Whilst it's not in the same league as Poirot, it's a reasonably interesting story in the mould of the popular detective mysteries of the time. This is a clever little 'locked room mystery' - an impossible murder where nobody could possibly have done it....but they did. I just can't warm to Adolphe Menjou though.
It's directed well enough, there's always something happening and it's got a lively feel about it - a sense of mystery - a sense of intrigue. It won't have you on the edge of your seat but you've got to find out how the dastardly deed was done. Columbia's top cameraman Ted Tetzaff has great fun playing with his new zoom lens and the overall effect is a lot more imaginative and interesting to look at than your typical B-movie. The scrip by Robert Riskin (he of the Robert Riskin-Frank Capra partnership) is snappy and witty but nothing too special.
The problem with this or rather my problem with this is that I just don't like Adolphe Menjou. In this his character is as one dimensional as nearly every other role I've seen him in. It's probably not all his fault, the character of Thatcher Colt is really rather dull with no interesting characteristics. Neither is he that great a detective since about half a dozen people get murdered whilst under his watch. His drunken sidekick however played by Skeets Gallagher is actually one of the best characters in the whole thing - he's certainly the only likeable one. Usually the drunken sidekick is just an annoying, unfunny irritant but because the rest of the characters are so uninteresting he adds a bit of life to the whole thing thanks to Robert Riskin seeing that something needed to be added to keep everyone awake.
It's directed well enough, there's always something happening and it's got a lively feel about it - a sense of mystery - a sense of intrigue. It won't have you on the edge of your seat but you've got to find out how the dastardly deed was done. Columbia's top cameraman Ted Tetzaff has great fun playing with his new zoom lens and the overall effect is a lot more imaginative and interesting to look at than your typical B-movie. The scrip by Robert Riskin (he of the Robert Riskin-Frank Capra partnership) is snappy and witty but nothing too special.
The problem with this or rather my problem with this is that I just don't like Adolphe Menjou. In this his character is as one dimensional as nearly every other role I've seen him in. It's probably not all his fault, the character of Thatcher Colt is really rather dull with no interesting characteristics. Neither is he that great a detective since about half a dozen people get murdered whilst under his watch. His drunken sidekick however played by Skeets Gallagher is actually one of the best characters in the whole thing - he's certainly the only likeable one. Usually the drunken sidekick is just an annoying, unfunny irritant but because the rest of the characters are so uninteresting he adds a bit of life to the whole thing thanks to Robert Riskin seeing that something needed to be added to keep everyone awake.