The Thirteenth Guest

A millionaire Morgan invited 12 of his family members to his house for a dinner party (but only 11 showed up), but the host died in the middle of the event. Thirteen years later the house remains boarded up when Morgan's daughter Mary arrives, but is killed by a mysterious person walking in the house. Captain Ryan calls in investigator Phil Winston to help solve the case. Winston and Ryan suspect the family lawyer Barksdale, but later he is found murdered in the house. The two believe that one of the people invited to the party is the killer and question all the family members, but later Mary Morgan reappears and Winston finds out someone hired a woman to impersonate her in order to get her inheritance. Winston has to make sure all of the family members are watched, in order to make sure the real Mary Morgan doesn't become a victim. I was slightly disappointed by the movie considering it struggled to flow smoothly in terms of direction and script. Talbot was playing the role as if to get some scout from MGM to notice him. The rest of the cast (including Rogers) played their roles to the typical Old Dark House mystery movie stereotype. The film seemed to appear to be the first of a series with Talbot's character. It should have been better. Rating, 5.

This poverty row thriller has a similar storyline to "The Cat and the Canary" - haunted house, frightened heiress, a disguised killer, secret passages etc. Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot, who plays Phil Winston were not a romantic couple in this film (although they did date briefly in real life) until the last five minutes - he being very keen on solving the murders.

The film starts imaginatively with a clutching hand pulling down each title card. Marie Morgan (or Lela) (Ginger Rogers) arrives at her old family home - one that hasn't been occupied for 13 years to find a telephone has been installed!!! After reading a cryptic message left by her father, she remembers back to a dinner party of 13 years before. The thirteenth guest did not arrive. When her father died he left the bulk of his estate to the 13th guest who never came forward. Thirteen years later the police are called to view a girls body, they believe has been electrocuted.

There is a "hooded terror" roaming and controlling the house through an "electrified" phone - when people answer it, a lever is pushed and the victim dies. It seems that the killer wanted the police to believe that Marie was the victim but it is really an unknown woman who has had a complete facial reconstruction to look like Marie. Then the family lawyer is found dead. Winston is convinced one of the original guests is the killer and invites them all to his apartment to show them that Marie is very much alive!!!

This is a pretty good film with lots of twists and turns. Being a pre- code some of the comments are surprising. Eddie Philips being referred to as Marie's brother's "boyfriend". When Paul Hurst as a bumbling detective looks down at his shoes, realises that they are on the wrong feet and then says "Well, you told me to tail her" everyone laughs!!

Recommended.

A young woman named Marie Morgan (Ginger Rogers) arrives at night at a presumably vacant old house, and is quickly murdered by person unknown. A private detective named Phil Winston (Lyle Talbot) proceeds to investigate, with the help of an annoyingly grumpy cop and his bumbling sidekick.

As the whodunit plot moves along, various characters reveal the backstory, involving a rich old man who invites thirteen guests to a dinner party at which time he will announce who inherits his estate; problem is the old man dies at the dinner without revealing his secret.

The main problem is a script that is so convoluted that it's almost impossible to figure out the puzzle's solution. Once known, the solution is not remotely believable, and there are significant plot holes. Still, there's enough suspense to keep the viewer watching despite a substandard script. Dialogue comes across as stiff and stilted at times but there are a few good lines.

Before the killer's identity is known, this person appears in a few scenes wearing bizarre garb that covers his/her body completely; the costume makes the person look a little like spider man. The film's prod design is cheap looking. Most of the action takes place indoors and mostly at night.

Casting is acceptable except for the presence of Lyle Talbot who just doesn't have the mystery persona of someone like Sidney Toler or Warner Oland. Indeed, if the film had been made as a Charlie Chan thriller, I think it would have been better.

For all its faults, "The Thirteenth Guest" is worth watching once, owing to adequate suspense in a spooky old house with hidden rooms and a masked killer. Overall, it's an average whodunit for the era in which it was made.

A Ginger Rogers movie from 1932 that played well into the 1940's on her name alone.

The story concerns the deaths thirteen years after a dinner party where the host died and the 13th guest never showed up. The mystery concerns attempts of persons to unlock the mystery of the will read at that fateful dinner party.

The movie is old time and not bad. The dialog is mostly well done and the acting and direction is more realistic then one would expect from an independent production. Interestingly two of the characters are all but named as gay lovers, something that I find incredible simply because I've never seen this listed in a gay friendly histories of Hollywood and Hollywood films.(Then Again I haven't really looked) I liked it I didn't love it. Its not a bad time passer but its not something you want to search out, but its not something to turn off if you see it late at night.

Frankly even though its an average thriller I have no doubt that it would have disappeared had Ginger not been it.

A very young Ginger Rogers stars in "The Thirteenth Guest," a 1932 film also starring Lyle Talbot. Thirteen years earlier, a dinner party took place in an old house, but the 13th guest never appeared. Now the owner of the house is dead and left his estate to this 13th guest. Someone is murdering the original party guests and putting each dead body in his or her original seat at the table.

Rogers plays Marie Morgan, whom we think has been murdered early on. It turns out that it was someone else whose face was altered to look like hers. Detective Phil Winston (Talbot) investigates the situation.

This is a good haunted house mystery, but unfortunately suffers from a terrible print and bad sound. Nevertheless it's fun to see Ginger and Talbot, both of whom are very good. If you can tolerate the print, you'll enjoy it.