What a waste of my time!!!

Sadly Over-hyped

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Just watched this on TV and was astounded by the apparent level of ineptitude and overacting on display. The story involves the residents of a spooky London boarding house, each of whom seems to have a secret they wish to protect. There are mysterious goings-on a-plenty. Smugglings, terrorists, illicit romantic liaisons and suchlike. Not to mention murders. It seems that the writer has a fevered imagination and has tried to cram into the screenplay as many whodunnit cliches as possible. The whole thing is incredibly rushed, and plays like a frenetic game of Cluedo (Clue). The bumbling police are also on hand to draw the inevitable wrong conclusion. And the case is solved by one of the residents; a young writer. There, I've told you all you need to know in order to work out what is really going on! But do watch the film. It's what movies used to be about. Entertainment!

In addition to "Murder in the Museum", another almost excellent Alpha DVD of a somewhat disappointing movie is the 1941 Warner's remake of that studio's 1932 Teddington production, "Murder on the Second Floor".This time around, the movie has been re-titled, "Shadows on the Stairs". True, the nonsensical plot has its few good moments of real suspense, but sad to say, as the "B"-budget action gets sillier and sillier as it heads towards its cop-out conclusion, not even the lovely Heather Angel nor the efforts of a fine support cast headed by Frieda Inescort, Miles Mander, Turhan Bey (pronounced "Two-Ron Bay") and Paul Cavanagh, can save the day. Fortunately, aside from a few flash streaks right at the beginning, the Alpha DVD is of very good sound and visual quality.Why is it often the second-rate movies that make excellent DVD transfers? Answer: Because they have been undisturbed. Nobody has been hunting for them for stock footage or taking them out for a screening. So the second raters have been undisturbed and are usually (though not always) in the same excellent condition as on the day they were put away for safe keeping!

Set in the kind of boarding-houses that simply don't exist any more, SHADOWS ON THE STAIRS is based on a West End hit and contains a cast of Hollywood British stalwarts augmented by Turhan Bey as a suspicious Indian student (in his first film).The plot is straightforward: Mr. Reynolds (Paul Cavanagh) is apparently knifed to death one night when everyone else is asleep. The Scotland Yard inspector assigned to the case (Lumsden Hare) makes all the wrong deductions and is set right by aspiring playwright Hugh Bromilow (Bruce Lester). An hysterical maid Lucy (Phyliis Barry) apparently commits suicide as she realizes that Tom Armitage (Miles Mander) - who has had a clandestine affair with her - wants to dump her. Add to that an hysterical boarding-house maitresse d'h (Freda Inescort), and a comic spinster (Mary Snell), and you have plenty of material for a fifty- nine minute quickie.Director D. Ross Lederman ensures that his camera keeps moving up and down the staircases and from room to room; this fast pace seems ideal for a film with more than its share of implausibilities, no more so than at the end, when a final plot-twist reveals that we, the viewers, have been hoodwinked just as much as the Inspector. But it really doesn't matter: the film's primary purpose is to provide a showcase for a gallery of British eccentrics, even down to the mustachioed police constable (Charles Irwin), who averts his eyes to anything potentially salacious.

I was surprised to see the Warner Brothers/First National name attached to this film; their many movies of the era often presented a social ill as a backdrop to a story headlined by one of their main contract players. "Shadows on the Stairs" seems to have been done with just entertainment value in mind, and it works, up to a point. Had the story finished as the mystery it set out to be I would have been much more satisfied. However the "twist" ending only insures that it never actually occurred, which leaves one feeling somehow cheated.With that off my chest, I'll agree that there were some interesting characters and a curious set up designed to keep the viewer off balance. The opening scene in particular had a Charlie Chan feel to it, complete with dark alleys and a dock scene involving some type of contraband. The denture challenged Miss Snell (Mary Field) and the comical constable (Charles Irwin) provided laughs both intentional and otherwise.The two questions viewers will ask themselves along the way are "What's in the box?" and "Who's under the shawl?". At film's end they are both a moot point of course, but that still leaves one question. Why would the key of any occupant at the Armitage boarding house be able to open all of the rooms?