Shadows on the Stairs (1941)

Director:

D. Ross Lederman

Writers:

Frank Vosper (play)
Anthony Coldeway (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 March 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Occupants of a London boarding house become suspects as a string of murders are discovered. |

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Businessman | Lodger | Jealousy | Ship

Cast

Frieda Inescort	...	Mrs. Stella Rosabelle Armitage
Paul Cavanagh	...	Joseph 'Joe' Reynolds
Heather Angel	...	Sylvia Armitage
Bruce Lester	...	Hugh Bromilow
Miles Mander	...	Tom Armitage
Lumsden Hare	...	Inspector Gregg
Turhan Bey	...	Ram Singh
Charles Irwin	...	Constable
Phyllis Barry	...	Lucy Timson, the Maid
Mary Field	...	Phoebe Martia St. John Snell
Paul Renay	...	Choong Thi, Hindu Sailor
Sidney Bracey	...	Watchman (scenes deleted) (as Sidney Bracy)

Also Known As:

Murder on the Second Floor (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

64 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7004)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The play originally opened in New York on 11 September 1929.

Soundtrack:

Comin' Thro' the Rye

One-Trick Whodunit

Witty little British Whodunit based on the Frank Vosper play "Murder on the Second Floor" has everyone in the cast suspected of murdering one of the tenants of the Armitage Lodging House where they all live in, but who did it? Joe Reynolds is found stabbed to death in his room and everyone in the lodge may have a good reason to have done him in.

Ram Sigh, Turhan Bey, who we saw at the beginning of the film together with Joe, at the London docks, working for an organization to free India from British rule. Singh as a patriot and Reynolds as a profiteer. They later got into an argument at the lodge about the money, $500,000.00, that was supposed to go to that organization. Singh is later attacked in his room by some thug whom he killed, who may have worked for Joe.

Sella Armitage, Fredia Inescort, the owner together with her husband Tom, Milles Mender, has been having an affair with Joe. Tom earlier in the movie caught her and Joe embracing without them knowing about it. Did Tom kill Joe in a fit of jealous rage? There's Lucy, Phyllis Barry, the lodge's maid who was also having an affair with Joe behind Stella's back. Did Lucy murder Joe because he broke it off and at the same time did Stella kill Joe for him two-timing her? The last three person residing at the Armitage Lodge are Tom & Stella's daughter Sylvia, Heather Angel, playwright Hugh Bromilow, Bruce Lester, and spinster Phoebe Martis St. John Snell, Mary Field.

On the surface the three don't seem to have any reason for killing Joe but there something in the past that we'll find out later in the movie that he did to one, or all, of them to make them murder him. All I can say is that even the great Sherlock Holmes would have a hard time solving this murder mystery much less the audience.