The Case of the Shanghaied Songbird

It's 1954 Melbourne and Private Investigator Frank Drennan is a shadow of a once successful detective. A case arrives at his office and with his reluctance, it will take him into a world of sultry jazz club singers, surreal dreams, a mysterious comet and a sleeping beauty. All to solve The Case of the Shanghaied Songbird. This 2019 short film pays tribute to the classic film noir movies and radio detective shows from the time and uses a similar language style to the early hardboiled Private Eye novels. The ‘Cynical Sleuth’ is played by Australian actor Jack Campbell and within this unconventional case his character is lead not only to solve the case, but to face his own existential torment. The film has an otherwise almost female cast and features a live song performance by the wonderful Zelia Rose. (Noir Film Festival)