . . Lionel Stander
Clifton . . . . . Raymond Walburn
Stewart . . . . . Henry Mollison
Andrews . . . . . Kenneth Harlan
