A young man-about-town (John Darrow) captures the heart of an heiress (Mary Brian), but their plans for wedded bliss are put on hold when the playboy is arrested for murder. Fortune favors the fellow, however, and he escapes to find the real killer — his only clue a roulette betting system involving the numbers 7, …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Monte Carlo Nights </em>(1934)”
This British movie offers a disappointing version of a standard mystery plot — a wealthy but unpleasant relative (here an uncle) brings the family together to talk about his will (which he might change!) but is soon the victim of a killer, and the rest of the movie involves attempts to uncover the culprit. The …
Read the full post →“<em>Three Steps in the Dark</em> (1953)”
Movie star Shelah Fane (Dorothy Revier), who is contemplating marriage to Alan Jaynes (William Post, Jr.) but whose past connection with the death of actor Denny Mayo weighs upon her, is found murdered in her pavilion ahead of an evening party. Charlie Chan (Warner Oland) investigates, with no help from his offspring — such less …
Moderately entertaining but unmemorable British thriller gets its start when a body is found floating on the Thames. A reporter is tasked with getting the story behind the killing and Scotland Yard is on the case as well, with the trail soon leading to a foreign embassy, whose inmates may be beyond the reach of …
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe came to the screen for the first time in this RKO picture, which stars former boyish musical star crooner Dick Powell as the detective (indeed, the picture, based on Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, apparently was retitled so audiences would not expect a frothy musical). Powell is convincing as Marlowe, with a …
A mystery-comedy with slight touches of horror, The Phantom in the Red House (original title: El fantasma de la casa roja) has a young woman who works at the Devil’s Inn, a nightclub with themed costumes, named as an heir to a dead millionaire’s fortune — but she and the others concerned must survive a …
Read the full post →“<em>The Phantom in the Red House</em> (1956)”
A murderous bank robber vows to kill those he holds responsible for ensuring he is executed for killing a guard while committing the crime, and soon after his execution his threats begin to be realized. It falls to Scotland Yard’s Chief Inspector Long (Joachim Fuchsberger) to put an end to these murders by figuring out …
Lightweight entertainment in which Barry Gilbert and Doc Norton (Louis Hayward and J. C. Nugent), two guys down on their luck, take shelter in an empty home, only to awaken to the arrival of servants, who take Barry to be the rightful owner, John Clark Reitter, Jr. (Eric Linden), who is estranged from his newspaper-owning …
Read the full post →“<em>Midnight Intruder</em> (Universal, 1938)”
Heiress Elinor Bentley Fairchild (Alexis Smith) has a problem: her fiancés encounter terrible fates, either dying or ending up crippled. Her desperate grandmother (Helen Westley) turns to a newspaper ad in an effort to attract another potential groom to serve as bait to break the apparent curse, and Lucky Downing (Wayne Morris), who doesn’t know …
Murder and the theft of an artificial diamond created by the father of Algy’s wife Gwen (Nydia Westman) causes the postponement of the imminent wedding of Captain Hugh Drummond (John Howard) and Phyllis Clavering (Louise Campbell), as Hugh scrambles to figure out what occurred — though the viewer is aware of at least part of …
Read the full post →“<em>Bulldog Drummond’s Peril</em> (Paramount, 1938)”
