the audience applauded

hyped garbage

best movie i've ever seen.

As Good As It Gets

****SPOILERS***When the attempt to declare Cassie Denham, Sarah Padden unable to take care of her finances as well as herself failed she turns the tables on her greedy relatives including her shyster nephew Grason,Gavin Gordon, who tried to get her committed. That's by her inviting them to stay the weekend at her place in the Catskill Mountains "Graylock" in order for them to get a piece of her three million dollar fortune.It's at "Graylock" that things start to get a bit creepy with a number of the guests including Garson ending up dead with Cassie suspected in murdering them. It turns out that Cassie has hidden't the three million dollars somewhere in the house and is using it a bate to get the real killer to expose him or herself as well by killing off all his competition for the money. That in order to do the job of knocking off all of her greedy relatives for her. The big surprise is what Cassie has planned at the very end of the movie in setting the place on fire, yes she has fire insurance, and see who's the one who'll run into to the place to get his or her hands on the money, the three million, hidden there. That would expose the killer and exonerate her at the same time.***SPOILERS***Were also giver hot shot reporter Bob White, Wallace Ford, and his pretty assistant Nora O'Brien,Marian Marsh, a chance to do their thing in the movie for more or less comedy relief. In the end the killer or killers are finally exposed or smoked out by them freaking out when the mansion 'Greylock" is put to the torch by Cassie and after being arrested by the police lead by Sheriff William Boggs, George Guhl, who invited himself in and admit their involvement in the murderers. The biggest surprise of all in Cassie's three million dollar fortune that she had hidden turned out to be confederated or funny money dating back to the Civil War! That Cassie's parents kept in the hope that the South will rise again!

This is a cheap and antiquated production - upon seeing it, if one didn't know better, one might assume that there was almost no advancement in any areas of filmmaking between, say, 1931 and 1941, which of course is not true. The script has some knowing moments of satire at the genre (the outsider who comes in the "last 3 pages", the disappearing corpses "just after the middle of the picture", the closing gag about the Hays office, etc.), and fairly unpredictable culprit(s), but the final twist leaves a bad taste behind since it renders the preceding deaths both meaningless and avoidable. As the eccentric and sharp-tongued aunt, Sarah Padden is the best out of a generally B-level cast. ** out of 4.

Perennial second-from-the-left-cop-in-the-station-house, George Guhl, has a featured role, would you believe, in Monogram's 1941 tale, Murder by Invitation, which turns out to be a sort of Mrs Longfellow Deeds Meets the Cat and the Canary. With halfway competent direction and a halfway appropriate budget, this may well have turned out as sleeper of the year. The money is there all right, but Phil Rosen's direction is strictly from hunger. The picture's potential is unrealized. Obviously left largely to their own devices, the players do what they can to salvage the film. Although inclined to over-act, I thought Sarah Padden carried off the main role with a fair amount of conviction, although other reviewers disagree. George Guhl was a big letdown, and I was also disappointed that Marian Marsh was simply just another pretty blonde in this outing and no longer the charismatic charmer of Beauty and the Boss.

An old lady is taken to court by her heirs because they feel she is wasting her fortune and that she should be put away for her own safety. Turning the tables on the greed family in the courtroom she insists that any of her heirs who want a piece of her money show up at her house that night. What happens next is a very enjoyable murder/comedy as people start dying as every scrambles to find the fortune.Anyone expecting anything other than a silly time should stay as far away from this movie as possible. Yes, there is a mystery, but there are a good bunch of laughs as well, as reporter Wallace Ford and his girl wander among the crazies trying to get a story while trying to stay alive.I really like this film, especially the old lady that who is smarter than the relatives who are trying to put her way. This is a good friend of a movie that I'll take out now and again when I need to just sit and veg.If you come across it, by all means give it a try, we all need to laugh now and then.