Secret of the Blue Room

This is, what, the fourth classic Universal horror film to start with the same rendition of Swan Lake? "Secret of the Blue Room" revolves around a mansion with a cursed room, were three unsolved murders have occurred over. In order to impress the object of their desire (Third time in a row Gloria Stuart has shown up), three suitors each decide to spend a night in the seemingly haunted room. Murder follows, mysteries are investigated, and red herrings abound.

If this movie was a book, we'd call it a great airport read. It's generally unremarkable and didn't offer anything particularly new, even in 1933. The film is a straight mystery with only marginal horror elements. There's some light Gothic trappings, such as a silhouette shot of the mansion right out of "The Cat and the Canary" and a great scene of Gloria being attacked by a fedora clad villain, who we naturally only see in shadow. The climax takes place in a spider web covered secret dungeon. The cast is good, truthfully. Lionel Atwill, as the girl's father, plays up his natural creepiness. William Janney as the youngest suitor and Paul Lukas, with his strong accent, are both more interesting then your typical Hollywood romantic leads of the time. My favorite performance has to be Edward Arnold as the detective. His uncompromising interrogation techniques make the second half of the movie energetic and fun. Mary the cook provides some amusing comic relief, with her anxious insistence not to be incriminated in the case.

I was sort of surprised to find out the movie isn't based on a stage play, with its small cast and limited locations. It's not a particularly memorable film but it is a decent way to spend an hour, a good example of the sub-genre. Universal was weirdly fond of the story, remaking it twice, in '38 as The Missing Guest and in '44 as Murder in the Blue Room, a musical/comedy. Funnily, each was in black and white meaning we just have to take the movie's word on the titular room's primary color.

1933's "Secret of the Blue Room" was a remake of a 1932 German film titled "Geheimnis des blauen Zimmers," and even uses a few exterior shots from the original, while all interiors were filmed on the same marvelous sets built for James Whale's "The Old Dark House" (1932), also seen in independents such as "The Vampire Bat" and "Strange People." The last of the vintage Universals to utilize Tchaikovsky's serene "Swan Lake" over its opening credits (following "Dracula," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," and "The Mummy"), it begins on a suitably blustery midnight, celebrating the 21st birthday of young Irene von Helldorf (Gloria Stuart), along with her father Robert (Lionel Atwill), and three determined suitors, police captain Walter Brink (Paul Lukas), newspaper reporter Frank Faber (Onslow Stevens), and the much younger Thomas Brandt (William Janney), who impulsively proposes marriage to Irene on the spot. Mocked by the others, the young Brandt brings up the locked blue room, where Irene's mother had died 20 years before, with two others falling victim within since the original tragedy, all at the stroke of 1:00AM. Betting each of his rivals that they must all spend a night in the forbidding salon, Brandt seeks to prove his bravery by going first, only to disappear without a trace before morning, the bed not even slept in. Von Helldorf is reluctant to phone the police, until on the second night, a shot rings out from the blue room, and Faber is murdered at 1:00AM. Lionel Atwill heads a superb cast in his Universal debut, and Edward Arnold turns in some solid sleuthing, as he later would in the 1935 James Whale whodunit "Remember Last Night?" Formerly husband and wife in Whale's "The Kiss Before the Mirror," are Paul Lukas and seductive Gloria Stuart (disrobing just as her jealous husband shoots her dead); she would next appear in Whale's "The Invisible Man," while Lukas would turn up in Whale's "By Candlelight." Part of the original SHOCK! package of vintage Universal horror classics released to television in 1957, this remake was itself twice remade by the same studio, in 1938 as "The Missing Guest," and in 1944 as "Murder in the Blue Room," both of which changed the backstory and added different characters (in this 1933 feature, no one solves the 20 year old mystery of the blue room). Neither of the two remakes were included in the SHOCK! package, but all three turned up on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, with four broadcasts for "Secret of the Blue Room" - May 18 1968 (following 1959's "Terror is a Man"), May 24 1975 (following 1940's "Chamber of Horrors" and 1943's "Calling Dr. Death"), Mar 5 1976 (following 1957's "The Deadly Mantis"), and Sept 10 1983 (solo).

Three men all in love with the same woman decide to spend the night in the cursed "blue" room where tragedy strikes who ever spends the night. Of course tragedy again strikes and the police are called into solve the crime.

Grand Universal mystery thriller suffers from having been remade both officially and unofficially over the years. The film itself is a remake of an earlier German film so I guess turn about is fair play.

Feeling more like an old friend rather than a griping thriller this film is a good little mystery. Odds are you'll know whats going on, but you won't mind since the cast is the real reason to see this. Paul Lukas is a dashing military man, Lionel Atwill is the owner of the cursed house, Gloria Stewart is the woman in question and Edward Arnold is the detective called in to solve the crime. They are all aided by a strong supporting cast of Universal studio regulars.

This is one to make an effort to see especially if you're a fan of good, if familiar, mysteries.

7 out of 10 due to the passage of time and the multiple remakes.

Not bad little Old Dark House quickie from Universal with a great cast and a "guess you had to be there" plot. A trio of horndogs (Paul Lukas, Onslow Stevens, William Janney) want to marry pretty Gloria Stuart, despite her warbly singing voice. So they decide to have a contest to see who gets her hand. All three men will spend one night in the "blue room," a supposedly haunted room of a spooky old mansion where three murders were committed twenty years earlier. Then the fun starts. In addition to the top talent already mentioned, this one also features Paul Barrat, Lionel Atwill, and Edward Arnold. Pretty good lineup. It's definitely worth a look for classic film fans. Probably won't blow you away or anything but I doubt you'll feel your hour and change was wasted.

This is certainly one of THE classic 'old mansion murder mysteries' that were so popular in the 30s; and it can contend with most of the very best of them. A great challenge for every mystery fan who likes to guess the murderer, because the plot takes so many turns and twists that it's really hard to follow even for a 'murder expert'! The settings are excellent, following the classic scheme of the old, elegant but somehow frightening isolated country house, with solid wooden stairs, long dark corridors with knight's armors in every corner, distinguished old-fashioned furniture - and a dark room with an old DARK mystery...

The cast is magnificent, headed by mystery expert Lionel Atwill, and beautiful Gloria Stuart (who had also played in "The Old Dark House" a year before) as the object of desire for no less than three young men; Edward Arnold, well-known to friends of more down-to-earth gangster movies and comedies, as the blunt detective, Paul Lukas as the suave foreign 'officer and gentleman' - even every bit part was casted just perfectly! In my opinion, an absolute 'must' for any fan of the classic mysteries of the 30s - and a good opportunity for others, who are not too familiar yet with the genre, to get to know it WELL and at its BEST!