A Shriek in the Night

This 66 minute 1933 movie starring the 22 year old Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot is an excellent representation of pre-film noire of its era. This was Rogers' 20+ film, but the wise cracking/endearing personality that she eventually developed for the Astaire movies had not yet appeared. She comes off stiff and unsure. Leading man Lyle Talbot, a veteran of almost 200 movies plays as Ginger's rival reporter, and a romance that started before this movie began blossoms despite some back-stabbing by each of the other. Talbot is excellent and carries the show. Notable performances are given by Pernell Pratt as the police detective and Harvey Clark as the janitor. Actress Louise Beavers who went on to make more than 160 films, many notable, plays the stereotypical "negro". The roll can be excused as it is a benchmark of the Hollywood problems of the times. The story, an excellent whodunnit written by Francis Hyland and Kurt Kempler, is good but gets muddled at the end. Even so it does not interfere with the understanding of the plot. There is a scene at the end that has gruesome implications but is not gratuitous and therefore adds to the depth of the story. One gaff I noticed: about 5 minutes into the picture Rogers is talking to the detective. She is smoking a cigarette (there's a lot of smoking going on through out the film) and he is smoking a cigar. While holding the smoking butt she leaves the room only to enter another room sans cigarette. It is very interesting to see the styles of dress and automobiles of the times. Many of the shots were outdoors. The camera work is some what stilted and has only a few pans. It is almost like a theater play. I saw this film from the 50 Movie Pack Horror Classics box. Well worth buying and this film is not-to-be-missed.

A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT (Allied Pictures, 1933), directed by Albert Ray, reunites Ginger Rogers and Lyle Talbot of THE THIRTEENTH GUEST (Monogram, 1932), in another mystery thriller.

Following the opening credits, the story begins at night with a view of an apartment building (obviously a miniature model) followed by the sound of a scream, an overhead view of a man's body (obviously a dummy) falling down from the penthouse above and landing on the sidewalk below. The incident immediately draws a crowd which awakens a janitor (Harvey Clark), whose residence is in the basement level, to be awaken from the noise to soon come outside to hark the identity of the body as "Mr. Harker!" Enter the police: Inspector Russell (Purnell B. Pratt), whose philosophy is, "I'm an inspector and I can say anything I want," and his assistant, the dim-witted Wilfred (Alfred Hoyt), who arrive at the scene of the crime at 921 Lake Street to investigate whether the death of the penthouse millionaire to be suicide or murder. Russell and Wilfred soon encounter a young girl named Patricia Morgan (Ginger Rogers), acting as Harker's secretary but in reality is a reporter for the Morning News out to get a story following a hunch regarding Harker's association with a racketeer named Josephus Martini (Maurice Black). Also there to out-scoop Pat is Ted Rand (Lyle Talbot) of the Daily Express, who becomes responsible for Pat's getting fired by Perkins, her editor (Clarence Wilson) for accidentally telephoning her own story to Ted, believing him on the extension to be the rewrite man from her paper. Hoping to redeem herself and solve Harker's murder, Pat continues to investigate, only to encounter more killings before she herself becomes the murder victim by nearly being placed in a blazing incinerator.

The supporting cast includes Lillian Harmer as Augusta, the shrieking maid who not only enjoys reading mystery magazines, but adds to the confusion with her bewilderment; Louise Beavers (with surname billed in the credits as Beaver) as the black maid who also shrieks after finding a body of a man named Colby in one of the apartments; and Cyril Ring, among others whose names have gone uncredited.

A mystery melodrama that combines the elements of mystery and comedy, A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT, which may not be in the higher league had it been directed by Alfred Hitchcock, does have some potential in spite of its low budget values. Lacking background mood music to add to suspense, fine moments include a shadowy figure seen through the silhouette on the wall listening to the telephone extension as certain characters, especially the two main characters, are conversing their thoughts about the Harker case. Maurice Black as the stereotypical Italian gangster and secretive loner also residing in the apartment building, also adds to the mystery.

While THE THIRTEENTH GUEST is better known of the two Rogers and Talbot collaborations, A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT has had more exposure on late night cable and local public television stations during the 1980s. Because of similarities, A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT is sometimes mistaken as a sequel to THE THIRTEENTH GUEST. It's interesting to point out that Ginger Rogers uses the same surname of "Morgan" in both films as well as belting out a scream or two when confronted by the unidentified killer.

As a "public domain" title, A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT has been distributed through various video manufacturers, including one company that used a more glamorous 1940s looking picture of Ginger Rogers on the storage box in spite that this is an early 1930s film that at times, due to sporadic echoes with the dialog and some poor lighting, plays like something right out of 1930. Whether its the film itself or the aging process is uncertain, but restoration in sound and clearer picture quality might help. The fact that A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT presents a youthful, yet almost unrecognizable and slightly brunettish-blonde Rogers in a "poverty row" production sporting some unattractive gowns designed by Alberta, shortly before her acclaimed popularity at RKO Radio and association with Fred Astaire in those lavish dance musicals through most of the 1930s, her quick and sassy one-liners and love-hate relationship with rival reporter (Talbot) while solving a mystery, manage to keep the pace going during its 66 minutes of screen time.(**)

This is #3 in Navarre's DVD release 'Horror Classics vol 9', the other 2 being 'Maniac' & 'The world gone mad', and the one I prefer of the three. Again, it's more intelligently scripted and played that you might suspect at first glance, and I enjoyed it a lot coming to it the first time.

There was always something downbeat and depressing about Ginger Rogers acting style, but you can't argue with the fact she does a good job in this film as well as looking an extremely decorative 22 year old. The relationships she has with the Police Inspector (Pratt) and her boyfriend (Talbot) are pretty refreshing and almost adult - although she does say she can't go to bed unless he has left the room. Would that todays leading ladies would say that! Some of the Inspector's pithy comments are witty and barbed, too - my favourite: he's asked at a tense moment "What makes him think that?" - "My brain".

As for the climax I thought we were going to witness something grisly, but it was handled well (and quickly) and we avoided that possibility. ASITN is growing on me as I write - I don't think it's ever been on UK TV either!

A Shriek In the Night is a fairly good mystery-chiller, even though it is a little slow moving in parts.

Two reporters and the police investigate a series of murders in an apartment block. These include a man being pushed off the top floor penthouse ans a woman who has been strangled. At the time of the first killing, there were reports of a strange hissing sound and we see the outline of the murderer who seems to wearing a gas mask. All is revealed at the end.

Despite it being slow moving at times, this movie is quite creepy, especially some of the scenes where we see the shadows of people.

The cast includes a non-musical role for Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot (Plan 9 From Outer Space) and Arthur Hoyt (The Lost World).

A shriek In the Night is a good way to spend just over an hour one evening. Enjoyable.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

The always delightful Ginger Rogers is seen here in this relic of a murder mystery "A Shriek In The Night". Looking cute and acting her usual cheerful self, Miss Rogers is a reporter posing as a personal secretary to a wealthy man until...he gets murdered! Whodunit? Rogers and rival reporter, played by Lyle Talbot, vie furiously with each other to get the scoop with some very hilarious results. Rogers always did have the splendid knack of delivering a wisecrack with just the right touch and in one scene where a cab driver refers to Talbot as a "man", Rogers snaps: "Man? Don't be vulgar!" Her timing and facial expressions are still fresh and charming today. What a splendid performer! The inspector and his sidekick have some funny bits and even the morgue keeper has a howling funny line. "A Shriek in the Night" is low-budget, but it doesn't always seem to be. Nice art deco sets and a good cast save it. One thing annoys me though. Why aren't we shown how Rogers gets out of the furnace near the end of the picture? Apart from that, "A Shriek in the Night" is not a bad film, although it is a film where you really need to pay attention to what's being said at the finish since we never meet some of the characters that are talked about during the conclusion.