A man (Onslow Stevens) arrives at the home of his pal, Ralph Nelson, claiming to be Ralph himself. He is actually Don Phillips, who has come there at the request of his friend (James Bush), as Ralph fears some menace threatens both the estate and his former near-fiancée, Sylvia Evans (Janet Chandler). Don is not …
A Face in the Fog (Victory, 1936)
A newspaper reporter, Jean Monroe (June Collyer), sets herself up as a target by rashly claiming knowledge about “the Fiend,” a killer who is terrorizing the cast of a show at the Alden Theatre. A fellow reporter, Frank Gordon (Lloyd Hughes), joins in the investigation, as the murderer continues his crimes and attempts to strike …
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The Fifth Cord (1971)
An alcoholic journalist, Andrea Bild (Franco Nero), investigates a series of murders of people in some way connected with him, including someone who attended a party before the attacks began and the editor of the journalist’s paper. Some sequences are quite suspenseful (e.g., the killing of an invalid who is home alone), but the unpleasantness …
Midnight Mystery (RKO, 1930)
Complicated doings at a remote house off the coast of Maine, as Gregory Sloane (Hugh Trevor), the host of the party, shoots guest Mischa Kawelin (Ivan Lebedeff), who has been romancing the wife (Rita La Roy) of another guest (Lowell Sherman). But it’s all a put-up job between Gregory and Mischa, as Gregory (who is …
The Woman Condemned (1934)
A reporter (Richard Hemingway) comes to the aid of a young woman (Claudia Dell) who is accused of murdering a radio star but who protests her innocence, although she does have secrets that she is intent on keeping, even after the two are married. The story is a mite confusing, but the quirky development does …
A Strange Adventure (Monogram, 1932)
After an evening in which he decides to take action against someone for malfeasance, grumpy old millionaire Silas Wayne (William V. Mong) is reading his will to a gathering of grasping relatives, as well as his doctor and his housekeeper, when he collapses across his desk. The members of the group, which includes two policemen …
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The Case of the Scorpion’s Tale (1971)
Twisty tale of murder and a missing million-dollar insurance payment, originally titled La coda dello scorpione, opens with a businessman dying in an airplane explosion and his unfaithful widow collecting his life insurance. As the circumstances of the death were suspicious, an investigator (George Hilton) begins to check on things, and the dead man’s former …
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Grief Street (Chesterfield, 1931)
This early talkie mystery opens with a scene that seems to involve a murder but does not (similar to the opening of the following year’s The Death Kiss). Then, however, a real murder occurs as a stage star lothario has met his doom: But how was it done, as he was found strangled to death …
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The Midnight Warning (Mayfair, 1932)
Detective Thorwaldt Cornish (William “Stage” Boyd) and his friend, Dr. Steven Walcott (Hooper Ashley), investigate after Walcott first finds a human ear bone in the fireplace of his hotel room and then is struck down (temporarily) by a sniper while he talks with Cornish. Their inquiry, aided by magnifying spectacles, leads them to a young …
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The Haunted House of Horror (1969)
Mod London and its environs are the setting for this tale of a killer stalking partiers who head out to an abandoned mansion and then try to cover up a murder and solve the crime themselves. Frankie Avalon heads the cast as a cool cat everyone wants to follow, with Jill Haworth as the premier …
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