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)”
Leon Ames returns as Major Waring, together with much of his crew from the movie Cipher Bureau, including Charlotte Wynters as Helen Lane; there’s even a mention of Waring’s brother, who had a prominent role in the prior film. Indeed, this sequel opens with Waring and Lane about to get married, when they are interrupted …
Read the full post →“<em>Panama Patrol</em> (Grand National, 1939)”
Mr. Moto goes undercover as a killer on Devil’s Island and helps another man to escape in order to get a line on an international gang of assassins, and he takes action when a Czechoslovakian industrialist is targeted. One character’s suspicions seem a bit overdone, but otherwise the gang’s activities are well portrayed, as are …
Read the full post →“<em>Mysterious Mr. Moto</em> (Twentieth Century Fox, 1938)”
Superlative actor George Arliss bid farewell to film with this adventure thriller based on Russell Thorndyke’s excellent novel. Here Arliss plays village divine Dr. Syn, shepherd of the folk of Dymchurch, at least some of whom engage in, and all of whom profit in some way by, smuggling. When a clever officer of the King …
Read the full post →“<em>Doctor Syn</em> (Gaumont British, 1937)”
Someone is murdering people associated with the estate of a wealthy philanthropist who died in an aviation accident (or was it an accident?). The killer seems to have a skull for a head, and he uses a nifty scorpion ring to poison his victims. The dead man’s brother is convinced his sibling has returned from …
Read the full post →“<em>Im Banne des Unheimlichen</em> (1968)”
A retired admiral (Edmund Gwenn) who came by a valuable piece of jewelry during his service finds that his household has been targeted by those who would grab the treasure. A farcical version of a common thriller plot, with a moderate amount of humor in the characters and situations. Mildly recommended. Otto judiciously thinks this …
After a king is assassinated, Sherlock Holmes undertakes to safeguard the new monarch until he can reach the protection of his own people in Algiers. Although a flight has been arranged, Holmes instead shows up with the young man aboard the ship on which Watson was sailing. A game of move and countermove follows, as …
Read the full post →“<em>Pursuit to Algiers</em> (Universal, 1945)”
Crooked banker Favraux has received warning letters from someone who signs himself “Judex,” threatening doom if he fails to make things right with those he has swindled and otherwise betrayed. After he disregards the letters and casually runs down a man who could endanger his position, he keels over, apparently dead, while making an announcement …
The disappearance of a dead body at a costume ball and the reappearance of the same corpse later in a train wreck set private detective John Harwood (Edmund Lowe) and insurance investigator Caryl Fenton (Constance Cummings) on the trail of conspiracy and international crime, as they look for the sinister villain who has caused not …
Read the full post →“<em>Seven Sinners</em> (Gaumont British, 1936)”
Another unmemorable entry in a four-movie series starring Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt as federal agents, here trying to rescue a kidnapped inventor (who happens to be a naval officer) to prevent other powers from getting his newly developed formula for a concentrated aviation fuel. The banter between the leads is a little heavy (a …
Read the full post →“<em>Navy Spy</em> (Grand National, 1937)”
