Anybody else seen this dismal little Invincible mystery from 1936. Actually I've seen much worse, but my real beef is that with at least 13 principal characters (and every one of them deemed a potential suspect at one point or another throughout the film) it is too convoluted to follow. With a running time of a mere 64 minutes, so many twists and turns are neither needed nor welcome. By the time the real murderer is revealed, I know longer give a damn who did it!
John Miljan, as the detective writer (ala Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote) is good, but a bit too old for the female lead, Irene Ware, who is quite fetching in a Frances Drake sort of way. Actually, Miljan was 43 (though looking 10 years older) and Ware was 25 at the time of filming. I know this is common in movies even today, but it seems especially flagrant, and much less believable, in older films. A leading man, old enough to be the female lead's father, just doesn't cut it for me in terms of validity. I can never help but think: am I to believe that a man of 50 or so has made it thus far in life without a mate and then falls for the first available female character in the film?!
Here's Miss Ware with Bela in Chandu. Of course, her most famous role is of Jean Thatcher opposite Lugosi in THE RAVEN. Hey, another example of a 50-something year old man lusting after a a 20-something woman. Upon further consideration, I can't say that I blame 'em!
John Miljan, as the detective writer (ala Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote) is good, but a bit too old for the female lead, Irene Ware, who is quite fetching in a Frances Drake sort of way. Actually, Miljan was 43 (though looking 10 years older) and Ware was 25 at the time of filming. I know this is common in movies even today, but it seems especially flagrant, and much less believable, in older films. A leading man, old enough to be the female lead's father, just doesn't cut it for me in terms of validity. I can never help but think: am I to believe that a man of 50 or so has made it thus far in life without a mate and then falls for the first available female character in the film?!
Here's Miss Ware with Bela in Chandu. Of course, her most famous role is of Jean Thatcher opposite Lugosi in THE RAVEN. Hey, another example of a 50-something year old man lusting after a a 20-something woman. Upon further consideration, I can't say that I blame 'em!
