The League of Frightened Men

Name: The League of Frightened Men
Genre: Mystery
Released: 1937-05-25
Duration: 1 h 11 min
Rating: 5.7
Cast: Walter Connolly, Lionel Stander, Eduardo Ciannelli

1937
Approved
1h 11m

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

130

YOUR RATING

Walter Connolly in The League of Frightened Men (1937)

Mystery

In the second of Columbia's Nero Wolfe movies, the housebound detective is confronted with several deaths and a disappearance among a group of 10 Harvard alumni who had years earlier hazed a... Read allIn the second of Columbia's Nero Wolfe movies, the housebound detective is confronted with several deaths and a disappearance among a group of 10 Harvard alumni who had years earlier hazed another student, resulting in his becoming crippled.In the second of Columbia's Nero Wolfe movies, the housebound detective is confronted with several deaths and a disappearance among a group of 10 Harvard alumni who had years earlier hazed another student, resulting in his becoming crippled.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

130

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos

Featured review

4/10

Too talky and gimmicky for my taste.

In 1936, Columbia made its first Nero Wolfe film and it starred Edward Arnold as the amateur detective. A year later, they brought Wolfe back but with Walter Connolly playing the dick. In both cases, unfortunately, they chose Lionel Stander to play Wolfe's right hand man, Archie. I say unfortunately because Archie in the Nero Wolfe books was sophisticated and smart....not an uncouth boob like he is in these two films.

In "The League of Frightened Men", a group of Harvard alumni are worried that one of their old classmates might be murdering them. And, if this is the case, the man in question had plenty of reason and justification for doing so. But it's not at all certain the man in question is a killer and it's up to Wolfe to get to the bottom of this.

I really disliked this film...more so than the first one. It's because it's one of the talkiest murder mysteries I've seen. It's also confusing (Wolfe sometimes seems to pull things completely out of thin air) and gimmicky at the end...where Wolfe invites everyone to his house in order to reveal the real killer....a trope used approximately 30452998 times in other films (give or take 3). Overall, a disappointment...and odd to see the agoraphobe, Wolfe, leaving his home repeatedly during the movie.