Nifty little whodunit, featuring a young Ginger Rogers as an heir to a fortune, targeted by a hooded killer who hides in a hidden room behind a book case electrocuting those who answer a wired steel phone once he purposely triggers it to ring. Rogers is Marie, the daughter of a wealthy father who arranged a will reading with twelve guests at the family's dinner table, only to drop dead before getting to announce who got what. A thirteenth chair was open and her father left his entire fortune to the absent occupant. The only option to securing that fortune is to get rid of everyone in line to receive it. Marie was left with a peculiar letter which worked as some sort of code, perhaps to a hidden safe. The killer obviously wants the inheritance, but another mystery arises..on the night of her 21st birthday, someone shot at Marie, with her narrowly escaping, and a person, with extensive plastic surgery to resemble her was electrocuted on accident. The complex case is under the investigation of private dick, Phil Winston(Lyle Talbot), a dapper detective who is often called on by Police Captain Ryan(J Farrell MacDonald)when he needs special help solving a difficult murder. Ryan must endure the ineptitude of his partner Detective Grump(Paul Hurst, the comedy relief of the film), who falls asleep on the job and isn't very reliable in following instructions..Ryan must tolerate his stupidity because Grump is the relative of his superior. Meanwhile, the relatives of Marie's father arrive and are under suspicion..there's a murderer among them, yet the innocent among them must be protected. We, along with Winston, realize upon their joining together that Marie's family loathe each other, constantly, through clever and vicious ways, insulting one another. Winston somehow must put aside his distaste for these greedy vultures and find the killer, while also uncovering the mystery behind the "substitute" for Marie who was electrocuted.
Clocking at little over an hour, this mystery has all the interesting trappings associated with pulp crime novels. The number of suspects and red herrings. The rising death toll as the race to solve the case becomes ever so important. Adding the clues up one by one and soon discovering(..through a mistake by the killer who left the switch on with the result being another accidental murder)where the hiding place of the murderer is located. The damsel in distress. The intelligent, wise detective with a knack for getting to the bottom of things no matter how complex they might seem. The identity of the thirteenth guest may not be that mind-blowing, but getting to that point is a lot of fun. Hurst is injected into the plot as a way to ease the morbidity of the material, his bumbling antics on display to rile up poor MacDonald who just wants to strangle him sometimes.
The eccentricities of the suspects, and their treatment of one another add much to the entertainment of this little-known gem. Rogers, who isn't in the film as much as her top billing would surmise, still shows the spunk and charm that would later become so visible in her films with Fred Astaire. Talbot fills the William Powell role of classy, sophisticated sleuth, liquor always at his disposal, and a way of dealing with situations when they get out of hand. I'm guessing this flick is not particularly well known and could be of certain value to fans of these types of films. Some of the comedy is a bit dated, but I will admit to be amused for the most part.
Clocking at little over an hour, this mystery has all the interesting trappings associated with pulp crime novels. The number of suspects and red herrings. The rising death toll as the race to solve the case becomes ever so important. Adding the clues up one by one and soon discovering(..through a mistake by the killer who left the switch on with the result being another accidental murder)where the hiding place of the murderer is located. The damsel in distress. The intelligent, wise detective with a knack for getting to the bottom of things no matter how complex they might seem. The identity of the thirteenth guest may not be that mind-blowing, but getting to that point is a lot of fun. Hurst is injected into the plot as a way to ease the morbidity of the material, his bumbling antics on display to rile up poor MacDonald who just wants to strangle him sometimes.
The eccentricities of the suspects, and their treatment of one another add much to the entertainment of this little-known gem. Rogers, who isn't in the film as much as her top billing would surmise, still shows the spunk and charm that would later become so visible in her films with Fred Astaire. Talbot fills the William Powell role of classy, sophisticated sleuth, liquor always at his disposal, and a way of dealing with situations when they get out of hand. I'm guessing this flick is not particularly well known and could be of certain value to fans of these types of films. Some of the comedy is a bit dated, but I will admit to be amused for the most part.