Mystery House

Noel M. Smith, Director of this film was a veteran of films and created many films during the Silent Era. This film takes place in an old house, more like a cottage and it occurs during a very bad snow storm with horrible winds blowing and drifting snow against the window panes. There is a group of men attending a board meeting and their wives and girlfriends who are visiting this mysterious house. The men have found out that their business has been cheated out of a large sum of money and they have all gathered together to find out just who forged papers and stole all the company's funds. There is a man who kills himself in a locked room and two other murders happen. Lance O'Leary, (Dick Purcell) is an investigator who is called in by a nurse Sarah Keate, (Ann Sheridan) who attends one of the older members of the household. This film is a B film, but will definitely hold your interest and keep you glued to your seats. Enjoy.

All things considered Mystery House is not a bad product coming out of Warner Brothers B picture unit. It's another one of those classic shootings in a locked room, where the verdict can be nothing else, but suicide. Or can it?

The members of the board of directors of a company are gathered on a retreat where the president confronts them with his suspicion that one of them is guilty of embezzlement. He's found shot to death in a locked room, but the man's daughter can't believe it wasn't murder so she hires a private detective and invites the whole lot of them back to the retreat where the crime occurred.

Two murders later and we have an answer. No hints at all as to who and how, but I will say the weapon is in plain sight.

Ann Sheridan and Dick Purcell are our leads and television fans will spot a future detective in William Hopper who played Paul Drake on the Perry Mason series.

Back in 1938 when it ran as the second feature of a double bill, I don't think too many people left their seats.

Mystery House (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Rare murder/mystery from Warner has a banker committing suicide but his daughter thinks he was murdered so she invites all the guests from that night back to the house hoping the killer will slip up. Only God knows how many of these "old dark house" films were made throughout the 1930s but this one here is pretty good due to some nice direction and a short running time that makes the film fly by. All of the characters are a lot of fun so this keeps the movie going as well. The ending comes out very well and the mystery is a good one.

At a company retreat, Hubert Kingery announces that there has been fraud within the company. Later that night, a shot rings out and his dead body is found in his room. His death is ruled a suicide but his daughter Gwen (Anne Nagel) believes it to be murder. Her aunt's nurse Sarah Keate (Ann Sheridan) suggests her detective boyfriend Lance O'Leary (Dick Purcell). Gwen gathers everyone back to the lodge for the weekend and they get snowed in.

I wasn't really following the various suspects. The movie is less than one hour long and doesn't spend much time giving each character some depth. Quite frankly, the perpetrator can be anybody other than the aunt and Gwen. In fact, the aunt has one of the better twist. Lance and Sarah are not particularly compelling investigators. There are better investigating duos from that era.

When a rich banker is mysteriously killed, detective Lance O'Leary (Dick Purcell) is called out to a remote hunting lodge to investigate.

Mystery House is a typical cheap Warner Brothers mystery film. The plot has several gaping holes, but most of the actors are halfway decent. Star Dick Purcell would later become the first actor to play Captain America on screen. Ann Sheridan is rather wasted, but Elspeth Dudgeon (who had a very memorable role in The Old Dark House) is a hoot as the cantankerous aunt.

There's worse way to spend 56 minutes.