Two milestones to celebrate!
LGOOH has reached 25 followers! Woohoo!
And this review is the 200th blog post! Huzzah!
Mystery of the 13th Guest (Monogram Pictures, 1943)
Before the Camera:
Helen Parrish (You'll Find Out)
Dick Purcell (Captain America in the 1942 serial!)
Tim Ryan (Detour)
Frank Faylen (TV's The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis - he was Dobie's dad!)
Johnny Duncan (Robin in the 1949 Batman and Robin serial!)
Jon Dawson (Delinquent Daughters)
Paul McVey (Bwana Devil)
Jacqueline Dalya (Charlie Chan in Rio)
Cyril Ring (I Wake Up Screaming)
Addison Richards (The Mad Ghoul)
and
Lester Dorr (Quicksand)
as
Carter
Behind the Camera:
Directed by William "One Shot" Beaudine
Produced by C.J. Bigelow and Lindsley Parsons
Written by Tim Ryan, Charles Marion, and Arthur Hoerl
based on the novel "The 13th Guest" by Armitage Trail
This is one of those lovely little B pictures with a running time around an hour and getting right off to a start as a young woman arrives at a creepy old house out in the middle of nowhere. Turns out the joint is her ancestral family home, and she's come back after several years for an anniversary get together. But then she's murdered! Or is she?
That's just one of the conundrums facing tough guy detective Johnny Smith (Purcell) as he teams up with the murdered woman (!) to try to solve a mystery that's fairly convoluted for occupying only 60 minutes. There are flashbacks of events from thirteen years previous; a mysterious masked misanthrope whose love of booby trap murder weapons predates Jigsaw by about sixty years; and the expected comic relief from supporting dimwits. Can even the man who was about to be the first movie Captain America solve...The Mystery of the 13th Guest?
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| Stupid interweb with no pictures from this movie. *sigh* Here's another poster instead. |
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| Eat your heart out, Chris Evans! |
I like these snappy little mystery flicks - they blow by even if the pace is a little slow; they have twisty mysteries, tangy dialogue, and little bursts of creepiness and action that keep things moving right along. They usually played the lower half of a double bill but I think they're the tops! This story was filmed ten years previously as The 13th Guest - which gets a little more attention online as they lady lead was a young Ginger Rogers. I haven't seen that one, but I like this one just fine. There's not much more to say - if you don't mind your movies being a little old and color challenged, then this is a safe bet, so check this one out!
Let's Get Out of Here ?
At around 40:00, Dick Purcell grows tired of his surroundings.
Eye Candy ?
There's not a really good picture on the entire interweb that shows her as cute as she is in the movie, but here's her badunkadunk, 40's style - welcome to the list, Helen Parrish!
Buddha Man's Capsule Review
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| Buddha Man says "The Mystery of the 13th Guest is a fun flick, even if they never do solve the title conundrum..." |
Gee, I guess they didn't, huh, BM? Well in any case, til next post, you Can Poke Me With A Fork, Cause I Am Outta Here!
I haven't seen any of these films, but you name dropped Ginger Rogers...yep. Heard of her. LOL. Helen Parrish = cute. I love the 40s style. Keep 'em coming, Craig.
ReplyDeleteLuana - yeah, I really like the old programmers from PRC and Monogram...some are creaky and stodgy, but lots of them are fun flicks - and they are dripping with 40's style! Always a pleasure to see you!
ReplyDeleteI think I recall seeing this on Turner Classic Movies on what I like to call Weird Weekend Movie Marathons. They will run some of the most oddball movies late, late at night on the weekends. In one night I saw Soylent Green, Godspell and Village of the Giants. I was tripping just watching.
ReplyDeleteMelissa - whatever you may think of Ted Turner as a person - he is an good ol' movie buff too, and all of his various TV outlets usually always show amazing stuff - and usually late at night - almost like the old local channels used to on the Late Late Show. I used to love the TNT channel's "100% Weird" movies on Friday nights; and one of my Random Stew blog posts has me nattering at great length about Turner South, a late and lamented cable channel not available above the Mason Dixon line. Currently TCM Underground is fulfilling a lot of my movie needs! Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDeleteI forgot all about 100% Weird! That was an awesome segment. TCM Underground is great, I think that's why I saw all those flicks right in row.
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