Hugh Beaumont & Trudy Marshall in "Too Many Winners" (1947)

A mysterious stranger arrives at the office Private detective Michael Shayne (Hugh Beaumont) and his girlfriend/secretary Phyllis Hamilton (Trudy Marshall). He intended to offer a bribe to not take a certain case, but hearing that they are about to leave on vacation, he abruptly departs. Mayme Martin (Claire Carleton) offers to sell certain valuable information to Shayne, but he declines, and is ambushed by two thugs under orders to find out what Martin told him, which was nothing. They beat up Shayne and leave him in the city dump. Shayne sends his friend, reporter Tim Rourke (Charles Mitchell), to accept Martin's information offer. But Rourke encounters police and her murdered body. Albert Payson (John Hamilton), president of the Santa Rosita racetrack, owns the printing company for the racetrack's tickets. The track manager, John Hardeman (Grandon Rhodes), hires Shayne to solve a counterfeit ticket racket that is bankrupting the track. Hardeman alone decides on the tickets' secret daily code numbers. Gil Madden (Ben Welden), owner of the Tribune, wants the contract for printing the tickets. He financed the purchase of the Tribune using as collateral a printing company he'd acquired from a prison inmate, Theodore Ross. Shayne recognizes Madden as the stranger who offered the bribe to drop the case and he won't answer questions. Madden's partner, photographer/engraver Ben Edwards (Byron Foulger), also refuses to be questioned. Gil Madden is aka Theodore Ross and Ben Edwards is aka Claude Bates. Years ago they were convicted of counterfeiting Irish sweepstakes tickets and sent to Joliet Penitentiary. Madden served a light sentence and was released but Edwards drew 20 to 50 and after two years, broke out. Edwards has acquired a wife. Mary (Jean Andren), and son, Jimmy (Gary Gray), who know nothing about his past. Hardeman figured out Edwards' identity and began blackmailing the escaped convict to force him to make the counterfeit racing tickets. Edwards shows up to shoot and kill Hardeman; in turn as he is leaving, Edwards is shot and killed by Hardeman's thugs. One thug reveals the other, Joe (Frank Hagney), as the killer of Martin and Edwards. Joe attacks and is shot as police arrive and capture him. The police agree at Shane's request to spare Edwards' family from the truth, and Shane and Phyllis at last embark on their vacation. A 1947 American Black & White mystery crime film directed by William Beaudine, produced by John Sutherland, screenplay by John Sutherland, adaptation by Fred Myton and Scott Darling, story by Brett Halliday, cinematography by Jack Greenhalgh, starring Hugh Beaumont, Trudy Marshall, Ralph Dunn, Claire Carleton, Charles Mitchell, John Hamilton, Grandon Rhodes, Ben Welden, Byron Foulger, Jean Andren, and George Meader. Released by Producers Releasing Corporation. Trudy Marshall (1920-2004), born Gertrude Madeline Marshall in Brooklyn, New York, was an American actress and model. She graduated from Floral Park Memorial High School. A popular magazine cigarette girl during her modeling days for Harry Conover, Marshall was at different times "The Old Gold Girl", "The Chesterfield Girl", and "The Lucky Strike Girl". Marshall was signed by 20th Century-Fox in 1942 and groomed in bit parts. In "The Dancing Masters" (1943) she was female lead to Laurel and Hardy. She next played a featured role in the World War II war drama "The Fighting Sullivans" (1944), the true story of a family that lost all five enlisted sons in the sinking of the USS Juneau off Guadalcanal in November 1942. Marshall played the surviving sister Genevieve.Taking roles as a decorative ingenue for a time, Marshall later played the "other woman" in a few features. Semi-retired by the 1960s, she returned very infrequently to Hollywood. She appeared in the movie "Once Is Not Enough" (1975) with her daughter Deborah Raffin. Marshall was the hostess of her own radio and TV show in the 1980s in which she interviewed stars who attended special Hollywood events. In 1944, Marshall married businessman Phillip Raffin, with whom she had three children, including model and actress Deborah Raffin. This is the last of a series of 5 movies starring Hugh Beaumont as private detective Michael Shayne. This Mike Shayne is not hardboiled like the one from the books or the Lloyd Nolan series. Here he's an easy going, likable, peanut eating sleuth. He is stylish and slick. He carries a gun and gets into fistfights when he has to but does not throw his weight around and threaten people. William Beaudine was a prolific director who directed many classic B-Movies and series movies like Charlie Chan and Bowery Boys. Possibly best know for directing Mary Pickford in the great classic "Sparrows" (1926). An entertaining detective story, full of murders, chases, fights, comic scenes, and starring future "Leave it to Beaver" pop, Hugh Beaumont. Recommended for fans of Hugh Beaumont, and/or fans of low budget series detective movies.