A murder during a game of charades at a society party leads the police to begin the hunt through the guest list for a motive and culprit.A murder during a game of charades at a society party leads the police to begin the hunt through the guest list for a motive and culprit.A murder during a game of charades at a society party leads the police to begin the hunt through the guest list for a motive and culprit.
Aileen Carlyle
- Ella
- (as Aileen Carlisle)
Vernon Dent
- Detective Eating Peanuts
- (uncredited)
Anita Garvin
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Frank McLure
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
King Mojave
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Tom Steele
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is one of a few number of surviving productions from the poverty row company Tiffany. The prints seen today were from Amity Pictures who re-released the films in the mid-1930s and this version is the one used to master the 16mm prints used for television syndication.
- Quotes
Detective Carter: [about the butler's body] Is he dead?
Inspector Taylor: No.... It's his day off.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Pugwall: Extra-Terrestrials (1991)
Featured review
Fascinating lighting techniques
The opening shots of this film are blurry with undefined shapes and objects, however suddenly a light is switched on and the change in lighting brings about sharper and more detailed images. The lighting techniques in the opening sequence are an indication of things to come in the film. It is an early experiment with lighting and varying the contrast levels from shot to shot. In some shots there are plenty of grey hues and details are easy to make out, while in other shots the faces and clothes of the characters are blown out to white. The blowing out to white is used most effectively when Aileen Pringle is interrogated by investigations - as her facial features can hardly be made out, it is hard for us as viewers to tell whether or not she is lying.
However, other than interesting lighting and camera techniques, the rest of the film is pretty flat. The mystery at the heart of the film is intriguing, but it is never really involving since the film lacks strong character development. Robert Elliott plays his hard-boiled detective as a one-dimensional stereotype too, which makes it hard to want to root for him and his desire to solve the mystery at hand. As an early sound film, the audio quality is not too great, with a bit too much atmospheric sound and perhaps some music could have helped. However, the timing of when a character says "and he fired" followed by a bang, and the timing between dialling for the police and a sudden siren sound, show that some thought was indeed put into what the film was going to sound like it. It is a flawed film, but other than a blatantly contrived ending it makes quite satisfactory viewing, and the lighting work is simply fascinating.
However, other than interesting lighting and camera techniques, the rest of the film is pretty flat. The mystery at the heart of the film is intriguing, but it is never really involving since the film lacks strong character development. Robert Elliott plays his hard-boiled detective as a one-dimensional stereotype too, which makes it hard to want to root for him and his desire to solve the mystery at hand. As an early sound film, the audio quality is not too great, with a bit too much atmospheric sound and perhaps some music could have helped. However, the timing of when a character says "and he fired" followed by a bang, and the timing between dialling for the police and a sudden siren sound, show that some thought was indeed put into what the film was going to sound like it. It is a flawed film, but other than a blatantly contrived ending it makes quite satisfactory viewing, and the lighting work is simply fascinating.
helpful•93
- sol-
- Jun 29, 2006
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Monster Kills
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 9 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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