Too many fans seem to be blown away

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

"King Murder" is one of the least successful old-time mysteries I've seen lately. It's all talk, and the talk is mostly mechanical, and spoken by actors you've probably never heard of (so there's not even the fun of recognition). Natalie Moorhead is the only one I recognized, and she appears briefly at the beginning and the end of the movie. At least the resolution is fair (in both senses of the word). *1/2 out of 4.

"The King Murder" is available on DVD from Alpha Video. Like most of Alpha's films, this one has a rather rough print--a bit blurry (looking as if copied from a videotape or just a very used print) and with poor sound (there's too much background hiss). Unfortunately, this is likely the only way you'll find the film so you'll need to accept it, warts and all. Fortunately, as the film progresses, the sound quality at least improves though at the end it suddenly became worse.This story was apparently based on a famous murder case of the era involving a blackmailer named Dot King. Interestingly, the studio (Universal) didn't disguise this very well, naming the character Miriam King.Miriam has made a career out of seducing rich married men. Then, once she has incriminating information, she blackmails them into paying her not to produce this information to their wives. After her latest shakedown, Miriam ends up dead and the police are trying to figure out what happened. It isn't easy, as she's gathered a lot of enemies over the years.Conway Tearle plays Detective Barton--the man assigned to work on this murder case. Interestingly, despite the subject matter being rather salacious and the recentness of the actual murder, the film did NOT seem exploitational in the least. Likewise, it was handled in a quiet, cerebral fashion and the overall film was far better than I'd expected--especially since it was from tiny-budget Chesterfield Productions. My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that the pawn broker seemed incredibly broadly portrayed---extremely Jewish--most likely in keeping with stereotypes of the day. Worth seeing even with the lousy print.

Classy Natalie Moorehead plays Beth Hawthorn, who is worried her fiancée is involved with a notorious gold-digger, Miriam King (Dorothy Reiver). Miriam is being blackmailed by a Mr. Scott and agrees to ask one of her lovers for the $5,000 needed. Before she can obtain the money she is murdered.Pretty Marceline Day plays Pearl Hope, Miriam's former room-mate. She is in love with Marino (Don Alvarado, a Latin type actor in vogue in the early sound era) who was also involved with Miriam months before. Everybody is implicated in the murder.Conway Tearle, a matinée idol of the silent screen, plays the chief detective. Maurice Black, who had a long list of credits usually playing ethnics was Mr. Scott.The story isn't much although there are so many suspects you will never guess who did it. It is just nice to see 3 beautiful actresses in the same short film.

This is about philandering. It has at the center, a gold digger who is using planned extortion to get what she wants. She sets herself up, leaving little choice among her victims. Of course, the men are truly culpable and deserve much of what they get. The conclusion is pretty far fetched. If you are old enough to own a phonograph (turntable) you will get my point. The bad guys are depending a lot on some pretty random incompetence. This is interesting and has a few twists and turns, so it's not bad, but the conclusion is unsatisfying. The character of the young woman is pretty well portrayed and the acting isn't too bad. Still, it could have been better with a little more imagination.