Truly Dreadful Film

Perfectly adorable

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Dick Purcell (Lance O'Leary), Ann Sheridan (Nurse Sarah Keate), Anne Nagel (Gwen Kingery), Ben Welden (Gerald Frawley), Elspeth Dudgeon (Aunt Lucy Kingery), Hugh O'Connell (Newell Morse), Sheila Bromley (Terice Von Elm), Dennie Moore (Annette), Trevor Bardette (Brucker, the chauffeur), Jean Benedict (Helen Page), Anderson Lawlor (Joe Page), William Hopper (Lal Killian), Anthony Averill (Julian Barre), Ertic Stanley (Hubert Kingery), Jack Mower (coroner), Stuart Holmes (jury foreman), Loia Chaney (secretary), John Harron (director).Director: NOEL SMITH. Screenplay: Stuart L. Lowe, Robertson White. Based on the 1930 novel Mystery of Hunting's End by Mignon G. Eberhart. Photography: L. William O'Connell. Film editor: Frank Magee. Art director: Stanley Fleischer. Gowns: Howard Shoup. Music: Howard Jackson. Dialogue director: John Langan. Sound recording: Leslie G. Hewitt. Producer: Bryan Foy. A First National picture.Copyright 23 December 1937 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Palace: 28 June 1938. U.S. release: 21 May 1938. 56 minutes.SYNOPSIS: The daughter of a murdered millionaire (who supposedly committed suicide) summons to the family hunting lodge all the people who were there on the fateful occasion.NOTES: Sixth and final entry in the Sarah Keate series. An odd series for a number of reasons. In Eberhart's novels, Sarah Keate is a middle-aged, spinster nurse. Aline MacMahon was an ideal choice for the role in the first of the series, While the Patient Slept. For the second movie, however, Sarah was not only made younger but underwent a name change to "Sally Keating". Marguerite Churchill continued this trend in the third film, Murder by an Aristocrat. Would you believe, in the fourth film, the character reverted to middle age and was played by Jane Darwell? But for the fifth and sixth entries, Sarah/Sally became young again in the person of Ann Sheridan. COMMENT: A confused and confusing mystery thriller that involves so many characters milling around in such a short space of time, it's virtually impossible to keep track of who's who, unless you see the film twice! Unfortunately, it's hardly worth a single once-over. Ann Sheridan fans will be most disappointed. Not only does their idol contribute a perfunctory performance, she spends what little footage she has in a dowdy nurse's uniform. The actual feminine lead is Anne Nagel, but she too seems somewhat bland and colorless. It's left to Elspeth Dudgeon to hold up the distaff end with her Dame May Witty impersonation from "Night Must Fall". On the male side of the ledger, Dick Purcell makes a tepid hero and Trevor Bardette an unconvincing domestic. Only Ben Welden fitfully shines. Director Noel Smith does little to earn his pay but keep the jumbled events moving steadily towards the fade-out.

When the film begins, the head of a corporation tells the other board members who are there at his hunting lodge that he knows one of them forged company documents. Not surprisingly, before he can tell who it is, he's found dead in his room with a gun in his hand. It's quickly ruled a suicide--which makes you wonder what these board members told the police*. So it's up to a private dick, Lance O'Leary (Dick Purcell) to determine what really happened. However, soon ANOTHER suicide occurs.This short murder mystery is just about exactly the same as about 95% of the B-murder mysteries. There are many clichés here. One is the guy who thinks he knows whodunnit--and vows to say something in the morning....only to then be killed! Another is whenever anything important is said, someone unseen just happens to be listening outside the window! It also features the scene with everyone in the room and the killer betrays himself! And, when the dick is attacked near the end...everyone just stands around except for one dopey lady who, naturally, slugs the dick on the head! All in all, as brainless and mind-numbing as a typical mystery with not to distinguish it.*I checked and apparently testing the body for gunshot residue to determine if a person actually DID kill themselves was not done until the 1970s, so this is not a hole in the story.

Decent old programmer with a locked door murder mystery and a cast of familiar faces as suspects. A bland detective (Dick Purcell) tries to get to the bottom of things as all the suspects are gathered in the obligatory old dark house. You can figure out the rest. Solid cast includes Ann Sheridan, Ben Welden, William Hopper, and Anne Nagel. "Best name" award goes to Elspeth Dudgeon, who plays the cranky old lady in the wheelchair. My favorite scene comes at the end when Purcell goes to arrest the killer and is ignominiously knocked on his rear end. Also, dig that fireplace with the quote "The end of all good hunting is nearer than you dream" across the front in huge letters. If that had anything to do with anything, I must have missed it. This isn't the type of movie anyone's going to brag about seeing but if you're looking for a breezy whodunnit, you could do a lot worse than this. Short runtime helps a lot.

I enjoyed this movie very much. Considering it is a B-movie, in my opinion, it is a good B-movie. It is based on the mystery novel "The Mystery of Hunting's End" by Mignon G. Eberhart, and the movie title "Mystery House" is very appropriate, since a group of people are gathered together in a house where a man was murdered. The acting by the entire cast is good. With the exception of Dick Purcell and Ann Sheridan, I was not familiar with any of them. It is a short movie, but there is much action in less than one hour. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in a good mystery movie. The hour went by very fast.