Sherlock Holmes is hired to protect the famous gem the Star of Rhodesia, and he and Watson travel with its owner on a Scotland-bound train. When a murderer strikes and the stone disappears, Holmes must sort through a car-full of suspects to unravel the mystery. The pacing is good on this one, and there’s a …
Read the full post →“<em>Terror by Night</em> (Universal, 1946)”
Spooky doings at a lighthouse whose lamp mysteriously goes out from time to time, even as another ghostly light appears to lead vessels to their doom. It’s all a bit of a jumble, with a few bits unclear even at the end, but Gordon Harker is good as the new lighthouse keeper, dealing with irregular …
After the death of her kindly husband, a vicious woman torments her tenants — in part by raising rent to erase the benefit her spouse had provided by his will, and eventually by poisoning one’s cat — and her stepdaughter, not least by planting suspicions with her boyfriend’s employer that lead to his sacking. So …
Fast-paced entry in the Lone Wolf series has Michael Lanyard (Warren William) suspected of murder and dodging the cops as he rushes to solve the crime, foil a kidnapping, and save the life of a young inventor. It’s all rather far-fetched but breezy fun. Recommended. Otto finds this one pleasing enough to relax. Movie 148 …
Read the full post →“<em>The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance</em> (Columbia, 1941)”
Creepy happenings ensue when a producer plans to reopen a theater, closed since the killing of the star performer in the middle of a performance five years before, and put on the same play with the surviving members of the original cast. An atmospheric and fast-paced late silent. Recommended. Otto finds this one pleasing enough …
Read the full post →“<em>The Last Warning</em> (Universal, 1928)”
All the members of a jury that convicted a man set to be executed are summoned, by various means, to a gloomy old mansion, in fact the home of the person the condemned man was said to have murdered, and the tension grows as the various people realize that there must be some plan at …
Read the full post →“<em>Strange People</em> (Chesterfield, 1933)”
After radio writer Sally Ambler (Wendy Barrie) quarrels with her fiancé Kirk Pierce (John Hubbard) because he finds her latest script too fantastic, she ends up heading home in response to a telegram from her Aunt Maggie (Elizabeth Patterson). The death of Sally’s uncle (and just how he died is uncertain) is followed by clear …
Read the full post →“<em>Who Killed Aunt Maggie?</em> (Republic, 1940)”
A surgeon with scandalous secrets is murdered in the middle of an operation. Which of those with a motive in the room could have done it? And just how did the killer manage to have the lights go out to facilitate the crime? Bruce Cabot is the lead as a doctor who is one of …
Read the full post →“<em>Mystery of the White Room</em> (Universal, 1939)”
When the lead in the remake of a studio’s big silent hit is murdered, there’s plenty of suspicion to go around, particularly as the director was jealous of the star’s closeness with his wife (Gail Patrick), herself another star at the studio. Reginald Denny plays the studio PR man and the amateur investigator as this …
Read the full post →“<em>The Preview Murder Mystery</em> (Paramount, 1936)”
The last of three movies based on mysteries by Jonathan Latimer and starring Preston Foster and Frank Jenks is another disappointment. Here the duo is called upon to protect a young man who reports receiving threatening letters. When murder strikes at a gambling den the young man frequents, and a kidnapping follows, there’s plenty for …
Read the full post →“<em>The Last Warning</em> (Universal, 1938)”
