Plot-- Half-way through a murder occurs and the expected whodunuit finally sets up; then suspects sort of emerge in blurry fashion; leading to an unexpectedly imaginative ending.
The movie's opening remains a grabber, but from there on the narrative's basically downhill until the upside climax. The opening scenes on the set of a movie are interesting and played straight unlike the rest of the run-time. I liked seeing how the actors took direction whether they wanted it or not, and how easily they could slip in and out of character. But from there the storyline soon tumbles into a jumble that fails to set up the murder mystery in effective fashion. There's no atmosphere, nor much intrigue, nor are the suspects drawn up in distinctive fashion. Worse, comical character Delaney takes over as a plain silly detective. No wonder actor Kelsey made a career alongside the Three Stooges. Humorous detectives were, of course, a common feature of mystery shows at the time, but Delaney turns humor into a train-crash of burlesque.
For some of us, an upside are the revealing ladies fashions of this pre-Code period (1931). The gowns are striking along with the 4-wheel tin flivvers I wish we saw more of. Then too, the murder solution is imaginatively done, tying the film-making scenes from the first part into revealing the killer's motivation in the last part. Too bad more of such skill doesn't drive the flick as a whole. Lastly, don't expect much outdoor action; it's a parlor-bound hour, always cheap to produce for low budget indies. Anyway, my advice is to skip this meandering programmer unless the only alternative is a politician's speech.
