Miracles for Sale

Miracles for Sale
Miracles for Sale
	Film poster
Directed by	Tod Browning
Screenplay by	Harry Ruskin; Marion Parsonnet; James Edward Grant
Based on	Death from a Top Hat; by ; Clayton Rawson
Produced by	J.J. Cohn
Starring	Robert Young; Florence Rice
Cinematography	Charles Lawton Jr.
Edited by	Fredrick Y. Smith
Music by	William Axt
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	August 14, 1939;
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Miracles for Sale is a 1939 American mystery film directed by Tod Browning, and starring Robert Young and Florence Rice. It was Browning's final film as a director.^[1] The film is based on a locked-room mystery novel by well-known mystery writer Clayton Rawson, Death from a Top Hat, which was the first to feature his series detective The Great Merlini. In this film, Merlini's character has been changed into Michael Morgan (The Amazing Morgan) as portrayed by Robert Young. Don Diavolo, another series character in Rawson's work under his pseudonym, Stuart Towne, appears here as Dave Duvallo.

Plot[edit]

In the late 1930s, inactive New York magician Michael "Mike" Morgan (aka "The Amazing Morgan") exposes fraudulent magicians and psychics who prey on the unsuspecting. When demonologist Dr. Sabbat is mysteriously murdered, Mike assists the police in developing suspects which include Tauro and Dave Duvallo - two magicians last seen with Sabbat; a couple named La Claire who perform tricks by telepathy; a psychic named Madame Rapport; and, a young lady named Judy Barkley who is in New York to prevent Madame Rapport from claiming a $25,000 prize offered by a local psychic association.

Cast[edit]

Robert Young as Michael 'Mike' Morgan
Florence Rice as Judy Barclay
Frank Craven as Dad Morgan
Henry Hull as Dave Duvallo
Lee Bowman as Mr. Al La Claire
Cliff Clark as Police Inspector Marty Gavigan
Astrid Allwyn as Mrs. Zelma La Claire
Walter Kingsford as Colonel Herbert Watrous
Frederick Worlock as Dr. Caesar Sabbatt (Credits) / Sabbat in Film (as Frederic Worlock)
Gloria Holden as Madame Rapport
William Demarest as Detective Quinn
Harold Minjir as Tauro

References[edit]

^ Nugent, Frank S. (August 10, 1939). "Miracles for Sale (1939) THE SCREEN; Murder in Magicians' Row Is the Theme of 'Miracles for Sale,' the New Mystery at the Criterion". The New York Times.

External links[edit]

Miracles for Sale at IMDb
Miracles for Sale at AllMovie
Miracles for Sale at the TCM Movie Database
Miracles for Sale at the American Film Institute Catalog

[1] Nugent, Frank S. (August 10, 1939). "Miracles for Sale (1939) THE SCREEN; Murder in Magicians' Row Is the Theme of 'Miracles for Sale,' the New Mystery at the Criterion". The New York Times.

[1]

v t e Films directed by Tod Browning
1910s	The Lucky Transfer (1915) The Slave Girl (1915) An Image of the Past (1915) The Highbinders (1915) The Story of a Story (1915) The Spell of the Poppy (1915) The Electric Alarm (1915) The Living Death (1915) The Burned Hand (1915) The Woman from Warren's (1915) Little Marie (1915) The Fatal Glass of Beer (1916) Everybody's Doing It (1916) Puppets (1916) Jim Bludso (1917) A Love Sublime (1917) Hands Up! (1917) Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp (1917) The Jury of Fate (1917) The Legion of Death (1918) The Eyes of Mystery (1918) Revenge (1918) Which Woman? (1918) The Deciding Kiss (1918) The Brazen Beauty (1918) Set Free (1918) The Wicked Darling (1919) The Exquisite Thief (1919) The Unpainted Woman (1919) The Petal on the Current (1919) Bonnie, Bonnie Lassie (1919)
1920s	The Virgin of Stamboul (1920) Outside the Law (1920) No Woman Knows (1921) The Wise Kid (1922) Man Under Cover (1922) Under Two Flags (1922) Drifting (1923) The Day of Faith (1923) White Tiger (1923) The Dangerous Flirt (1924) Silk Stocking Sal (1924) The Unholy Three (1925) The Mystic (1925) Dollar Down (1925) The Blackbird (1926) The Road to Mandalay (1926) The Show (1927) The Unknown (1927) London After Midnight (1927) The Big City (1928) West of Zanzibar (1928) Where East Is East (1929) The Thirteenth Chair (1929)
1930s	Outside the Law (1930) Dracula (1931) Iron Man (1931) Freaks (1932) Fast Workers (1933) Mark of the Vampire (1935) The Devil-Doll (1936) Miracles for Sale (1939)