Certainly, the nasty Marie Roget deserved to pay for her sins. Determined to kill her step-sister, she creates a nefarious scheme to fulfill her goals. Having already defied death once, she presumably ends up a corpse again, and a diary left behind gives evidence to who may have knocked her off for real. Any number of suspects could be the killer including her accomplice or even her wealthy grandmother. Or perhaps even the good step-sister.
Rising star Maria Montez had not yet hit cult status when she was given top billing but basically a supporting role in this version of the Edgar Allan Poe short story that even makes reference to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" which Universal had made just a decade before. Montez isn't a great actress by any means, but she's perfectly haughty and sneers convincingly.
Maria Ouspenskaya hams it up as the matronly grandmother ordering everyone around. Patric Knowles leads the case while Nell O'Day is appropriately fragile. The best performance is Lloyd Corrigan's who plays a befuddled detective who is actually smarter than he seems to be. Some genuine thrills, a fine atmospheric structure and just a hint of Gothic horror makes this a must even though some details added to the plot seem unnecessary.
Rising star Maria Montez had not yet hit cult status when she was given top billing but basically a supporting role in this version of the Edgar Allan Poe short story that even makes reference to "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" which Universal had made just a decade before. Montez isn't a great actress by any means, but she's perfectly haughty and sneers convincingly.
Maria Ouspenskaya hams it up as the matronly grandmother ordering everyone around. Patric Knowles leads the case while Nell O'Day is appropriately fragile. The best performance is Lloyd Corrigan's who plays a befuddled detective who is actually smarter than he seems to be. Some genuine thrills, a fine atmospheric structure and just a hint of Gothic horror makes this a must even though some details added to the plot seem unnecessary.