gridoon2018
"King Murder" is one of the least successful old-time mysteries I've seen lately. It's all talk, and the talk is mostly mechanical, and spoken by actors you've probably never heard of (so there's not even the fun of recognition). Natalie Moorhead is the only one I recognized, and she appears briefly at the beginning and the end of the movie. At least the resolution is fair (in both senses of the word). *1/2 out of 4.
kidboots
Classy Natalie Moorehead plays Beth Hawthorn, who is worried her fiancée is involved with a notorious gold-digger, Miriam King (Dorothy Reiver). Miriam is being blackmailed by a Mr. Scott and agrees to ask one of her lovers for the $5,000 needed. Before she can obtain the money she is murdered.Pretty Marceline Day plays Pearl Hope, Miriam's former room-mate. She is in love with Marino (Don Alvarado, a Latin type actor in vogue in the early sound era) who was also involved with Miriam months before. Everybody is implicated in the murder.Conway Tearle, a matinée idol of the silent screen, plays the chief detective. Maurice Black, who had a long list of credits usually playing ethnics was Mr. Scott.The story isn't much although there are so many suspects you will never guess who did it. It is just nice to see 3 beautiful actresses in the same short film.
Hitchcoc
This is about philandering. It has at the center, a gold digger who is using planned extortion to get what she wants. She sets herself up, leaving little choice among her victims. Of course, the men are truly culpable and deserve much of what they get. The conclusion is pretty far fetched. If you are old enough to own a phonograph (turntable) you will get my point. The bad guys are depending a lot on some pretty random incompetence. This is interesting and has a few twists and turns, so it's not bad, but the conclusion is unsatisfying. The character of the young woman is pretty well portrayed and the acting isn't too bad. Still, it could have been better with a little more imagination.
pdutram
A tidy little murder mystery from Chesterfield that keeps you guessing until the end. Who killed the blackmailing gold digger? There are plenty of suspects including three of her current marks, wives and girlfriends, and a former partner. The murderer accidentally (not intentionally) gets some of his own medicine in the end. Any of these 1930s quickies that surprises at the end is worth seeing. Chesterfield has a fairly good record for turning them out, better than most second tier studios. Dorothy Revier as the two-faced vixen is believable as "that kind of woman". You have to wonder how she can conceal her baser nature from the shills. The shapely Marceline Day is always worth watching. Conway Tearle's usual dull acting style fits perfectly here as the chief of detectives, reflecting the quiet competence of a man who has seen it all many times before. The plot moves at an appropriate police procedural pace.
AD
