Some things I liked some I did not.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

An early, inexpensive programmer involving death threats against the leader of a club that devotes itself to solving crimes. That's all it does. It solves crimes. The death threats come from a hooded gang of ritualists who commit evil acts. That's all they do. Commit evil acts.I imagine that in 1932 this was an entertaining hour spent at the local Biograph but more than eighty years later it seems pointless. It's presented as a comic mystery -- secret identities, hidden passages, a haunted mansion on Long Island -- but the mystery isn't really gripping and the comedy seems stale.James Gleason, playing James Gleason, is a police officer who sees something suspicious and blows his police whistle. Another officer runs up and asks if there's something going on. "Naw -- I was just tunin' up the cement," replies Gleason with incandescent sarcasm.Really, if you miss it, you won't be missing much.

This is one of those multiple personality films that could be classified as crime, horror, or spoof. It all starts off with a sinister overhead shot of a table with a hooded group of men (and one women) making a mysterious pact that will be attempted over the next hour with lots of confusion for everybody inside this Macadamia Manor. It is a field day for the hand-wringing of Zasu Pitts, already nervous, and made even more jittery by the sudden presence of a spooky old man (Raymond Hatton) who taunts her with the pending doom until she's ready to wring her own neck just to avoid what she fears awaits her. There are tons of mysterious events which take place over the film's short hour long running time, which includes a mysterious Indian (C. Henry Gordon) making seemingly sinister comments, people mysteriously disappearing, and typically dumb police offers (lead by James Gleason) trying to figure out what's going on. It really doesn't matter what's going on, because it is still all non-sensical, yet so entertainingly presented.

If you like the "old-dark-house" mysteries of the type they just don't make anymore, "The Crooked Circle" should be added to your collection. It has many of the trappings of the genre, but what sets it apart are some plot twists that are both clever and progressive for 1932. At times the film seems to surrender itself to surreal chaos, but just about everything is well-explained by the end. Zasu Pitts and James Gleason are a comedy match made in heaven: she thinks that a myth is a "female moth", and he thinks that "it's OK to be in a hurry, as long as you take your time about it". My DVD print is in pretty poor shape (it could use some re-mastering), but still watchable, and the sound is fairly clear despite some background hiss. **1/2 out of 4.

1930's comedy mystery about "The Crooked Circle" a band of hooded crooks who set about plotting the murder of some one who swore to oppose them. Enjoyable but really unremarkable little film, the movie works simply because the cast headed by Zazu Pitts and James Gleason (both of whom would later appear together in a couple of Hildegarde Withers films after Edna Mae Oliver dropped out of that series) and supported by a great cast of actors and actresses you know but may not know the name of (I don't hence the lack naming). A breezy hour long romp, the movie doesn't make a great deal of sense with mistaken identity, secret passages, ghostly music and people not being who they seem. Its the perfect thing for a dark and stormy night or a late night viewing when one is nostalgic for the late late show.