El noveno huésped

Eight strangers are invited to a dinner party at an apartment. They are Informed by the host through the radio that they are all his enemies, without escape, and that they will meet the ninth guest: death.

Familiar format used often in film and also more successfully. Nevertheless the script, based on a book, which itself was based on a play, is effective and holds one's attention. Stars Donald Cook and Genevieve Tobin.

The best thing about this movie is its basic premise - eight people are invited by an unknown person to attend a party in an Art Deco designed penthouse. Once there, through a radio, they are informed by the "ninth guest" that it is impossible for them to leave because all the exits have been electrified and the phones disabled. The radio voice then informs them that each one of the guests will die. And one by one, the guests do start to die. It is fascinating how reminiscent this plot is of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None,' her most famous book published five years after this movie. Of course, her book and the films later based on it are far superior to this movie. The two leads, Donald Cook and Genvieve Tobin really aren't given much to do and their characters are pretty bland. Even so, the 'Ninth Guest' is intriguing and sufficiently entertaining to be worth a watch.

I'm not sure how or why I haven't seen this one before. The 9th Guest is an incredibly enjoyable discovery on my part. As any number of comments online will point out, the movie plays out much like Agatha Christie's better known And Then There Were None. Though The 9th Guest isn't a comedy, I'd be shocked to discover that this film wasn't at least a partial inspiration behind the wickedly funny Murder by Death and/or Clue.

In the film, eight guests have been invited to a mysterious party where they are promised a memorable evening. Each guest has a closet full of skeletons and most are quite vocal in their feelings toward the other members of the party. We later learn that the titular 9th guest is "Death". The party's host makes his presence known via a radio in the main room. He promises that throughout the night, one-by-one, each member of the party will be killed. With no means of escape, who will survive the night?

The acting in The 9th Guest is first rate. I'm not sure I was overly familiar with most of the cast, but all are outstanding. The writing is also worth noting. The dialogue is especially sharp. But I think the biggest kudos for the success of The 9th Guest have to go to director Roy William Neill (oddly credited as R. William Neill). It takes a masterful hand to wring this much atmosphere out of a film. Add to that the fact Neill does this without the usual gothic trappings I generally consider necessary to an atmospheric film. Instead of an old, dark Victorian mansion or some ancient, crumbling gothic abbey, The 9th Guest features a thoroughly modern (for its time) art deco penthouse setting I wouldn't normally associate with a film like this. The movie is only let down by how ridiculous some of the characters act when faced with death. Had they just kept a level head, more might have survived. But how fun would that have been?

8/10

"The Ninth Guest" was produced as a motion picture by Columbia, this in 1933 and released in 1934. In the Fifties, it was released to TV by Screen Gems, a subsidiary of Columbia, but was subsequently pulled from circulation. I was told some time ago, by someone at Columbia, that the picture was being readied for a rerelease - hopefully with the title card restored to the original - but this has not yet happened.

The film was based on the 1930 book entitled "The Invisible Host" and also the stage version, also 1930, with the title "The Ninth Guest" - this guest being Death! The book's novel plot has eight people invited and trapped in a penthouse, where they are scheduled to die sequentially (in the film, a fancy illuminated wall clock steadfastly renders the time, as if emphasizing the inevitable deaths!). One of thirty such books published in the early Thirties by the Mystery League, the most commercial aspect of these their striking art deco dust jackets - the main reason people collect them nowadays (most of the entries being outlandishly mediocre!).

The motion picture was helmed by veteran director, Roy William Neill, probably best remembered for directing eleven of the twelve superb "Sherlock Holmes" features released by Universal in the Forties. With the 1934 mystery, Neill transcended the finite area of a penthouse, in which most of the narrative transpires, with creative lighting and fluid camerawork - in one scene, the frightened victims are photographed through a large statuary hand, appearing to be in its grasp; for another, the cowering group are viewed from within a radio, the slats symbolizing bars! These creative touches are not heavy-handed but rather executed quickly; to look away could be to miss either! Discovering eight coffins lining the roof garden is yet another macabre touch.

Often compared to Agatha Christie's 1939 masterpiece, "And Then There Were None", "The Ninth Guest" gets into a bind when only three survivors remain in the penthouse, one of whom has to be the killer - whereas Christie's novel employs an ingenious gimmick serving to conceal the villain's identity, and in the end, all ten of the characters are dead (this not suitable to Christie's theatrical version, "Ten Little Indians", she changed it so as to have two people survive the mass murder!).

The Roy William Neill tour de force makes up for not having the guilty party consume poison, as in the novel and play, by electrocuting himself before the startled eyes of the couple who survived his machinations. As sparks fly about wildly and the current hums, the camera goes from the quivering killer to a light up in the wall, fluttering crazily before it goes out. End of picture.

An old Screen Gems print of "The Ninth Guest" can be viewed on the Internet. It's worth seeing!

• Ray Cabana, Jr.

Ninth Guest, The (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Forgotten horror/mystery from director Roy William Neill turned out to be a real gem. Eight people are gathered at a house for a party, none of them knowing who invited them. Then a radio turns on and the host announces that before morning all but one will be dead. The film only runs 65-minutes but there's some nice suspense in the film as we never know who's doing the killing and why he has such an interest in these eight people and their dirty secrets. The great twist ending was ruined because I read a review over at the IMDb but I still had a good time getting there.