Plot

Thirteen years ago, somebody murdered the wealthy host of a dinner party. Now, the guests from that event reunite at the creepy house where the crime took place to figure out who inherited the victim's estate.

Thirteen years ago there was a dinner party, to which the 13th guest failed to arrive. Now the master of the manor has died and left the bulk of his estate to this 13th guest, but nobody knows who this person might be, and somebody is murdering the remaining guests and placing their dead bodies at the table, each in the same seat he or she occupied at that other party 13 years ago.—John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

A mysterious young girl named Lela is found electrocuted in the abandoned Morgan mansion. At the request of Police Captain Ryan, private investigator (and suave playboy) Phil Winston takes time out from his carefree social life to help ferret out the murderer. Winston discovers that Lela had facial reconstruction so she would look identical to heiress Marie Morgan. Deducing that Marie was the intended victim, Winston gathers the Morgan family to the decrepit mansion in an attempt to trap the killer. The murders continue. Greed for the family's vast fortune makes everyone a suspect. In one of her first films, Ginger Rogers radiates star quality in the dual roles of Lela and Marie. With sleek direction by Albert Ray, The Thirteenth Guest (aka, Lady Beware) is a riveting murder mystery that is based on a novel by Armitage Trail, best known for writing the novel that became the source material for Scarface (1932).—Anonymous

Thirteen years ago, somebody murdered the wealthy host of a dinner party. Now the guests from that event reunite at the creepy house where the crime took place to figure out who inherited the victim's estate; meanwhile, Winston, a wisecracking private detective, tries to unmask the killer. Will he get to the bottom of the mystery--or will Captain Ryan from the police department solve the case before he does?—Anonymous

Marie Morgan takes her flashlight and key and opens the door of a dark, shuttered, abandoned old house overgrown with decay. She is amazed to see, on a cobweb-covered table, a brand-new telephone, and as she enters the dining room, where rats are gnawing at the decayed remains of a sumptuous feast laid out years ago for 13 guests, she is also surprised to find that electric lights have been installed. She sits in the thirteenth chair and reconstructs the scene of 13 years before, when she, as a young girl, sat at the side of her father, who died at the table after reading a mysterious will. Outside two people climb out of an unlighted car and enter the house. Screams pierce the night air, and her cab driver goes for the police. The police find Marie dead at her place at the table. Police Captain Ryan calls in criminologist Phil Winston to assist him in the investigation. Police officers bring in Marie's brother Harold 'Bud' Morgan and his friend Thor Jensen, both also guests at the fatal meal 13 years before. They identify the body and suspect family lawyer Robert Barksdale. Order are given to pick up Barksdale, who is later found dead at his original place at the table. Winston is called, and as he arrives, police officers bring in Marie Morgan, the supposedly dead girl, who explains that she was frightened away by the screams when she was there and has just come out of hiding. Winston determines that a double was substituted for her at the table, and takes her to his apartment where he persuades her to call the surviving members of the dinner to come to his apartment. First to arrive is Uncle John Adams, whom Marie describes as mean enough to kill anybody, followed by Aunt Jane and Uncle Dick Thornton and their daughter Marjorie. Harold and Thor also arrive. Finding them unwilling to assist and inclined to make a joke of the whole affair, Winston orders their confinement, but later has them released with a police officer ordered to shadow each one. The trail leads back to the old house, when Marie is given a false message to meet Winston. He rescues her from a secret room and the clutches of the killer, and finds that the motive had been the attempted theft of a combination in her possession which unlocked a vault containing keys to a safe-deposit box disclosing her as the beneficiary of a will made prior to the dinner party 13 years before.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

On the eve of her twenty-first birthday, Marie Morgan returns to the house in which she grew up, which has been empty for thirteen years. She has a slip of paper from Barksdale, the executor of her father's estate, which reads "13-13-13." While Marie investigates the sound of footsteps, a scream and a shot are heard. Later, police arrive at the house on the advice of Marie's cabdriver and find her electrocuted body seated at the dinner table. Police investigator Captain Ryan calls in hotshot detective Phil Winston and tells him the story of how years before, Marie's father had announced that his millions would go to the "thirteenth guest" at a family dinner, a person who never arrived, and then died immediately after declaring his intentions. Marie's brother Brad and their friend Jensen verify that Marie's body is in the exact seat that she sat in on the night of her father's death. To everyone's astonishment, the real Marie appears at the house very much alive, and informs them that she was able to hide when she heard the scream and the shot, and then took herself to the police station. The police discover scars on the dead girl that indicate she had facial reconstruction to make her look like Marie. Phil suspects that someone who attended the infamous dinner years before is responsible for the murder. His prime suspect is Barksdale, the executor of the will, until he, too, is killed in the house and placed in his seat at the table. When the Morgan family refuses to cooperate in Phil's investigation, he places them all in jail for safekeeping, but another murder takes place in the house when someone tries to use the phone. Phil and Ryan discover that the phone is made of steel, and the victims have been electrocuted when they pick it up. The man who operated on Leila, Marie's lookalike, informs Phil that Jensen came with Leila and also had surgery. After Phil has the family released from jail, Marie is called to the house by him but is grabbed by a masked man before she can get there. Brad and Phil, meanwhile, arrive and find Jensen at the house. Jensen confesses to being involved in a scheme with Barksdale and Leila to get the combination to the safe containing the inheritance. Although Jensen admits he did try to kill the real Marie, he insists the masked man killed Leila. Phil realizes there are two factions at work and orders the police to smash through a wall, where they find the electrocution contraption. They also find Marie, who has locked the masked man in the safe. The masked man turns out to be her uncle Adams. Marie finds a letter from her father informing her that she is the "thirteenth guest," and that he was making a melodramatic attempt to save her fortune and her life. The letter warns her not to marry into a strange and greedy family as he did. There is no danger of that, however, as Marie and Phil have fallen in love.