Wonderful character development!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Ray Walker (Jim Landis), Irene Ware (Elsa Carson), Berton Churchill (Paul Bernard), Hobart Bosworth (Charles Carson), Hedda Hopper (Mrs Tallman), E.E. Clive (Foot, the Carsons' butler), Harold Goodwin (Peter Blake, a chemist), William V. Mong (Henry Carson), Michael Mark (Arthur Bell), John St Polis (Dr Munro), Miki Morita (Choong), Aggie Herring (Mrs Dubbin, the Carsons' cook), Lloyd Whitlock (Watson), Rose Allen (Mrs Murphy), Kathryn Sheldon (Helen Smith), Fred Kelsey (Detective Bruce), Harry Strang (policeman).Director: CHARLES LAMONT. Screenplay: Eward Adamson. Based on the 1928 novel "The Last Trap" by Sinclair Gluck. Photography: M.A. Anderson. Film editor: Roland D. Reed. Art director: Edward C. Jewell. Production executive: Lon Young. Assistant director: Melville Shyer. Sound recording: Dick Tyler, senior. RCA Victor Sound System Producer: George R. Batcheller.Copyright 30 January 1936 by Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corporation. U.S. release: 15 January 1936. 64 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Who killed wealthy but miserly Henry Carson? Detective Jim Landis and a retired colleague (and neighbor of Carson), Paul Bernard, investigate. Suspicion falls on just about every member of the cast (including Bernard) except Jim Landis, who has formed an attachment with Henry's niece, Elsa. COMMENT: This talky murder mystery, flatly directed by Charles Lamont, features virtually no on-camera action at all. That's right, no action at all (except for a failed murder attempt and an obvious stock shot of a fire). What interest there is accumulates from the seemingly endless twists of suspicion (which continue right to the conclusion) and the obvious rapport of a more subdued than usual Ray Walker and a far less pompous and more personable Berton Churchill as the unlikely pair of investigators. And of course the lovely Irene Ware garners some attention as the girl in the case. Hobart Bosworth, E.E. Clive and Hedda Hopper also impress. Production values, however, are pretty miserable. A few sets (which were none too striking to begin with) are used over and over.

A quick run-through of most of the plot suggests that this whodunit film might be an Agatha Christie creation, as complicated as the story is. There are five to seven suspects, depending on whom you count. And the murder occurs in the library of a large house. But though the underlying premise is okay, "The Dark Hour" is no Agatha Christie creation. Two brothers live together along with their various servants. A couple of other suspects live close by, together with a retired detective. A building fire figures prominently in the plot.It took two viewings to make sense out of the story. In the end it does all come together, though there is some conveniently coincidental timing in certain plot points. The main reason to watch the film is the ending. My guess as to the identity of the murderer was dead wrong. So the ending was a pleasant surprise, and I was able to go back and see the subtle clues that I missed. Near the end a major twist further adds to the film's enjoyment. Spine-tingling suspense erupts near the climax as an unknown person shines a flashlight into a darkened bedroom, and then fires a shot.Almost all the scenes take place on indoor sets, implying that this was a low-budget film. Production design is minimal. I'm constantly amazed at how old houses back in those days were built with such high ceilings, making rooms look cavernous. B&W lighting has a slight noir effect. The camera is largely static. Very little music occurs during the film, but I like the score during the opening credits. Sound tends to be scratchy and overall sound quality is poor, which makes dialogue hard to understand in a few spots. Acting is acceptable, my favorite performance being the actor who plays blustery Mr. Bernard.It's not the best whodunit out there by any means. The script could have been improved to enhance clarity. And production values are weak. Still, it's not a bad movie. The final twenty minutes or so are quite good, and render "The Dark Hour" worth at least a one-time viewing.

"But I didn't do it." "What! Then who the heck did?" The Dark Hour keeps viewers—and detectives—guessing until the final moment. A truly puzzling mystery combined with some juicy performances make this quite a nifty little hour of fun.Berton Churchill as the retired detective—respectfully requested by his younger counterpart Ray Walker to assist on the case—is wonderfully nimble-minded and yet perhaps suspicious. Irene Ware is earnest and intelligent as the niece of rich old uncles in whose house the mystery develops—but she's obviously hiding something. Hedda Hopper bustles in occasionally with energy and smarts as an aunt who seems to know plenty but isn't saying just what.Not a fancy movie, but one that's paced just about right: The action certainly moves along quickly, but care is taken to allow us time to notice which characters are thinking a bit more than they're saying. Irene Ware's character, for example, is given an extra moment of screen time here and there—just enough of an extra glance for us in the audience to see quite clearly that she's holding something back. Again, it's not fancy or subtle—but it does show that director Charles Lamont was paying attention.The dialog is crisp enough; the actors move with energy. Hopper and Churchill, in particular, appear to enjoy themselves immensely in their roles.My only complaint is that the sound is badly chopped up in the version I saw. Lines are dropped and cut into pieces (including in a couple of key moments!). I can only assume that the print from which this came had been shown about a hundred times and broken and been spliced in about that many places. Oh, well—I can live with that. Otherwise: a top-notch B mystery.

Chesterfield does it again--a tidy whodunit that, surprisingly, holds up pretty well despite its age. The race between the two detectives is quite droll and interesting; it shows, once again, that the fundamental lesson of integration between the old and the new still applies--regardless of decade and/or century. Of course, as the film was lensed nearly 70 years ago, some of the technical aspects of the plot do not age well. And, unless I missed something, I would have preferred a little more detail into the motive for the crime. Despite these minor quibbles, it was a relatively enjoyable 71 minutes, especially when Hedda Hopper was chewing up the scenery.l