Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Not a Davis vehicle, since she only appears halfway through, playing a girl wanted for murder. Based on a book by former police captain John Ayres, it cross-breeds an attempt to document the range of work covered by the NY Missing Persons Bureau (a number of unconnected cases are developed in parallel) and a healthily cynical vein of macabre humour. With Del Ruth directing at screwball pace, things sometimes get a little too jokey; but at its best, in noting the obsessive quirks developed by officers, it has some claim to be considered an ancestor of Hill Street Blues.Author: TM
Cast & crew
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Bette Davis, Lewis Stone, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Hugh Herbert, Ruth Donnelly, Alan Dinehart full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 74 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
A holiday guide to movie dystopias
‘Going anywhere nice this summer, sir?’ To celebrate the release of Pixar’s sublime post-apocalyptic robo-romance ‘Wall-E’, Time Out offers a tour guide of the best future worlds in film
Eddie Murphy's Crimes Against Cinema
We all remember the comic highs of 'Beverly Hills Cop' and 'Bowfinger', but Eddie Murphy has been in a fair few stinkers as well. Time Out to presents a handy rundown of his ten darkest cinematic hours...
Olly Blackburn meets Nic Roeg
Nic Roeg is the director of ‘Performance’, ‘Don’t Look Now’ and, most recently, ‘Puffball’. Olly Blackburn is the man behind ‘Donkey Punch’, a thriller about a holiday gone wrong. We sent Olly to meet his legendary colleague
The nine rules of ’80s fantasy
Unpack the VCR and fire up the soda stream as Time Out celebrates a golden age of Hollywood family filmmaking






What do you think?
Post your review now