Watch The Crooked Circle For Free

Excellent adaptation.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Crooked Circle... badly in need of restoration. Sound is just terrible. Something about a group that murders people they don't like, and an amateur group of citizen sleuths who hunt the murderers down. Zasu Pitts is "Nora", the housekeeper. Pitts was in just about every silent and talkie film... made 26 films in 1932 alone. James Gleason is the cop, bumbling his way through the story, a role he made famous in so many films. Watching this thing is so much work. so many people doing so much talking. Henry Gordon is "Yoganda", the hindu, an expert in something, giving people advice. Skip this one. Wants to be funny but isn't. We stop caring after a while... Directed by Bruce Humberstone... he had directed a whole bunch of the Charlie Chan films.

The Crooked Circle is a crime organization that meets in a dark room. All the members wear hoods. The group has one female member. They do not like the Sphinx Club, which is a local amateur crime fighting organization that is adding one new member because of the retirement of another. --Okay, if that makes sense so far then the rest of the film will, too.Over in the old dark house, Zasu Pitts is spooked from the first moment we see her, and that's before the real action of The Crooked Circle has even started. Soon police officer James Gleason arrives, and Zasu spends the remainder of the picture clinging to various pieces of his uniform, much to his annoyance. They make a cute couple.Other club members—who all end up assembled at the house, of course—include Berton Churchill as a jovial host who thinks it's amusing that the Circle has vowed to kill him; Rosco Karns, who manages a few wisecracks; and C. Henry Gordon as "Yoganda," a mystic of sorts who has just joined the group, claims to have insight to future events, and may or may not be an infiltrator from the other side. Ben Lyon and Irene Purcell are the obligatory handsome young couple who are both—in different ways—deeply involved in the case.It's totally silly, but plenty of fun.

If you like the "old-dark-house" mysteries of the type they just don't make anymore, "The Crooked Circle" should be added to your collection. It has many of the trappings of the genre, but what sets it apart are some plot twists that are both clever and progressive for 1932. At times the film seems to surrender itself to surreal chaos, but just about everything is well-explained by the end. Zasu Pitts and James Gleason are a comedy match made in heaven: she thinks that a myth is a "female moth", and he thinks that "it's OK to be in a hurry, as long as you take your time about it". My DVD print is in pretty poor shape (it could use some re-mastering), but still watchable, and the sound is fairly clear despite some background hiss. **1/2 out of 4.

Okay, now I am pretty sure that my summary got your attention and my commenting that Zazu Pitts is Satan is not without some basis. Let me explain. The film at first appears to be a dandy B-movie about an evil organization called "the Crooked Circle" and their vow of revenge in the form of murder on a rival organization dedicated to solving crimes. While this is very odd (especially the idea of a club of private citizens who solve crimes) and COULD have been interesting, this film falls apart despite a rather impressive list of familiar supporting actors. Why? Well because Zazu Pitts (never one of my favorite actresses) spends most of the movie whining just like Olive Oyl with a bad toothache!! While murders are being committed, people are being kidnapped or whatever, you can always count on Zazu whining at full volume--almost like someone's obnoxious 3 year-old who wants everyone at a party to pay attention to her! At the same time, she's NOT an integral part of the film but received top billing. Why she is even there is beyond me--I assume it's just to whine and yell. As a result, I found the movie practically unwatchable and it was completely ruined. Now you probably know why I referred to this actress of dubious talent as "Satan"! I'm sure that when the actors in this film saw the final product, they, too, felt pretty much the same way I did about her horrible overacting and amateurish performance.This film is in the public domain and can be found for free download on the internet. I can see why they didn't bother to renew the copyright.