a5c7b9f00b Reporter Steve Haines (Boyd), on the trail of a business tycoon, follows his subject onto an ocean liner and gets wound up in a cruise full of intrigue, romance and murder. Presented by Winchester Pictures. (An Alpha DVD). Copyright 29 June 1936 by Republic Pictures Corp. No New York opening. U.S. release: 22 October 1936. 7 reels. 65 minutes. <br/><br/>SYNOPSIS: Although described by the TV Feature Film Source Bookan &quot;action western&quot;, this is not a western at all. Instead, Boyd plays a would-be hot-shot newspaper reporter on the trail of an absconding utilities chief/thief.<br/><br/>NOTES: Final screen appearance of Bill Boyd in a role other than Hopalong Cassidy. In fact, Boyd had already starred in no less than seven &quot;Hoppy&quot; entries before Haines was released. <br/><br/>COMMENT: It must have been no less of a surprise to contemporary audiences to find Bill Boyd playing a non-Hoppy role,it is to us. Especiallyhe seems uncomfortable in the part. True, he does improve noticeablythe plot progresses, but this only serves to discomfort the audience even further. For the script turns out to be an odd - but surprisingly agreeable - mixture of musical comedy, light romance and murder mystery. As oftennot, Boyd is the fall guy. But after the opening reel or two, he does handle the comic twists, the romantic banter and the eager helper rather charismatically. <br/><br/>However, the title is a bit of a misnomer. Haines is a go-getter chiefly in his own imagination. In fact, he soon drops his brash manner and reveals himself to be a bit of a softie at heart. Boyd&#39;s rabid fans will undoubtedly be disappointed that he has only one real spurt of action - but it&#39;s an exciting little chase with Bill doing his own stunt-work.<br/><br/> Another, if minor, unsettling feature for Hoppy fans is the somewhat less than flattering way our hero is presented and photographed. It&#39;s Eleanor Hunt (from Whoopee (1930) who captures all the best lighting and angles. True, despite her third billing, she has the most colorful part, plus two or three songs - which she handles delightfully - quite putting Miss Terry in the shade. <br/><br/>LeRoy Mason plays the half-and-half heavy with just the right touch of heartiness, whilst Lloyd Ingrahamthe seemingly too easily persuaded captain, Clarence Gelderta ripe old avuncular actor, Louis Natheauxa most untrustworthily nosy steward, Jimmy Aubreyan invariably put-upon but amiable drunk, and Lee Shumwaythe absconding financier make the most of the many golden opportunities the well-paced, neatly-drawn script hands them. Hilliard is a conventional editor, but his role is happily small.<br/><br/> Most of the film was photographed on board a real ship, with plenty of passengers milling aroundextras. This certainly gives production values a considerable boost. Director Sam Newfield has actually risen to the occasion, turning in such a remarkably polished job (at least by his extremely humble standards) that we have no hesitation in judging Go-Get-&#39;Em Hainesthe best of his output - an output so prolific he was forced to use no less than two pseudonyms (&quot;Sherman Scott&quot; and &quot;Peter Stewart&quot;) to disguise his omni-presence. Despite the unusual title, GO-GET-&#39;EM, HAINES is in fact a murder mystery set on board an ocean liner for most of its running time. It&#39;s notable for starring William Boyd, a later popular TV actor, playing the titular reporter who follows a rich businessman on board a cruise in the hopes of sniffing out a story. Well, he certainly gets one when somebody turns up dead…<br/><br/>Despite Boyd&#39;s likable lead performance, this film is generally unremarkable and feels surprisingly slow given the extra-short running time. Many of the dialogue scenes are quite padded and the more suspenseful and exciting aspects of the narrative are played down rather than up. It&#39;s a pity,in the right hands this could have been a tight little movie along the lines of PURSUIT TO ALGIERS.
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