The League of Frightened Men

Members of the Harvard Club are convinced that one of their own is out to get them all after two deaths in their circle have occurred. Another disappears and is presumed dead. So some of the remainder want Nero Wolfe to find a case against a disabled novelist called Chapin who they believe is the murderer. They were responsible for Chapin's disability after a student prank had gone wrong 19 years earlier and feel that his bitterness over that is the motivation.

Wolfe takes on the case and names his own exorbitant terms as usual. He proceeds to read all the mystery novels that Chapin has written searching for clues regarding Chapin's mindset. Chapin gets arrested after a third murder occurs. The action involves the retrieval of a typewriter that has tell-tale signs among it's keys.

This film plays down a lot of the characteristic Nero Wolfe foibles. He's quite willing to go out more and do his own legwork instead of relying on his sidekick Goodwin all the time. The first Columbia Nero Wolfe mystery with Edward Arnold had made the character more housebound. I like Walter Connolly as Wolfe in this as he has something of the detective in his screen presence. He had already played Father Brown onscreen and was to play Charlie Chan on radio.