Running berserk, populist art critic and public lecturer George Steele (Pat O'Brien) breaks into the Manhattan Museum of art. Apprehended by a patrolman, he claims that he was in a train wreck. Police Lieutenant Cochrane (Wallace Ford), however, finds no recent accidents. Steele, unsure himself what happened, relates the bizarre events leading up to the present:
After giving an enthusiastically received lecture on art, Steele had been reprimanded by Museum director Barton (Erskine Sanford) over his sensational style, and denied access to X-ray equipment to demonstrate a forgery detection method on a masterpiece that had recently been exhibited by the museum, Dürer's Adoration of the Kings. Afterward, while having a drink with his girlfriend, magazine writer Terry Cordell (Claire Trevor), Steele had received an urgent telephone call informing him that his mother had been taken to a hospital. He rushed to Grand Central Station and caught the last train. About 40 minutes later, he watched helplessly as another train crashed head on into his.
Hearing Steele's claims, Cochrane reveals that Steele's mother was fine and had never been taken to the hospital.
Anxious to avoid a scandal, Barton pleads with Cochrane not to arrest Steele. Stevenson, the curator and Steele's friend, and Dr. Lowell (Ray Collins), a member of the museum's board of directors, vouch for his character. In private, Traybin (Herbert Marshall), a British art expert who, like Steele, had served several years during and after World War II authenticating stolen artwork so that it could be returned to its rightful owners, tells Cochrane he wants Steele freed, but given a discreet tail. Traybin is hopeful Steele can lead him to those behind possible art fraud he'd been sent to the United States to investigate. Steele is released, but his contentious lectures are canceled by Barton at the direction of the museum board, and he is suspended from work because of his evident mental instability.
Determined to exonerate himself, Steele sets out to re-enact the train trip. He learns that a drunk had been taken off at the next station after his imagined crash by two men and believes it had been him, sapped and kidnapped. He informs Stevenson of his discovery. Steele begins to suspect that a Gainsborough that had been loaned to the museum and lost in a fire at sea during its return trip to England was actually a fake. Later, Stevenson calls Steele to tell him he has discovered that the fire was not an accident and to meet him as soon as possible in the museum vault. When Steele arrives he finds Stevenson dead. Seen standing over the body by a watchman, he flees. Although both Traybin and Terry plead with him to turn himself in, Steele remains determined to do things his own way.
He coerces Barton to meet him and confirms that the Gainsborough had indeed been a forgery and was destroyed to conceal the theft of the original. Steele follows Barton to a party given by a museum board member, where he learns that the shipment of the Dürer back to London has been unexpectedly advanced. He sneaks aboard the ship, finds the painting, and is able to cut it from its frame just before it could be consumed in a fire. Though locked in the cargo hold by the arsonist, he is able to escape when the ship's crew arrives, followed by Traybin and Cochcrane. Spotted, Steele slips off the ship and is picked up by a conveniently passing Terry and whisked safely away.
Steel persuades Barton's secretary, Mary (Mary Ware), to arrange for him to X-ray the painting, which he confirms is a copy. However, as the threesome are leaving, he is knocked out and Mary pulls a gun on Terry. Terry and the punchy Steele are taken to the estate of Dr. Lowell, who is behind the thefts. He explains to Terry that as a frustrated art lover he could never have acquired such fabulous works legitimately. Before killing his captives, Lowell uses narcosynthesis on Steele to confirm that Steele had not told the police of his discovery, the same drug he had used to make Steele believe he was in a train wreck. Traybin and Cochrane burst in just in time to save the pair, shooting Lowell dead. Traybin, an undercover Scotland Yard inspector, had all along been investigating the suspicious Gainsborough loss, and seeking to ensure the safe return of the Dürer.
Hoping to save herself from being charged as an accessory to the crimes, Mary shows him where Lowell had hidden the stolen artworks.
Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times, panned the film, especially the screenplay and direction of the drama. He wrote, "Since Pat O'Brien's noggin suffers a blow which blacks out his memory as the story starts, there probably wouldn't be much sense taking the authors to task for the fantastic events which ensue ... This explosive and promising action sets in motion a chain of circumstances which, no doubt, must have baffled the script writers, too, for they never do give it a logical explanation ... All of the aforementioned principals turn in competent performances, and the mystery is how they managed to get through the picture without becoming hopelessly confused. They certainly were one up on us there. Played at breakneck pace, Crack-Up might have succeeded in covering up its confusion through sheer physical action, but Irving Reis elected to direct in waltz tempo. This gives one time to think about the curious motivation, and when you start thinking about a picture such as Crack-Up you are overwhelmed by its inadequacies."[2]
In 2002 critic Dennis Schwartz wrote for Ozus Reviews, "The film takes a populist stand by promoting 'art for the masses' and takes a negative view of the art elitists (art critics and collectors) who favor such art styles as surrealism. That kind of art is considered subversive by George and is not as tame as is the classical style of Gainsborough. The art lesson didn't register, but as a thriller Crack-Up was right on track. The shadowy photography by Robert de Grasse was done in stylish chiaroscuro shadings, giving the film an uncanny feel. O'Brien was convincing as the pig-headed unconscious American who has modern technology work for him and against him, as the inventions from the war are now shared by both criminals and scientists."[3]
In 2008 Time Out Film Guide called the film a "[m]arginally intriguing [film] for its view of art (pro-populist, anti-élitist stuff like surrealism), it's made as a thriller by the excellent supporting cast and fine, noir-ish camerawork from Robert de Grasse.[4]
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