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Just what I expected

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It is not often that Berton Churchill played leading roles, but this was one of those times. The film is populated with interesting people - Irene Ware, who was Miss United States 1926, Hedda Hopper, the renowned gossip columnist and the wonderful E.E. Clive. It is topped off with a pretty boring leading man in Ray Walker. Directed by Charles Lamont, who was responsible for Shirley Temples' Baby Burlesk shorts, this is a light hearted mystery from Chesterfield.Elsa (Irene Ware) is disturbed about her Uncle Henry and consults Paul Bernard (Berton Churchill). When Jim (Ray Walker) escorts Elsa home, her uncle comes to the door and abuses them both. Phrases such as "over my dead body" and "that can be arranged" come back to haunt the young detective when Elsa's uncle is found dead the next morning. Marion (Hedda Hopper), an aunt of Elsa's has moved to the village to look out for her - Marion also has no love for Henry.Everyone has a motive - the only one that seems genuinely upset is Henry's brother Charles (Hobart Bosworth). The cook sees a face at the window and Foote (E.E. Clive) is acting suspicious - "Foote seems strangely cocky!!!" They also are investigating a firebug - fires are breaking out at some of the brother's properties. Bernard finds a burnt dress in Elsa's cupboard but the size and the description of the woman running from the scene seem to implicate Aunt Marion. Then Foote is murdered!!!! The face at the window is explained as a fire victim - he had just seen his wife and child die in one of the fires and decided to come to Henry's house to have it out with him.Through a tired plot device (blankets under a quilt to imitate a sleeping person) Bernard finds the firebug and also tries to pin the murders on them as well. In a very entertaining way the murderer is found. It is quite an entertaining film and one that will while away an hour.

Some genuinely inspired bad acting doesn't prevent 1936's "The Dark House" from showering a few sparks of real originality. Two elderly brothers and their niece reside in a mansion. They're fearful something bad will happen and they're right. Two murders take place, neither appearing to have occurred as first thought.This is a good house murder mystery. Elsa (the very beautiful and former Miss United States, Irene Ware) is falling in love with a detective, Jim Landis (Ray Walker). Elsa regularly meets Jim at retired detective Paul Bernard's house (he's played by Burton Churchill). Elsa's putative guardians, her uncles, don't like this developing match one bit. Of course their time together is as chaste as many moviegoers (and the moralistic censor-type folks) demanded.One death having led to another, the two sleuths wisely combine forces to find the killer and figure out why the murders occurred in the first place. The plot is a bit tricky. Adding to the mystery is the possible role of Elsa's aunt, Mrs. Tallman. Here is a real treat-she's Hedda Hopper, once dubbed the "Queen of the Quickies," a woman who made a number of forgettable features before discovering that the printed word was mightier than fleeting celluloid images. For decades she and Louella Parsons battled for scoops as Hollywood's prime, incendiary gossip columnists.Walker is the really weak actor here. He performs with a deadening numbness that made me wish he was the killer who would be executed on-screen. But his interaction with the retired senior cop is both interesting and dramatically effective.Charles Lamont, born in Russia, was a veteran director who turned out many "B" flicks and some better comedies during a very long career (he did a number of the Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa Kettle flicks). He's famously forgotten today for such films as the deservedly rarely viewed "I Was a Shoplifter" that brought young Tony Curtis to the screen. In "The Dark Hour" he crafted an interesting murder mystery. If you can get it as I did for $4.99 on DVD (thanks again, Alpha Video) it's worth your time just to see Hedda Hopper disporting herself as a grand dame but maybe I'm just dating myself.6/10

Chesterfield does it again--a tidy whodunit that, surprisingly, holds up pretty well despite its age. The race between the two detectives is quite droll and interesting; it shows, once again, that the fundamental lesson of integration between the old and the new still applies--regardless of decade and/or century. Of course, as the film was lensed nearly 70 years ago, some of the technical aspects of the plot do not age well. And, unless I missed something, I would have preferred a little more detail into the motive for the crime. Despite these minor quibbles, it was a relatively enjoyable 71 minutes, especially when Hedda Hopper was chewing up the scenery.l

This mystery film is unusual is that there are two quite different (old & retired vs. young & active on the police force) detectives on the case, & they are both competent & work well together. Usually, Hollywood would be expected to have at least one of them take the comic element, but here they are both serious & both effective! Aside from trying to guess "who done it?," the viewer also finds him/herself wondering which of the two detectives will solve the case first, & this aspect adds to the excitement. There are plenty of suspects here, & the film moves along briskly. Berton Churchill is especially good as the older detective, & reminds me of a smaller version of the great Sydney Greenstreet. I rate this 8/10.