The Riverside Murder

THE RIVERSIDE MURDER (1935) starts with a bang as Robert Norman (Aubrey Mallalieu) is dispatched in the study with the revolver.

This is the first big case for Inspector Philip Winton's (Basil Sydney) first big case he is assisted by Police Sgt. 'Mac' McKay (Alastair Sim). Everyone is being dogged by armature reporter Claire Haines (Judy Gunn.)

Turn out it is the standard tontine mystery. So, more participants may be dispatched.

Too many explanations and of course the murderer probably pops out of the closest at the last minute. Why do we not get all the information during the movie?

Because there is no butler, I assume it is the housekeeper.

Well, you've had two US reviews for this TOTALLY British "QQ" film, so here is my take UK on it.

If you want to be whisked back to a darkened, smoky, smelly, flea-pit pre-war cinema, watching a second feature 'B' movie then this is ideal!!

Plot is quite good and offers a reasonable ending although you will need to make up your own 'red-herrings' as they are thin on the ground, so that when "all" is explained you sit there thinking but...............

The only reason my wife and I wanted to watch this is for Alastair Sim. (I'm doing a personal 'season' of his films at the moment and have just finished reading his bio.) He is the undoubted (debut?) star and about the only person in the film who you could say knew how to act. A couple of the bit part actors were quite good BUT Basil Sydney………oh, dear. That stilted delivery, AND those long pauses were verging on comical. I really am surprised that he went on to be in other films right up into the late 60s shortly before he died, whereas Judy Gunn only carried on in films for another two years. She certainly out-acted Basil Sydney.

Yes, quaint.

A rich man is killed in his home. There appears to be no reason for the murder, however there are several suspects: the house keeper, two house guests and a mysterious woman who left just before the murder. The Police dispatch two detectives to take charge of the case and it soon transpires that there is ample reason for numerous people to bump off the dead man.

This is one of those mystery movies that you'd watch even if the mystery wasn't good simply because the characters are so much fun to watch. The detectives in this case are Basil Sydney and Alastair Sim and they make a fine team. Sydney is a charming detective with a slightly smart ass style. Watch how he deals with the small child who's lost his mother, its very funny. Sim is his second and is typically a bit of a bumbler, but nicely he is not a complete idiot. Mistakes are made but more often then not they are honest ones.

The mystery is a good one with the murder having no apparent motive, then suddenly taking on a motive and then turning and twisting as suspects come and go. The plot moves rapidly and we actually get a decent reason why everyone is cooped up in the house where the murder takes place, the side trips outside the crime scenes confines are also logical. I'm also pretty sure that the movie plays fair with the solution, or at least mostly fair (I'm not quite sure because I was tired when I watched this and may have missed something.) This is a grand little movie that seems to have been unjustly lost to the ages. Its a sterling little mystery thats almost in an Agatha Christie sort of way, which isn't surprising since the film is based on a mystery novel of Christie's heyday. This is a movie to search out and find. Its a movie that belongs in your video player while you have a bag of popcorn and a soda.

8 out of 10.

A pushy reporter, an amusing cop, a diligent detective, and a murder with a house full of suspects. I guess Hollywood wasn't the only source of this popular 30's formula. Here It's the British and they do it up in engaging fashion. Seems a money pact was once agreed upon that would reward the four investors at a date that's about to expire. Maybe that's why some beneficiaries are suddenly getting mysteriously shot. So can Inspector Winton figure it out before the last survivor gets rewarded. But then wouldn't he have to be the killer! Stay tuned since it's a puzzling whodunit nicely thought out. And who is actress Gunn. Too bad her career was brief since her brassy reporter pretty much steals a film that does keep things moving. And, oh yes, actor Ian Fleming is unrelated to the James Bond impresario of the same name. (I was hoping otherwise.) All in all, it's a pretty good time-passer whose British accents didn't get in the way of my American ears.

The Riverside Murder is a British quota quickie, notable only for being the film debut of Alastair Sim.

Shortly before an important meeting of five investors, one of them, Robert Norman, is shot dead in his study. It becomes apparent that all the investors are in danger as two others are knocked off.

Sim supplies the energy, and Judy Gunn as reporter Claire Haines supplies the aggravation.

The film uses the device of a gun barrel being seen in a doorway shooting someone.

Sloppily done, with the reporter (hanging up the phone and then the phone conversation continuing.

Alistair Sim, from this humble beginning, will go on to great things.