Watch Murder by the Clock For Free

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

To judge by "Murder by the Clock" (1931), never was a director more aptly named than Edward Sloman. Slow man? Under Sloman's snail-speed direction, time and clock seem to be not just standing still, but actually running backwards. Of course, the stagey, dialogue-riddled, but proudly "B"-grade and super-suspenseless script doesn't help. Nor do the cheesy production values, plus the self-consciously hammy acting from all concerned, with but two exceptions, namely Martha Mattox and rather unexpectedly, William "Stage" Boyd. "Who's the very worst offender among the players?" you ask. Irving Pichel, I'm sorry to say! Although Lilyan Tashman runs Pichlel mighty close, she does model some really attractive clothes.

I was captured from the opening scene which takes place in a murky old Gothic style graveyard...then we move on to inside the tombs! Yeah, this is a good one. It's borderline horror with a large cast of weird characters, an excellent evil, evil woman, and all kinds of cool vintage strangeness. In one scene a corpse in disinterred to make certain she is really dead(yeah). Then an old woman sits holding said corpse which was dead and had been for awhile. A detective looks at the body and says..."yeah, she's cold as ice," WHOA! The actor who plays the super strong Quasimodo type dude was terrific as were most of the cast. This is one you don't want to miss. Find it, along with MURDER AT DAWN, if you are a fan of vintage horror or suspense. Its not really a mystery because you find out who did it right away. Tons of fun with this one! They don't make them like this anymore...and probably never will. Great lighting too.

Creaky murder mystery about the unnatural death of the matriarch of a family and the attempt of the heirs to stay out of jail. A rather complex tale the film demands attention because so much is going on. Full of over ripe performances this is the sort of movie that they don't do any more. Its perfect late night viewing especially with the great sets of the manor house , grave yard, secret passages and other strange things, this is a film that takes you to a dark and creaky place. That said I don't think the film is anything other than good. As I said the over ripeness of it kind of diminishes the quality, but at the same time its got mood to burn. Worth a look for a dark and stormy late night.

(POSSIBLE SPOILER) If Paramount had produced this film a year or two before 1931, the studio might have made it a straightforward mystery with little emphasis on terror. But in 1931, horror films were in vogue due to the success of Universal's DRACULA. So Paramount pursued this trend with MURDER BY THE CLOCK. It's still a mystery but with the atmosphere of a horror film.And what horror! There's a crypt with an installed horn that blares to warn people the occupant has been buried alive. There's a drug that revives the dead. There's a brute (Irving Pichel) with the strength and the mind of a beast. And there's a sinister woman (Lilyan Tashman) who seduces men to commit murders for her own gain.It is Tashman, as the nefarious Laura Endicott, who dominates the film. Adorned in tight satin dresses that showcase her lithe figure, she vamps with sinuous style, as bewitching to the audience as she is to her pawns. She definitely had the potential for stardom but would sadly pass away a few years later.The other performers are generally fine. Irving Pichel is memorably creepy as the bestial Phillip Endicott. William "Stage" Boyd (not to be confused with William Boyd who played Hopalong Cassidy) makes a dependable hero as the hard boiled, commonsensical detective Lieutenant Valcour. The scenario is too convoluted to be summarized here, but director William Sloman efficiently if unremarkably moves the film along. The film also benefits from handsome sets, particularly a spooky graveyard setting.MURDER BY THE CLOCK has a few flaws shared with many early sound films. The film tends to be talky, causing it to drag occasionally (though never when Tashman is speaking). And while background music is unnecessary whenever the aforementioned horn resounds, it could have enhanced the other horror scenes. But on the whole the film is very satisfactory and, thanks to Tashman's performance, unforgettable.