Art expert Pat O'Brien escapes a train wreck and then deliriously breaks into the museum where he works. His memory is shaky. Is he cracking up--or does somebody just want him to think he is?
Confused but convinced he's not nuts, O'Brien sets out to investigate. He takes another train ride and gradually uncovers dirty work involving the fate of art masterpieces that had been stolen in the war and begun gradually turning up again--as forged copies.
O'Brien is almost the whole show here but an interesting supporting cast helps out. Wallace Ford is a grim and tight-lipped police lieutenant. Claire Trevor writes for an art magazine and hangs out with O'Brien some evenings. Herbert Marshall is a visiting art authority--like O'Brien, he has experience retrieving stolen paintings and exposing forgeries. These three all appear to have O'Brien's best interests at heart but they may not be telling him all that they know.
The story keeps us guessing but O'Brien is assisted more than once by luck or coincidence--so the plot doesn't quite work. The suspense builds nicely, though, to an exciting final sequence.
Confused but convinced he's not nuts, O'Brien sets out to investigate. He takes another train ride and gradually uncovers dirty work involving the fate of art masterpieces that had been stolen in the war and begun gradually turning up again--as forged copies.
O'Brien is almost the whole show here but an interesting supporting cast helps out. Wallace Ford is a grim and tight-lipped police lieutenant. Claire Trevor writes for an art magazine and hangs out with O'Brien some evenings. Herbert Marshall is a visiting art authority--like O'Brien, he has experience retrieving stolen paintings and exposing forgeries. These three all appear to have O'Brien's best interests at heart but they may not be telling him all that they know.
The story keeps us guessing but O'Brien is assisted more than once by luck or coincidence--so the plot doesn't quite work. The suspense builds nicely, though, to an exciting final sequence.