The Studio Murder Mystery

"The Studio Murder Mystery" from Paramount Pictures in 1929 stars Warner Oland, Frederic March, Neil Hamilton, Eugene Palette, and Doris Hill.

Actor Richard Hardell (March) has several enemies. One is his director (Warner Oland), another is his girlfriend (Hill) who finds out he's not going to divorce his wife (Florence Eldridge) and Hardell's wife herself.

When Helen is accused of the murder, gag writer Tony White (Hamilton) is determined to solve the case.

Many people don't realize that "sound" was different in each studio, as Warners had the license for the Vitaphone. Whatever Paramount owned was nowhere near as good, as the sound here is mushy, and when people speak too quickly, you lose what they are saying.

This film differs from the era's talkies in that it moves at a good pace. With people not in the rhythm of sound yet, there are often big pauses between sentences, but not here. And people were still learning how to act in front of a camera. Many actors came from the stage, where performances are much bigger.

One reviewer here didn't like Neil Hamilton, but I did. He's handsome and enthusiastic and if he seems maybe TOO enthusiastic, I think it was more the style of the era. Hamilton, who died at 85, played Commissioner Gordon on Batman. Interesting to see some of these people so young!

You can get a look at Paramount sound stages on this film, too, which is fascinating, and there is a silent film being shot during one of the scenes.

Good artifact.

I happen to see this film on YouTube in 11 segments which made watching it easier. It is in bad need of restoration and the fact that it is Fredric March's third film might get it restored.

It's an early talkie and it is complete with all the problems that those films had. March who was one of many stage trained players with good speaking voices who came to Hollywood with the popularity of talking pictures. March seemed to know what to do and the film's other players also were not playing for the galleries like they would on stage.

The problem with the film is that it has too much talk. It's as if Paramount said, we know have sound, let there be dialog. And there is dialog with no trace of subtlety at all.

March who is fourth billed in the cast plays a no good womanizing actor who regularly two times his wife and in this case his real life spouse Florence Eldridge makes her first joint appearance on film with her husband. She's one of many suspects that include Doris Hill a young starlet he's been stringing along, her brother Gardner James, her father Guy Oliver, and a director Warner Oland whose wife March had also been playing around with. Not until he played Marcus Hubbard in Another Part Of The Forest would March play this slimy a character on screen.

Also on the suspect list is Neil Hamilton who's a gag writer at the studio and has as fresh a mouth you would hear this side of James Cagney. He and investigating detective Eugene Palette who has a most stupid looking mustache are oil and water from the beginning. Hamilton keeps throwing zingers at Palette and he earns his way on the suspect list for that alone. If I had some good ideas about solving the murder I wouldn't antagonize the investigating detective. Truth be told Palette is no dumber than he is playing Sergeant Heath in the Philo Vance films and William Powell worked well with him.

But as luck would have it Hamilton solves the crime by coming up with some background information on one of the suspects. In that he frees another who was tried and convicted.

There is a nice look at Paramount studios at the beginning of the sound era in The Studio Murder Mystery. In a few years once the technical and script problems for sound were licked this might have been a better picture.

I LOVE old mysteries, but this early sound film is a real "creaker". The action is snail-paced, and the early sound recording makes it difficult to understand what most of the actors are saying. All-in-all, a confusing film.

Frederic March is trying to promote a film career and Doris Hill. He's having success with Miss Hill, despite being married to Florence Eldredge, but director Warner Oland doesn't think much of his acting. It doesn't matter, because he's murdered in the studio -- clearly Paramount -- and soon police detective Eugene Pallette is flatfootedly investigating. Miss Hill is arrested and found guilty. But fast-talking Neil Hamilton doesn't believe it.

It's an interesting cast, as silent stalwarts like Conklin and Guy Oliver appear in the credits, while people like Jerry Mandy and Phillips Holmes scrimmage in the uncredited ranks. Camerawork is stifled by the sound equipment, with editor Merrill White cutting seemingly every second in order to keep whoever is speaking in the center of the screen. As a side note, the sound on the print is muffled and the print is a bit soft.

It's easy to rip apart films like "The Studio Murder Mystery". After all, the sound isn't very good, the sound effects are pretty crappy, there's no incidental music and the acting is occasionally a bit stilted. However, you need to cut the film a bit of slack because all these problems are true of just about every film from 1929! After all, sound was a new thing for films and learning to effectively use it was still being worked out properly. For example, they still didn't know how to add music to films other than having an orchestra just out of camera range playing the music as they filmed it! And, often actors tended to stay in small areas because microphones had difficulty picking up folks otherwise! So, be prepared...it's going to be tough going with this picture.

The picture itself is only fair even if you excuse its technical shortcomings. The murder victim is VERY easy to determine and all the stuff in between this and the capture of the killer is pretty dull. There are only two unusual things about the film. One is that a character is convicted of the murder and sent to prison...and the real killer is only discovered later. Another is that the cast is really interesting--with Warner Oland (who also played Charlie Chan throughout the 1930s), Neil Hamilton (quite the matinée idol in his day) and a very young Frederic March. Apart from that, it's slow going and clichéd.

Normally, I'd give this one a 2 but due to the date in which it was made, I'll kick in another point due to the shabby production values of ALL 1929 flicks!