Well this one was quite absorbing right up to the end with the revelation of the murder weapon and the killer. A poisoned Victrola needle - What!!?? How clumsily inept would you have to be to scratch yourself with one of those, especially on top of your hand the way cop Dugan was dispatched. And did Van Kempen (Robert Frazer) purposely wound himself with the same needle? I'm not going back to find out; by that time I thought the suspense of setting up all the other suspects was pretty much wasted.
You see, the exposition of the story was pretty intricate for an early 1930's flick, and there weren't the type of plot holes you could usually drive a getaway car through. There were plenty of suspects who would have had a reason to get Miriam King (Dorothy Revier) out of the way, who by the way was a fairly accomplished juggler the way she handled her men. Say, wouldn't it have been great if Chief Barton (Conway Tearle) had put the finger on Elizabeth Hawthorn in that billiard scene right near the end? I thought that was the direction they were going, especially the way she might have telegraphed her guilt when she first learned of Miss King's murder. I think that would have been a more satisfying conclusion than watching Van Kempen lay out the whole story as he died in the ambulance.
My best takeaway from the picture is right up there in my summary line, the bit about 'not talking to a gaga', spoken by Miss King before she met her demise. Couldn't help but relate to the current antics of pop celebrity Lady Gaga who's a walking definition of the word - self absorbed, infatuated and silly all at the same time.
You see, the exposition of the story was pretty intricate for an early 1930's flick, and there weren't the type of plot holes you could usually drive a getaway car through. There were plenty of suspects who would have had a reason to get Miriam King (Dorothy Revier) out of the way, who by the way was a fairly accomplished juggler the way she handled her men. Say, wouldn't it have been great if Chief Barton (Conway Tearle) had put the finger on Elizabeth Hawthorn in that billiard scene right near the end? I thought that was the direction they were going, especially the way she might have telegraphed her guilt when she first learned of Miss King's murder. I think that would have been a more satisfying conclusion than watching Van Kempen lay out the whole story as he died in the ambulance.
My best takeaway from the picture is right up there in my summary line, the bit about 'not talking to a gaga', spoken by Miss King before she met her demise. Couldn't help but relate to the current antics of pop celebrity Lady Gaga who's a walking definition of the word - self absorbed, infatuated and silly all at the same time.