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That was an excellent one.

Pretty Good

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

"Death from a distance" is exactly what you expect from an old-fashioned crime movie. It tells the story of a murder in an observatory and how the small circle of suspects are investigated to unmask the true criminal.It thereby follows a scheme as known from many more or less similar movies. While of course some of the characters are a bit out of time nowadays and some references are hard to overlook, the plot itself is build up in an entertaining way that keeps you guessing. There are several wrong leads woven into the murder investigation and it somehow warmed my heart a bit to see a crime movie that really puts its focus on those investigations and not so much on fast action, as many more modern ones do.You can see from the mere production year that this is really an old movie. To find it entertaining you need some open-mindedness towards the early days of filmmaking. But if you do so, you hereby get a title that doesn't pretend to be more than it is, a very solid Crime Classic.

Frank Strayer's direction here is a grade higher than his usual humdrum level. As usual however, he eschews reverse angles, but on this occasion he has gone easy on close-ups. Most of the scenes are handled in rather long takes, but the camera-work has more movement here than is the director's norm. The movie also exhibits some typical trademarks of Invincible Pictures. Most of the action is confined to the one set, although it is well designed and large enough to accommodate a rather extensive cast of character players and extras. As usual, there is no background music at all except under the opening and end credits. Fortunately, this lack is skilfully disguised by the brisk pace of the plot. The cast too is not without interest, although the identity of the killer is pretty obvious. All told, however, the script is more accomplished than then usual Invincible effort, thanks not so much to its routine plot but to some bright, crisp dialogue, expertly delivered here by Russell Hopton and Lola Lane. George Marion must be included in our praises too. In fact his presence alone is worth at least half the price of the DVD.

To give you an idea of what an impression this film made on me, I saw it this morning, and couldn't even remember the title when I sat down to write this review. Fortunately I keep notes, but in this case it was a moot point. Most of the dialog in the story was unintelligible, and what I could glean from the principals led me to the conclusion that the picture was twice as long as it needed to be. The real puzzler more than mid-way through had the murder weapon just lying around in plain sight in an observatory that served as the location of the story. Apparently the murderer was out for revenge, something about his son dying at the hands of the doctor he rubbed out during the opening scene. Curious, but I didn't read any other reviewer mentioning this bit of trivia. Maybe I saw a different movie. I could go back and watch it again, but as they say, it's not in the stars.

Marred on a DVD transfer by a poor soundtrack that makes some dialogue unintelligible, "Death from a Distance" is a 1935 B crime story that has some good acting along with the inevitable cliches that reflect the times.A doctor is shot to death during a planetarium lecture. The killer is in the room and the audience is there when the cops arrive, a wisecracking homicide lieutenant in charge. A pretty gal reporter tangles with the cop and her investigative skills are equal to her blatant flirting.In 71 minutes the story moves by small leaps and not great bounds to a clever uncovering of the killer. Some potted astronomical theory is central to solving the case.Every stereotype from that era is present: smart detective and dumb as dishwater detective, hardboiled city room editor and ambitious female reporter, gentle Viennese scientist and the "Hindu," a man with a past. And there's more.This movie won't make either the AMC or TCM channels, not in a century of retrospectives. It's available for as little as $5.99 and as a glance backwards into the time when the Hollywood studio giants co-existed with producers of second-rate features, "Death from a Distance" is a minor treat. But it's a treat nonetheless.6/10 (for its genre and period).