New Picture

Nocturne (RKO Radio), featuring George Raft as a deadpan detective, gets by in a superB way, but it will add no gloss to Producer Joan Harrison's shiny reputation (Phantom Lady, Uncle Harry).

The case of the dead composer looks like suicide, but Detective Raft knows better. First, his stubborn talk of murder gets him bounced from the Homicide Squad. Then his continued detecting, without pay, gets him shadowed by a sinister fat man, beaten up, involved with an enigmatic lady (Lynn Bari) and eventually hunted by the cops.

Nocturne has some minor virtues for whodunit addicts who are determined to be frightened. The photography, full of wind, rain and long night shadows, is moodily chilling. There are also some fair sets: a nightclub where much of the plot is unwound looks as small, grubby and unglamorous as most real nightclubs. The movie's chief faults: too little headlong action and too much head scratching about a mystery that is not very mysterious.

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