mark.waltz There is a bit of truth in the utilization of that famous Noel Coward song in describing this odd murder mystery comedy that like Coward's old pal Elaine Stritch once responded to, "All those marvelous parties really weren't so marvelous", especially since much of it you couldn't remember. I've been to a few of those not so marvelous parties in my time, fun during the first 3/4 of them, but a blank slate for that last half where nobody remembered much of the last quarter, and if they did, they weren't talking about it. In the hands of the very flashy James Whale, this Universal film is a bizarre post code classic that seems to have somehow bypassed the Hays code in certain aspects. The opening flash of the party invitation indicates a five course meal at various locations, embellished with the promise of lots of cocktails, and a recovery breakfast to finish it all off. The idle rich become drunken fools, turning each location into an elaborate but decadent setting for all sorts of idiotic behavior, including a musical production number like sequence where they all of a sudden end up in blackface, complete with the big lips and stereotypical dialects, as the staff (lead by butler Arthur Treacher, minus his fish n' chips) looks on in disgust. The two leading members of this celestial event are Robert Young and Constance Cummings, and they are the ones who find a dead body among their partyers the very next morning. The arrival of Young's detective acquaintance Edward Arnold and his bumbling assistant Edward Brophy gets the investigation underway, and while nothing that follows the party itself can compare to the events of the intoxicating evening, the film itself becomes an unforgettable mix of bitchy humor and insinuations of guilt, with a rhythmic sense to its dialog that reminded me of "Love Me Tonight". The party sequence has each of the guests (which include Sally Eilers, Robert Armstrong and Reginald Denny) sparring with each other in passive/aggressive hateful undertones, making it clear that in spite of their being a part of the elite upper crust, they really can barely stand each other. Young and Cummings are fantastic in their parts, and seeing Ms. Cummings here makes me wonder why she never became a bigger film star. She was an able comedienne, charming and beautiful, yet many of her other film parts cast her in bland heroine roles. Treacher gets some of the very best lines in the film, and his exit in the final seconds of the film (along with a brilliantly written construction set car accident sequence) are the two funniest moments of the film which had me chortling hysterically. Through Whale's gorgeous eyes to detail, this film becomes an unforgettable romp in the high society hay, a far cry from his horror films, but near to the mark of his landmark 1936 version of "Show Boat".

utgard14 Comedy-mystery about a murder following a night of hard partying from a group of young ne'er-do-wells. Fast-forward sixty years and this might feature people being eviscerated and a bouncy heroine in a revealing tank top running for her life. But these were (thankfully) simpler times so, instead, we get the great Edward Arnold coming in to investigate the case. It's one of those grand old "no one leaves the crime scene until I solve the case" murder mysteries, told with style and wit by the master of both, director James Whale.It's an enjoyable movie with a really good cast that includes Robert Young, Constance Cummings, Reginald Denny, Robert Armstrong, Edward Brophy, Jack La Rue, Rafaela Ottiano, George Meeker, and Sally Eilers, among others. But Eddie Arnold is the scene-stealer, as was almost always the case with him. The only reason I don't rate it higher is the "cute" gets old after awhile and I found myself wishing they would wrap it up about twenty minutes before they did. Still, worth a look for anyone who ever wondered what a murder mystery would be like if you filled the cast with characters from a screwball comedy. Also, I love the references to Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula's Daughter. The former was, of course, Whale's masterpiece. The latter was the movie Universal head Carl Laemmle, Jr. wanted Whale to direct. To get out of it, Whale pushed Laemmle to let him adapt a novel called The Hangover Murders. That became this film.

PeterPangloss This film seems to be an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the Thin Man, which came out the previous year, and while Young and Cummings are fine, they can't match either the urbanity or the chemistry of Powell and Loy. The acting is generally top-notch, although Sally Eilers' overwrought hysteria becomes really grating after awhile.The drinking here seems more witless and reckless than in the Thin Man; at one point speeding drunken driver Young barely misses being flattened by a train, resulting in general hilarity among his passengers. Several times he is shown going 90 mph while plastered, once with a police detective as a passenger! All very cute in 1935, I guess.There's a lot of amusing 30's banter, especially in the early part of the film. The plot is of the usual type for a murder mystery of the period, with the suspects gathered in the drawing room, and the announcement of the murderer's name, although there are some twists. I did think it was just a little bit too much to believe when the detective allowed the apparently guilty party to get a smoke from their own cigarette box--resulting in silly, cheap theatrics that added nothing to the plot.

Alonzo Church This is one of the more bizarre screwball comedy/mysteries to emerge from the studios in the wake of the detecting/drinking classic, The Thin Man. It's as if somebody said, "let's show what jobless rich people would act like if they really drank as much as Nick and Nora Charles do and tried to solve a mystery." And then someone said -- "let's get James Whale to do it! After all, Bride of Frankenstein really is, at heart, a comedy!" And, the resulting film, "Remember Last Night?", is, at heart, a horror film -- perhaps the scariest film about drunks made before The Lost Weekend. The film follows the drinking and detecting adventures of Robert Young and Constance Cummings, who, after a night of wild partying and obnoxious, boorish drunken behavior, find that their host has been murdered, and that they can't remember what they did the night before. Robert fortunately has the sense to call in his old friend Edward Arnold, who helps Young solve the mystery.The mystery plot -- which isn't too bad -- really is subordinate here to the setting, characters, set design. Most of the "comedy" -- delivered by characters who are plastered and who are extremely insensitive to those around them -- is rude and, in one scene, incredibly racist. Anyone who spent any time in a frat house, or with the privileged fellow who has had about four or five too many, would recognize the "comedy". This unfunniness actually seems to be a deliberate choice by the director. (As is the cold and ugly set design.) Props here to Arthur Treacher, who plays (surprise) Robert Young's long suffering butler. He and Edward Arnold seem to be the only characters who haven't lost their humanity to drink. Suitably, the close of the movie belongs to Treacher, and the way Young and his buddies react to him.This is an easier movie to respect than to like. It would make an intriguing double feature with La Dolce Vita.