Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde...and Murder By The Clock??? There's a reason this semi-horror thriller hasn't joined the ranks of those famous movies from 1931, and it's that this film is nowhere near the same level. It has some good things, but can't decide if it's a mystery (a shadowy figure commits a murder, and about five minutes later lets the audience know he did it!) horror (some mild Edgar Allan Poe Premature Burial stuff) or Vamp movie - the female kind, not the undead!
The plot basically concerns Laura Endicott's (Lilyan Tashman) manipulation of the pathetic males she's lumbered with into each committing a murder in order to get her hands on the family fortune. It's fun to see Irving Pichel - after all he directed An American Tragedy and The Most Dangerous Game! - as the retarded brother constantly going on about killing people with knives and strangling them! And the film raises a few atmospheric moments. One or two of the cast moved on to Paramount's other horror show that year - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Murder By The Clock failed to set the box office bell ringing, probably because it lacks the new supernatural element of the previously mentioned horror flicks. The direction is nothing special and the pace is slightly leaden. But it ain't bad as these things go, and is worth a look.
The plot basically concerns Laura Endicott's (Lilyan Tashman) manipulation of the pathetic males she's lumbered with into each committing a murder in order to get her hands on the family fortune. It's fun to see Irving Pichel - after all he directed An American Tragedy and The Most Dangerous Game! - as the retarded brother constantly going on about killing people with knives and strangling them! And the film raises a few atmospheric moments. One or two of the cast moved on to Paramount's other horror show that year - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Murder By The Clock failed to set the box office bell ringing, probably because it lacks the new supernatural element of the previously mentioned horror flicks. The direction is nothing special and the pace is slightly leaden. But it ain't bad as these things go, and is worth a look.