The League of Frightened Men (1937 film)
| The League of Frightened Men | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alfred E. Green |
| Produced by | Edward Chodorov |
| Written by |
Guy Endore Eugene Solow |
| Based on |
The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout |
| Starring |
Walter Connolly Lionel Stander |
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Release date
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Running time
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71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The League of Frightened Men is a 1937 mystery film based on the second Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout. Directed by Alfred E. Green, the Columbia Pictures film stars Walter Connolly as Nero Wolfe, a role played by Edward Arnold in the previous year's Meet Nero Wolfe. The role of Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin was reprised by Lionel Stander.
Professor Hibbard (Leonard Mudie) requests detective Nero Wolfe's assistance in tracking down the sender of a few sinister letters, which killed two of Hibbard's acquaintances. Prominent author Paul Chapin (Eduardo Ciannelli), who is a cripple, is pinpointed by Wolfe as the culprit. Wolfe rationally deduces that Chapin is out to play payback — decades ago, a prank then-Harvard University scholar Hibbard and a group of chums played on Chapin went awry, causing him to be in his current state. Hibbard shares with Wolfe that his daughter (Irene Hervey) is romantically involved with Chapin's elder brother, Mark (Joseph Allen). With that, he quietly makes a move.
Wolfe arranges for all of Hibbard's surviving Harvard pals to gather at his residence. All agree to, except for taxi driver Pitney Scott (Victor Kilian). Wolfe later learns that the two friends of Hibbard's were experiencing financial difficulties. Meanwhile, Wolfe's partner Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander) is sent to guard Chapin's house. Chapin is also invited to join the meeting at Wolfe's house. Just as he arrives, Dr. Burton (Kenneth Hunter) is shot by a hidden assailant. Wolfe, seeing the direction the shot came from, vouches for Chapin's innocence. Some time later, both Goodwin and Wolfe are captured by Mark, who despises them for initially accusing Chapin of the wrongdoing.
They manage to break free and Inspector Cramer (Edward McNamara) promptly arrests Mark for unlawful kidnapping. Wolfe suddenly cracks the case, after much thought into it. He concludes that Chapin had indeed sent those letters, but they were just meant to frighten the receivers. Instead, the actual murderer of the men is found to be one of Hibbard's friends, banker Ferdinand Bowen (Walter Kingsford). Bowen was the one who told Wolfe about the two men being in debt. In actuality, Bowen had stolen their money and made up the tale himself, as a spot-check on the men's backgrounds showed.
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