From Headquarters

Playboy and ne'er-do-well Gordon Bates is dead, that's for sure. But whodunit? That's not so sure. There are suspects aplenty. So From Headquarters comes the army of crime specialists -- toxicologists, fingerprint experts, ballistic experts, technicians running data-card tabulations on Hollerith machines and, for good measure, authorities on the use of invisible ink -- that know the howdunit can point to the who. George Brent and Eugene Pallette portray the lead crime dogs in this swift sniff-out of a killer that sifts through murderous means and motives at an engagingly pell-mell pace. William Dieterle (A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Hunchback of Notre Dame), on his way to A-list prominence, directs with great visual hubbub and flourish.

• drama