JohnHowardReid Director: ALBERT RAY. Dialogue: Armitage Trail. Continuity: Francis Hyland. Adapted by Arthur Hoerl from the novel by Armitage Trail. Photography: Harry Neumann. Camera operator: Tom Galligan. Film editor: Leete R. Brown. Art director: Gene Hornbostel. Production manager: Sidney Algier. Assistant director: Gene Anderson. RCA Sound System. Producer: M. H. Hoffman. Executive producer: Bernard Smith. Copyright 23 August 1932 by Monogram Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 30 August 1932. U.K. release through Equity British. 69 minutes. Filmed at RKO-Pathé Studios.U.K. release title: LADY BEWARE.SYNOPSIS: Late at night, a cab halts in front of the big, empty house at 122 Old Mill Road. The blonde passenger tells the driver to wait while she unlocks the front door. In the meantime, a man (glimpsed only as a shadow) enters the house via the back door. Inside, the blonde woman plays a flashlight over the moldy sheet- covered furnishings as she walks along the dusty, cobweb-shrouded corridor… NOTES: The first film in which Ginger Rogers achieved star billing proved a lucky break for Monogram who kept the film in very, very profitable release until 1943 when they re-made it as "The Mystery of the Thirteenth Guest". COMMENT: Dialogue "expert" Trail is the author of "Scarface". Although it has a few bright moments, most of the dialogue is self- consciously cornball and just plain awful. Most of the acting is stagey to boot. The only player to come out of the movie with any real credit is, oddly enough, Ginger Rogers herself. Erville Alderson and a couple of the other players rate as not too bad, while M. Eagles and his pal are just plain innocuous. The "comic" relief, mainly provided by Paul Hurst, often comes over like a lead balloon, though Hurst's build-up does contribute to an agreeably risqué surprise fade-out.It's Ginger's film and like all good heroines she puts herself in danger not once or twice but at least four or five times during the movie's complicated twists and turnings.Faced with this over-talkative script with its preposterous plot, amateurish dialogue and shallow characterization, director Albert Ray has done wonders in spicing it up with a bit of atmospheric photography and even three or four effective tracking shots. Plus a cleverly executed 360 degree pan. The art director and cinematographer are also to be commended. Oddly though, the star is way outclassed in the costume department by some of the lesser players. That's a turn-up for the books — as is the script which subtly (and amazingly) dares to thumb its collective nose at the bluenoses in the Hays Office.

vert001 If you're going to watch a Poverty Row production from Hollywood's Golden Age you're going to have to make allowances. The budgets were tiny, the shooting schedules hectic (generally 4-6 days), and the talent involved generally those who couldn't get a job with the real studios. THE THIRTEENTH GUEST, however, is actually a pretty decent B-movie effort. The director and cinematographer appear to have been competent if not inspired, and the cast is unusually talented, headed by young actors who were getting somewhere (Lyle Talbot and especially Ginger Rogers) and a solid character actor (J. Farrell MacDonald). The plot is imaginative albeit filled with holes, and the frequent comical interludes might charitably be described as inconsistent. (Spoiler) Shades of Psycho as our leading lady (Ginger Rogers) is murdered about five minutes into the picture. Or is it shades of Vertigo as there she is again about thirty minutes into the picture? There's a bizarre method of execution, a family get together filled with black comedy that should have been better than it was, and even a smooth-talking super sleuth (Talbot) to do the job that the hopelessly incompetent cops could never manage on their own. What else could you ask for? Maybe a little pacing, a little more of the acid-tongued Marjorie, a lot less of the idiotic detective played by Paul Hurst. but what the heck? The movie is in the public domain and is guaranteed to be worth what you'd have to pay to see it. A decent way to spend an hour or so on a rainy day.

bkoganbing Were it not for the presence of future superstar Ginger Rogers in the lead, no one would remember The Thirteenth Guest. But I suppose for that very reason it was remade by Monogram in the next decade with absolutely no one truly memorable in the film. I will say the remake had very few deviations in plot from the original.Ginger plays two roles in this film, an heiress and someone who is given plastic surgery to look like her. The lookalike is killed and the method of execution is part of the gimmick of this whole movie. In any event the real Ginger shows up with results similar to what happens in Laura though not as dramatic.Ginger comes from a family of greedy relatives. It's only a question of which ones are trying to keep her from inheriting. Even at that there's another plot twist I won't reveal.For fans of Ginger Rogers who want to see all her movies. \

Mike-764 A millionaire Morgan invited 12 of his family members to his house for a dinner party (but only 11 showed up), but the host died in the middle of the event. Thirteen years later the house remains boarded up when Morgan's daughter Mary arrives, but is killed by a mysterious person walking in the house. Captain Ryan calls in investigator Phil Winston to help solve the case. Winston and Ryan suspect the family lawyer Barksdale, but later he is found murdered in the house. The two believe that one of the people invited to the party is the killer and question all the family members, but later Mary Morgan reappears and Winston finds out someone hired a woman to impersonate her in order to get her inheritance. Winston has to make sure all of the family members are watched, in order to make sure the real Mary Morgan doesn't become a victim. I was slightly disappointed by the movie considering it struggled to flow smoothly in terms of direction and script. Talbot was playing the role as if to get some scout from MGM to notice him. The rest of the cast (including Rogers) played their roles to the typical Old Dark House mystery movie stereotype. The film seemed to appear to be the first of a series with Talbot's character. It should have been better. Rating, 5.