Really Surprised!

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Absolutely amazing

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Everybody seems desperate to get their hands on a priceless Indian gem bequested to the heroine, a young British lady (Phyllis Barry) who has no idea that her father is in debt and that a ton of people covet her newly gotten gain. Rumors of a curse on the jewel run rampant, and an early attempt to steal it fails thanks to the quick thinking of the hatchet faced housekeeper who adores Barry.Pretty lavish by Monogram standards, this creaks along, but that adds atmosphere to the spooky story. David Manners, the young hero of "Dracula" and "The Black Cat", adds another portrait of youthful innocence tossed up against unspeakable evils, while Elspeth Dudgeon (who played a man in "The Old Dark House" and a ghoul in "Shh! The Octopus!") is feisty and lovable as a rare switch in the usually sinister portrait of the housekeeper. She's a delightful old ham who knows how to steal a scene with either a sneer or a sniff, and gets the script's funniest lines. Gustav von Seyffertitz (the psychiatrist from "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"), with that dark and sinister accent, is a top suspect along with a turban wearing Hindu (John Davidson) who claims to have switched to Christianity.Delightfully short and intriguing, this is another variation of a similar theme that went back well to the silent era and is occasionally parodied to this day. Some DVD prints run 15 minutes less than the full version, and even those ones aren't missing anything that would give the audience more clues.

Despite the hackneyed premise and milieu, the stage was set for a pretty interesting murder mystery. It is a 'gloomy-mansion-on-a-dark-and-stormy-night' movie, which can be very absorbing if done right. It had a good collection of characters/suspects and got off to a good start.All of sudden came the scientific-drivel denouement, the deus-ex-machina, which was both cynical and anti-climactic. This was the best the author could do? And why the rush to a conclusion? the story is short enough as is. Good performances all around and the production values were very adequate, considering this was a Poverty Row production.Sorry I can't recommend this one, but I still have a lot of movies left in my DVD collection. On to the next case.

The only similarity I see between this and its namesake is the jewel. The rest is a pretty typical drawing room mystery. It has a pretty decent set of eccentric characters, a love interest, a man in a turban (very exotic, right), and a lot of shenanigans. The carelessness with which the stone, worth a fortune, is treated stops me. The female lead is totally unappealing. She is so dumb that I couldn't care less what happens to her. Her fiancé is a big lunk with no real character. There is some atmosphere of the mansion in the rain. The lights go out and there is a bit of a surprise. Overall, however, it lacks much development and ends in a rather far fetched way.

In spite of a short 45 minute run time I really enjoyed THE MOONSTONE based on the book by Wilkie Collins. Reginald Baker directs a tight knit collection of performers in this mystery that takes place in a crowded house during a rain storm. Anne Verinder(Phyllis Barry)inherits a priceless gem the Moonstone necklace. Her fiancée Franklin Blake(David Manners)is bringing the precious diamond to England from India. He arrives at the Verinder's countryside home and finds a house full of guests that includes a notorious money lender Carl Von Lucker(Gustav Von Seyffertitz). While everyone is assembled the storm causes the lights to go out and the necklace is snatched from Anne's neck. It was grabbed by a maid for "safe keeping". Anne puts the stone under her pillow and when she awakes the necklace is gone. Scotland Yard Inspector Cuff(Charles Irwin)is to figure out which one of the guests is a jewel thief. The loud rain storm provides great atmosphere. Also in the cast are: Herbert Bunston, Evalyn Bostock, John Davidson and Jameson Thomas.