Chasing Trouble (1940)

Directed by: Howard Bretherton Jimmy O’Brien (Frankie Darro) and Thomas Jefferson (Mantan Moreland) are flower deliverers for Rose Florists, and Jimmy, also an amateur handwriting analyst, has a problem. A certain John Henderson is sending flowers to the gorgeous Susie Kerry (Marjorie Reynolds) on a regular basis, and Susie, and Jimmy do not approve. He has analyzed Henderson’s handwriting and written him off as being womanish and unfit to marry a girl like Susie. He loses no time in telling her so. In the process, he discovers that Susie has been sending flowers to herself because she is lonely - and also that she is now jobless. Upon arrival, Jimmy discovers from a handwriting sample that ‘Bill Jones’ and Fred Morgan are one and the same persons. Next, it turns out that Phyllis Benton has been brutally murdered. From here on, mystery is rife. Morgan claims to be a G-Man working undercover to trace international spies, of which the murdered woman is supposed to be one. He ‘deputizes’ the highly enthusiastic Jimmy to be his assistant. Meanwhile, Callahan (Milburn Stone), a reporter for the Star Dispatch, is tracing down a network of foreign saboteurs and has begun making some connections of his own. Runtime: 64 min