Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
A masked murderer who calls himself the Black Ace is stalking people in an old mansion. Neil Broderick (Chester Morris of The She-Creature) investigates, alternately helped and hindered by two cops played by Allan Jenkins and Frank McHugh. Vivienne Osborn is the heroine [a scene on a train when she tells a man she doesn't like the work of a certain author, unaware that he's the writer in question, was repeated in Leave Her to Heaven]. The suspects include Grant Mitchell and Charles Middleton [Daredevils of the Red Circle]. Tomorrow at Seven is unexceptional, but it does boast good performances from Morris, Jenkins, McHugh and Middleton, as well as from Virginia Howell as the housekeeper, and Henry Stephenson as Thornton Drake. As Old Dark House movies go, this one is no better nor worse than most of them, although it could be argued that this one just doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense.
Verdict: Creaky but engaging. **1/2.
The whole town seems mad at Dr. Rod Barrett (William Prince) because there was nothing he could do to save the life of blind Nancy Tyloe (Christine White), who was married to the Police Chief (Jim Backus) and was the second daughter of Jode Wetherby (Philip Tonge). Barrett had been married to Wetherby's other daughter, Alice (Dorothy Morris), who died in childbirth, but he is now engaged to Sylvia (Susan Morrow). One afternoon Barrett's nurse, Polly (Jacqueline Scott), receives a phone call: an unknown person tells her that Barrett's daughter, Marge (Linda Guderman) has been kidnapped and buried alive -- and is running out of air. This sets Barrett and Polly on a frantic search to find the girl while others around them offer assistance or interference. Macabre is a neat little thriller, generally well-directed by Castle [although there's at least one directorial gaffe at a funeral scene], and well-played by the cast, although some of them seem just a little, shall we say, overwrought. The movie has some good twists along the way as well. Ellen Corby plays Barrett's housekeeper, and she -- like virtually everyone else in the movie -- seems kindly but suspicious. Robb White [Homicidal] did the script from Anthony Boucher's novel "The Marble Forest." Castle manages to sustain a creepy atmosphere throughout.
Verdict: Another treat from William Castle. ***.
 |
| Raymond Burr |
"This is no longer a simple murder case. It's turning into a comic opera!" -- Hamilton Burger.
"I've been on the bench twenty years and this is the longest preliminary hearing I can ever recall." -- judge
The ninth season was the final season of one of television's most memorable series. Ray Collins (Lt. Tragg) had passed away after being ill for quite some time, and his name was finally removed from the credits. Wesley Lau was replaced by Richard Anderson as Lt. Drumm. The high quality of the show was maintained until the very end. Among the most notable episodes are" "Laughing Lady," with John Dall, Constance Towers, and Allison Hayes in the story of a woman who insists another lady murdered her ex-lover; "Carefree Coronary," an unusual story in which Perry investigates possible insurance fraud involving coronary patients; "Hasty Honeymooner," in a which a man is accused of murdering the wife he found in a lonely hearts club; and "Wrathful Wraith," which begins with the charges against Perry's client being dismissed. Also: "The Silent Six," loosely inspired by the Kitty Genovese case and with a fine performance from David Macklin, has a woman beaten while her neighbors just listen. "The Fugitive Fraulein" is another unusual episode in which Perry defends a grandmother accused of murder -- in East Berlin! Perry starts out as a witness for the prosecution in "Midnight Howler" then defends the person he's testifying against. "Baffling Bug" is a suspenseful story regarding industrial espionage guest-starring Grant Williams. Other memorable episodes include "Avenging Angel:" " Tsarina's Tiara;" "Fanciful Frail;" "Bogus Buccaneers;" "Vanishing Victim;" "Positive Negative;" "Fatal Fortune;" "Candy Queen;" and "Crafty Kidnapper." "Twice-Told Twist" is worthy of mention because it's the only color episode of the series.
And those fine episodes weren't even the best of the season. The three best stories were "Dead Ringer," in which Raymond Burr plays a dual role, including a seedy limey sailor who impersonates him for cash; Burr, who is terrific, winds up cross-examining himself! "Misguided Model" is another excellent episode about a boxer accused of murder that has no trial or courtroom scenes yet still is riveting. The final episode, "Final Fadeout," has a nasty actor (James Stacy) murdered and the suspects are numerous; an excellent Estelle Winwood is also in the cast. DA Burger becomes really apoplectic in this episode and William Talman gives an especially fine performance.
And that was it. Of course Burr played Mason in several telefilms of varying quality and Monte Markham tackled the role in The New Perry Mason, which didn't last long. Now Robert Downey Jr. is set to play Perry in a theatrical film. Perry Mason was played by more than one actor in the golden age of movies, but Raymond Burr, who found the part of a lifetime and ran with it, will always be the thespian most closely associated with the role. Hats off to the many actors, fine writers, and gifted directors who together kept this show so entertaining for so many seasons.
Verdict: Simply a sublime series. ****.
SECRET OF THE BLUE ROOM (1933). Director: Kurt Neumann."It must be terrible to be a man and have to pretend to be brave."
At a birthday party for his beautiful daughter, Irene (Gloria Stuart), Robert von Helldorf (Lionel Atwill) tells his guests -- Walter (Paul Lukas), Frank (Onslow Stevens) and Thomas (William Janney) -- the story of the blue room in the old castle in which he resides: over the years more than one person has been found dead in the locked room, including his own sister. Thomas suggests that each man (all of whom are in love with the quite lovely Irene) spend the night in the room to prove their bravery. Of course it's no surprise when the first of them turns up missing in the morning, the room still locked. [Without giving anything away, everyone assumes he's gone out the window into the moat twenty feet below, yet he had a key which worked on either side of the door and could easily have exited the room and locked the door behind him.] Then another of the suitors spends the night in the room and ... A police commissioner (Edward Arnold) is called in to find out what's up, and the suspects include the butler, Paul (Robert Barrat of Lily Turner), the maid, Betty (Muriel Kirkland), the chauffeur, Max (Russell Hopton), and the very nervous cook, Mary (Elizabeth Patterson). There's also a weird stranger on the loose scaring the wits out of Irene. The secret of the Blue Room doesn't come as that big of a surprise, but the climactic chase in long-forgotten tunnels beneath the castle is exciting. Secret of the Blue Room is entertaining, atmospheric, and reasonably well-acted by all. Neumann also directed Kronos and many others.
Verdict: A bit creaky but fun. **1/2.
 |
| Charlton Heston explores the wreck |
John Sands (Charlton Heston) of the salvage vessel Sea Witch comes across what he thinks is a derelict ship, the Mary Deare, in the middle of the ocean. There is one person aboard, however, Captain Gideon Patch (Gary Cooper), who insists that he did not give the order to abandon ship. There is also a corpse in the hold that Patch tries to cover up. Exactly what happened on the ship and why it happened unfolds in a courtroom sequence and in the finale back on the ship as the hold is explored for a certain cargo ... Mary Deare is a fast-paced suspense film that features good performances from Heston and Cooper, as well as Virginia McKenna [The Chosen] as the daughter of the original captain who died at sea; Ben Wright as Sands' partner in the salvage operation; Richard Harris as the eternally smirking sailor, Higgins; Michael Redgrave as a lawyer in the court of inquiry; and others. The ending is a touch dragged out, perhaps, but this is an absorbing and well-acted movie.
Verdict: Worth a look. ***.
 |
| Michael Ironside questions a suspect |
MURDER IN SPACE (1985 telefilm). Director: Steven Hilliard Stern.
An international crew is assembled for several months on board a space lab where political intrigue and mixed-up personal relationships are taking a toll. Things get worse when one of the women, Olga, is found murdered -- and she was two months pregnant, meaning her husband back in the USSR couldn't possibly be the father. Suspects include Guy (Timothy Webber), who's having an affair with Domenica (Alberta Watson), and Kurt (Tom Butler), who's having an affair with David (Scot Denton), and even the captain, Neal Braddock (Michael Ironside of Scanners), who's keeping some secrets. More murders follow, with such people on the ground as Dr. MacAllister (Wilford Brimley) and Alexander Rostov (Martin Balsam) worrying about their respective countries' representatives and more. Murder in Space has an intriguing premise and location, but while it holds the attention the solution isn't that satisfying or believable. The cast is quite good for the most part, although the usually intense Ironside seems bored through most of the movie and gives a boring, uninvolved performance, as does Brimley [The China Syndrome], who doesn't really seem to be an actor. Balsam is excellent, as usual, and Nerene Virgin and Wendy Crewson score, respectively, as Dr. Leigh and David's wife, Irene.
Verdict: Comes very close but ultimately misses despite definite entertainment value. **1/2.
 |
| Barbara O'Neil, Joan Bennett and Michael Redgrave |
Celia (Joan Bennett) meets an attractive stranger, architect Mark Lamphere (Michael Redgrave), on a vacation, blows off her fiance, marries Mark, and goes home to his mansion where his friendly sister, Caroline (Anne Revere), strange son David (Mark Dennis) and even stranger secretary, Miss Robey (Barbara O'Neil), are waiting. Wouldn't you know that Mark is haunted by something, perhaps the death of his first wife, and has a rather odd hobby. In his house he has recreated rooms where infamous murders took place, and there is one room which is absolutely verboten for anybody to enter. Naturally Celia can't wait to see what's inside. As Mark puts it "under certain conditions a room can influence or even create the actions of the people within it." Well ... maybe. This oddball Gothic movie sounds good, but is tedious and full of pseudo-psychological hogwash, although the bit with the murder rooms is interesting, and the performances are reasonably good for this type of claptrap. Natalie Schafer [Female on the Beach] adds some zest, as she usually does, as a flamboyant friend of Celia's. Redgrave does the best he can with the material but seems uncomfortable throughout. Young Dennis makes an interesting David. The ending is unintentionally hilarious. Not one of Lang's more memorable movies. O'Neil was seen in better advantage in Stella Dallas and All This and Heaven, Too.
Verdict: Too tricky and silly by far. *1/2.
 |
| Christine Norden |
A man is thrown out of a car and onto a highway, but he survives to show up at the home of a woman, Sheila (Jennifer Jayne of The Crawling Eye), and her father (John Longden). Unfortunately the man (Robert Ayres) has amnesia and just wandered into the place. After resting up for a few days with these good Samaritans, he takes off to see if he can find out who he is. The title pretty much tells you that there's a wife in the picture, Christine (Christine Norden), and our man gets home to her just in time to attend his own funeral. Then there's his best friend, Paul (Anthony Forwood), and a certain insincere glint in Christine's eye ... Black Widow is a short, forgotten Hammer non-horror film that plays and looks like a TV episode. There are no twists to the plot, the acting is competent, Norden is reasonably slinky, and the film has nothing much to offer. It is barely an hour long. Not to be confused with the 1954 Nunnally Johnson film Black Widow.
Verdict: Forgettable. **.
 |
| Lina (Joan Fontaine) suspects her husband wants to kill her |
Lonely heiress Lina (Joan Fontaine) meets the charming mountebank Johnnie (Cary Grant) and finally falls in love. The two get married and move into a huge house that Johnnie can clearly not afford. Lina discovers that her husband has an aversion to work of any kind, and an addiction to gambling, even selling antique chairs given to her by her father as a wedding present, for money. A friend named Beaky (Nigel Bruce) shows up and lets slip further information that unsettles the discomfited wife. After Lina fears that her husband might be involved in a death that occurred in Paris, she then suspects that he is planning to do away with her. But is she right -- or this time does two and two add up to five? Suspicion is a smooth, beautifully photographed [Harry Stradling] and handsomely produced thriller that features an outstanding performance from Fontaine and also boasts Grant at his best, never quite giving away whether he's a total rotter or not. Other notable players include Dame May Whitty and Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Lina's parents, and Leo. G. Carroll as Johnnie's cousin, from whom he embezzles. It's been said that the ending is tacked on and a bit of a cop-out, but it still works. Unusual scoring by Franz Waxman.
Verdict: Another smooth suspenser from the Master. ***1/2.
Lt. Jerry Brown (Roland Drew) and his partner, Pat (William Newell) are called in when a gambler takes a hit from a bullet -- but the gunshot isn't the cause of death. There are other murders as well, and hot on the trail is gal reporter Sue Walker (Grace Bradley), who happens to be engaged to Brown. Other characters include Cunningham (Boyd Irwin), who hates gambling and is horrified to learn that many of the buildings he owns have become gambling dens without his knowledge; his daughter, Gloria (Jean Brooks), whom Sue helps out of more than one jam; District Attorney Sutton (Crane Whitley); and businessman Arthur Enslee (Alex Callam). As the bickering romantic couple, Drew and Bradley are acceptable, personable leads for this cheap PRC release with a no-name cast. Jean Brooks [herein billed as "Jeanne Kelly"] probably made more of an impression in Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim and The Leopard Man but she's fine in this. The Invisible Killer moves fairly fast but works up almost zero suspense as to the identity of the killer or killers.
Verdict: A short programmer you can easily miss. **.
 |
| Really bad acting: Uh, I saw somebody butchered-- yawn. |
THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED (aka Scream ... and Die!/1974). Director: Joseph Larraz (Jose Ramon Larraz).
Valerie (Andrea Allan), a model, is driving home with her boyfriend Terry (Alex Leppard) when he stops at a house and says he'll be right back. Valerie goes in search of him, and discovers that he apparently plans to rob the place. Worse, while trying to leave the house they witness a man in the shadows stab another woman to death in a savage attack. The next day Valerie sees that Alex' car, which was left behind along with him when she fled, is parked in front of her apartment house with her book of modeling photos on the front seat. Alex is still missing. So, let's see -- the killer knows what she looks like and where she lives. But does dear little Valerie go to the police? Does she even report Alex missing? No, instead she relates her tale to some friends who tell her not to bother going to the cops, and then has a date with a shy artist named Paul (Karl Lanchbury) who later has sex with his aggressive, middle-aged Aunt Susannah (Maggie Walker). Then there's the new downstairs neighbor who keeps pigeons in his apartment. Aside from a trip to a junkyard that might be near the mysterious house, neither Valerie nor anyone else makes any attempt to find out who the victim or killer is, or even what happened to Terry, who has a young son. Allan walks through the movie as if she were bored, summoning up all the urgency and emotion of, say, a person shopping at the supermarket. Some of the other actors, such as Lanchbury and Walker, are more on the mark, although few of them had too many credits. The shame of it is that The House That Vanished actually has a good plot and premise, but it's undone by too much illogic, a stupid heroine played by a minimally talented actress -- and the identity of the killer is pretty much telegraphed as well. From the United Kingdom.
Verdict: A film that will vanish if it hasn't already. **.
 |
| Evelyn Keyes and John Payne |
Ernie Driscoll (John Payne) is a bitter prize-fighter and current cab driver whose career ended when he received a serious injury to his eye. Driscoll also discovers that his unsatisfied wife, Pauline (Peggie Castle), is having an affair with a diamond thief named Victor (Brad Dexter). Then an aspiring actress he knows, Linda (Evelyn Keyes), tells him that she's in trouble, leading to the movie's best scene, which is, unfortunately, only midway through the movie. One clever if unlikely sequence isn't enough to save this standard potboiler, where Driscoll has to settle accounts with Victor while dodging police for an incident with Linda -- and worse. Payne and Keyes are okay, as is Frank Faylen as Driscoll's buddy, but Castle [Beginning of the End] makes a better impression and Dexter is terrific as a smiling homicidal reptile, matched by Jay Adler as the man who engineered the diamond heist but now won't pay off. Michael Ross, the space giant and bartender in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, appears as a cabbie and Glenn Langan [The Amazing Colossal Man] is a theatrical producer. Keyes made a better impression in The Killer that Stalked New York but Dexter is much more vital in this than he was in Macao.
Verdict: Unimpressive film noir despite some decent moments and one surprise. **.
 |
| Troubled professor and inquiring cop: Alex Cord and Enzo Tarascio |
THE DEAD ARE ALIVE (aka L'etrusco uccide ancora/1972). Director: Armando Crispino.
Professor Jason Porter (Alex Cord) is an archaeologist exploring Etruscan tombs in Italy. His ex-girlfriend, Myra (Samantha Eggar), is now married to temperamental maestro Nikos Samarakis (John Marley), who hates Jason and vice versa. Jason tries to rekindle things with Myra, and accuses her of having a thing for her stepson, Igor (Carlo De Mejo). Igor's mother, Leni (Nadja Tiller), claims she and Nikos were never divorced. However, the big problem is that some maniac, who plays loud chorale music on a small tape player, is running around bashing and killing people, especially romantic couples, in the ruins; the weapon is a metal tubular probe used in underground photography. Suspects include all of the aforementioned, as well as a blackmailing guard named Otello (Vladan Holec), Nikos' mousy secretary, Irene (Daniela Surina), and Stephen (Horst Frank), the choreographer for the latest production that Nikos is conducting [why some of these people are wandering around the ruins in the first place is a question]. Jason realizes at one point that the murders seem to mirror scenes in ancient Etruscan paintings, but wonders how anyone could have entered the tomb to see them before the official opening. Inspector Giuranna (Enzo Tarascio) tries to discover the truth, but the real truth is that The Dead Are Alive can't make up its mind if it's a mystery, a horror film, or a twisted family melodrama, and doesn't quite work on any level. The movie is much too long and convoluted and I defy anyone to figure out the motives of the killer when he or she is finally unmasked. The mixed-bag international actors are okay, but unable to do much with the material.
Verdict: Initially intriguing but it goes on and on and on ... **.
 |
| Samantha Eggar |
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1973 telefilm). Director: Jack Smight.
In one of television's more pointless exercises, this TV movie is a remake of the Billy Wilder 1944 classic. The story, based on James Cain's novel, remains the same. Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Richard Crenna) and Phyllis Dietrichson (Samantha Eggar) conspire to do away with her husband (Arch Johnson), hoping to invoke a double indemnity clause in his insurance by making it look like an unusual accident. If you've never seen the original movie, or even if you have, this version will still prove entertaining because of the suspenseful storyline, but compared to the Wilder version with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson, this is like a high school production. The actors aren't bad, with Eggar making a suitably sociopathic Phyllis and Lee J. Cobb as good as ever in the Robinson role [if not as good as Robinson, whom he apes to some degree]. As for Richard Crenna? He rushes through the opening and closing scenes like a complete amateur [possibly he was directed that way as this telefilm is only 75 minutes long!] but for the rest of the movie he's okay, and was probably cast for the same reason MacMurray [who was much better] was, that likability factor that makes the unpleasant character more palatable. Jack Smight's direction is strictly by the numbers, completely devoid of style, and he does nothing to increase the tension. The murder scene itself might as well be a trip to the supermarket. It also has to be said that this kind of noirish material plays better in the right time period, the forties, than updated to the seventies.
Verdict: Stick to the original. **1/2.
Larry O'Brien (Richard Conte) is a producer who becomes fascinated by an old Hollywood mystery, the still-unsolved 1929 murder of silent film director Franklin Farrara. Larry decides to make a film about the murder, and hires an old screenwriter named Vincent St. Clair (Henry Hull of Werewolf of London), who once worked with the victim. When someone takes a shot at Larry, he realizes the killer is still alive and doesn't want even a chance of the truth coming out. Richard Egan is cast as a police lieutenant, and Jim Backus is Larry's agent, Mitch. An uncredited Paul Cavanaugh [he's not even listed in the cast on imdb.com] plays aging actor Roland Paul, who was always one of the suspects, along with Sam Collyer (Fred Clark). William Farnum, Francis X. Bushman [The Phantom Planet], and Joel McCrea play themselves in cameos. The best performance is given by Julia/Julie Adams, who apparently knows more than she's saying and may have some unknown connection to the crime. This movie is of interest primarily because it was directed by William Castle [Strait-Jacket], but even with that distinction it has still been forgotten. The trouble is that it has very little suspense, a dull mystery, and plays like nothing so much as a TV pilot. However, the cast may hold your attention.
Verdict: One mystery that doesn't need solving. **.
 |
| David Suchet as Hercule Poirot |
Agatha Christie's "The Big Four," published in 1927, was an unusual Hercule Poirot novel in that -- while there were elements of classic detective fiction in it -- it was seemingly inspired by pulp fiction. Poirot was up against four powerful and well-known individuals -- one of whom was a former actor and supreme master of disguise -- who had banded together to achieve world domination. While Christie's prose lacked the rich atmosphere and descriptive power of, say, Sax Rohmer (who wrote the Fu Manchu novels), the novel moved at breakneck speed, was suspenseful and exciting, and had Poirot solving intricate cases (which always had to do with the Big Four) in his usual adept and clever manner. After many skirmishes with the enemy, Poirot triumphs in the literally explosive conclusion.
In this adaptation of the novel, script writer Mark Gatiss has taken the basic premise of the book and turned it on its end. [The teleplay takes place much closer to WW2 than the novel does.] Along the way it at times becomes just as absurd as one could accuse the book of being, although the producers of the series probably think they are being more reasonable. There is a reporter (Tom Brooke) who believes rumors of a Big Four; an American millionaire, Ryland (James Carroll Jordan); and a French lady scientist of distinction, Madame Olivier (Patricia Hodge). One man is murdered while playing chess, while another meets his end with his head in a fireplace. Two other individuals embroiled in the events are actress Flossie Munro (Sarah Parish) and Dr. Quentin (Simon Lowe); the latter in particular is a cast stand-out. Assistant Commissioner Japp (Philip Jackson), secretary Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran), and dear old friend Hastings (Hugh Fraser) are along for the ride, albeit briefly. David Suchet [Dracula] is, as ever, superb as Poirot. This is vastly inferior to the novel, but not bad for what it is.
Verdict: Entertaining and well-acted. **1/2.
 |
| Hitch does his cameo in Rear Window. |
Photojournalist "Jeff" Jefferies (James Stewart) is stuck in an apartment with a broken leg and a cast when he'd rather be out covering action in far-flung places with exotic names. Jeff has a beautiful girlfriend named Lisa (Grace Kelly), but he fears proposing to her because he doesn't think her patrician, elegant manner will go well with the places he has to travel to [although nowhere is it written that the wife must accompany her husband on such assignments]. Bored and needing distraction, Jeff begins observing his neighbors (on a marvelous, detailed set that shows many different kinds of apartments and tenants), such as the voluptuous dancer across the way, a pair of newlyweds who disappear behind the shade after moving in, a frustrated composer of romantic music, and a woman he calls "Miss Lonelyhearts" (Judith Evelyn) who talks to imaginary dates while she's having supper and gets drunk in bars. Eventually Jeff focuses on a man named Thorwald (Raymond Burr), whose nagging wife disappears one afternoon and never comes back. Jeff has reasons to believe Thorwald murdered the woman -- and eventually gets both Lisa and his nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) on his side -- but his smug detective friend Doyle (Wendell Corey) assures him that he checked and the woman really is out of town. But is she? Jeff and the ladies begin an investigation of their own that leads them into some serious danger. Some viewers of this wonderful film don't like being put in Jeff's position all the time, peering through windows, and find the film claustrophobic, but I can't agree. The movie, while imperfect, is very cinematic and well-made. It does take a while for the basic mystery plot to begin unfolding, but the two main characters and their dilemma -- two very different people in love but uncertain of how it will work out -- are interesting enough to hold the attention, and Stewart and Kelly give fine performances, along with Ritter, Evelyn and others. [This is another film like The Tingler in which the talented Evelyn gets across a character without really saying a word.] The movie builds in suspense and has a creepy and exciting finale. One thing Rear Window is missing is a great score by, say, Bernard Herrmann, but you can't have everything. John Michael Hayes' screenplay is full of black humor, even relating to the dismemberment of the woman's corpse, which is a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it. Based on a story by Cornell Woolrich.
Verdict: Smooth, unusual suspenser from the master. ***1/2.
 |
| Toler, Moreland, Fong and Cardwell |
THE SHANGHAI COBRA (1945). Director: Phil Karlson.
"People don't fall in love that fast -- except on the stage."
Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler)) is called in when it develops that he may be the only person who can identity an accused thief and murderer named Van Horn. Van Horn is also suspected of a number of cobra venom murders, of which there have been five victims, the latest killed right outside of a coffee shop. The victims all have something to do with a bank, under which are sewers and secret passages Among the suspects are secretary Paula Webb (Joan Barclay); her wannabe boyfriend Ned Stewart (James Cardwell); bank president Fletcher (Roy Gordon, the doctor in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman); Harris, the bank VP (Arthur Loft); and H. R. Jarvis (James Flavin); not to mention an unnamed lady (Janet Warren), who operates the strangest juke box you've ever seen in or out of pictures. This is a typically clever Monogram picture, with Toler in top form, Mantan Moreland even more amusing than usual, and Benson Fong quite adept as Tommy Chan. Gene Roth and Cyril Delevanti have smaller roles.
Verdict: Another entertaining Charlie Chan picture. ***.
 |
| Lugosi surveys the scene as Wong |
THE MYSTERIOUS MR. WONG (1934). Director: William Nigh.
"Wong has dared many things -- he will continue to dare!"
According to legend, when Confucius was on his deathbed he gave twelve special coins to his friends. Whichever man collects all twelve coins will gain great power. A series of murders of "Chinamen" in Chinatown have police convinced that they are victims of Tong wars, but reporter Jason Barton (Wallace Ford) isn't so sure. Wong (Bela Lugosi) is a mysterious figure who runs about in disguise, and is behind more than one kidnapping; he even has a torture chamber hidden in his house. This all sounds like it might be fun but that's far from the case. Boris Karloff was given the entertaining and memorable The Mask of Fu Manchu to star in, but poor Bela Lugosi was handed this piece of crap for his "yellow peril/Oriental fiend" undertaking. [This is not to be confused with Karloff's "Mr. Wong" series.] There is far too much of Barton and a gal pal, Peg (Arline Judge) bantering and cracking wise and far too little atmosphere and mystery. The film runs a little over an hour but seems interminable at times. Attitudes toward the Chinese are horribly condescending and racist -- the dead "Chinamen" aren't even looked upon as particularly human -- and we've even got the fat, dumb Irish cop stereotype (Robert Emmett O'Connor) to boot. You can overlook these politically incorrect elements in old movies when they're entertaining, but when they're like The Mysterious Mr. Wong they just seem more glaring. Lugosi is fine, and aside from a few Oriental extras, is the only worthwhile thing in the movie.
Verdict: Another crappy movie that wastes the considerable talents of Bela Lugosi. *.
 |
| Arthur Vinton and Chick Chandler |
Reporter Jim Baldwin (Chick Chandler) is covering a trial where the evidence is strictly circumstantial, and is appalled when the defendant is not only convicted but given the death penalty. Baldwin feels that in cases wherein the evidence is all circumstantial, the defendant should be given a life sentence instead. Meanwhile Fred Stevens (Arthur Vinton), although having an affair with a certain married lady, asks Shirley (Adrienne Grey) to marry him, but she turns him down, accepting Jim's proposal instead. Jim decides to use this awkward situation to prove that circumstantial cases are unreliable, and gets Fred to go along with his scheme. They will fake an argument over Shirley in front of others, and then Fred will disappear after Jim makes it look like he murdered him. Fred is to come out of hiding at the last minute -- the trouble is that somebody else really murders him! Now Jim is in a pretty pickle. Circumstantial Evidence worked much better when the same plot more or less was used in the far superior Beyond a Reasonable Doubt twenty years later. Chandler [Lost Continent], more of a light comedian than a dramatic type, is okay but tends to overact at times.
Verdict: Predictable, trite, and tedious. *1/2.