Murder by Invitation

Perennial second-from-the-left-cop-in-the-station-house, George Guhl, has a featured role, would you believe, in Monogram's 1941 tale, Murder by Invitation, which turns out to be a sort of Mrs Longfellow Deeds Meets the Cat and the Canary. With halfway competent direction and a halfway appropriate budget, this may well have turned out as sleeper of the year. The money is there all right, but Phil Rosen's direction is strictly from hunger. The picture's potential is unrealized. Obviously left largely to their own devices, the players do what they can to salvage the film. Although inclined to over-act, I thought Sarah Padden carried off the main role with a fair amount of conviction, although other reviewers disagree. George Guhl was a big letdown, and I was also disappointed that Marian Marsh was simply just another pretty blonde in this outing and no longer the charismatic charmer of Beauty and the Boss.

This is a comedy using the murder mystery genre as background. The main characters are a bit stiff - especially considering this was made in 1941 - but it's not a bad hour spent. The story revolves around old aunt Cassie, whose odd 'uh-heh' laugh is closer to caricature than character-defining. The newspaper columnist who serves as the detective in this film, is played by Wallace Ford. He and his secretary (?) and photographer play their stereotypical roles no better than the stereotypes you'd expect. The sheriff - presumably from New York somewhere, as that's where the court case was heard - sounds more like an Okie than an upstate New Yorker, and follows his own stereotype of the hayseed lawman, accent included. Of course, he's a buffoon as well, asking the newspaper columnist for advice at every turn.

So we know the flaws. Still, this was a B movie, intended as filler, and that's how we should judge it. There's nothing about it that made me want to hit the stop button - unlike some stinkers - and for fans of 1930s mysteries, it's an acceptable detour into comedy. Not laugh out loud comedy, but light amusement. It's out of copyright, and I found it on a 5 CD collection Mystery and Murder: 25 Crime Classics at my library. So it was worth every penny I paid for it.

Rich old Aunt Cassie considers herself "the only sane person in a family of nitwits." She invites her greedy relatives to the creaky family mansion—instructing them to arrive on Friday at midnight—where she will decide which of them will inherit her millions. Needless to say, it's not long before the murders start….

Vanishing corpses, secret passageways—murder spoof elements abound in this extremely goofy murder mystery. Assorted crackpot characters include several shifty relatives, an oddball sheriff, and a snoopy neighbor.

Sarah Padden cackles gleefully as the eccentric Aunt Cassie. Wallace Ford is tough to dislike as wisecracking newspaper reporter Bob White. Marian Marsh is lively and likable as White's assistant Nora, although she isn't given much to do except keep up with Ford's jokes and detective work.

This Monogram production is certainly a cheapie: while some scenes look like they may have been rehearsed, others definitely don't. However… a sense of good natured fun carries the picture along, and joviality mostly makes up for lack of production polish.

Also livening up this B mystery are a few cute comments alluding to the fact that this is, in fact, a B mystery. Just past the midway point, for example, Ford discusses the two missing corpses: Dead bodies, he says, always go missing in murder mysteries and "it generally happens just past the middle of the picture."

It ain't profound but it's pretty easy viewing for those who enjoy good silly lowbrow fun.

And what a great closing line!

An old lady is taken to court by her heirs because they feel she is wasting her fortune and that she should be put away for her own safety. Turning the tables on the greed family in the courtroom she insists that any of her heirs who want a piece of her money show up at her house that night. What happens next is a very enjoyable murder/comedy as people start dying as every scrambles to find the fortune.

Anyone expecting anything other than a silly time should stay as far away from this movie as possible. Yes, there is a mystery, but there are a good bunch of laughs as well, as reporter Wallace Ford and his girl wander among the crazies trying to get a story while trying to stay alive.

I really like this film, especially the old lady that who is smarter than the relatives who are trying to put her way. This is a good friend of a movie that I'll take out now and again when I need to just sit and veg.

If you come across it, by all means give it a try, we all need to laugh now and then.

Virtually indistinguishable from the scores of other comedy/mysteries so popular in the 30s and 40s. All the cliches are here - wealthy dowager, hidden fortune, isolated country house, hidden passages, venal relatives, intrepid reporter with his comic sidekick and wisecracking "doll", bumbling police detective - all that is missing is the dark and stormy night. Fun performances by some great character actors are about all that set this movie apart. There are better ways to spend your time.