Complete credited cast: | |||
Edward G. Robinson | ... | Damon Welles / Jules Chautard | |
Mary Astor | ... | Jessica Wells | |
Ricardo Cortez | ... | Ben Weston | |
Mae Clarke | ... | Daphne Flowers | |
Louis Calhern | ... | Stanley Vance | |
Arthur Byron | ... | Dr. Kendall | |
John Eldredge | ... | Horace Barry Jones | |
David Landau | ... | Curtis | |
Emily Fitzroy | ... | Hattie | |
Henry O'Neill | ... | Inspector Crane | |
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Anton Stengel | ... | Stage Manager |
Arthur Aylesworth | ... | Morgue Keeper | |
Margaret Dale | ... | Aunt Martha Temple | |
Virginia Sale | ... | Peabody - Weston's Secretary |
Actress Jessica Wells, sister of actor Damon Wells, is on top of her form except when her husband Vance is around. When Vance takes her to the apartment of a theatrical producer she comes home incoherent and Vance is found dead in the vanished producer's hotel suite. Written by Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>
Interesting and unusual movie. It seemed to start out as a routine backstage mystery, but as time went by, it got more and more convoluted. Edward G Robinson plays an actor about to star in a promising new play. Mary Astor is his actress sister about to make a comeback. It seems she was married to a Svengali named Stanley Vance, played by Louis Calhern. Mary was under his spell when he disappeared, until she hears that he died. She then goes to pieces. That sets the stage for the plot. It takes three years for her to recover, she falls in love with Ricardo Cortez, and when she is just about to make her breakthrough, he's back.
Now it gets bizarre. She immediately falls back under his spell - and I'm not kidding. She doesn't respond to anyone but him. Her eyes glaze over. She walks around in a trance. In fact, she acts a lot like the current crop of actors we have coming out of Hollywood today. Anyway, Vance doesn't really care about her, he just wants to cash in on her share of the profits from the play. The problem for Eddie is what to do about it. Well, I won't tell you, except to say it involves a complicated, and totally implausible plan. It really doesn't matter though. If you wouldn't watch this movie for any other reason, watch it for the unbelievable, robotic performance of Mary Astor. It was mesmerizing in it's own right, but it unintentionally bordered on laugh out loud funny. If I have a complaint, it would be that the Code was in full force in 1934. You or I could have come up with a better finale.