Murder by an Aristocrat

Bayard Thatcher, the black sheep of a storied family, has announced that he will leave for good provided the others pay him $25,000. Unfortunately, they are not that liquid at the moment, due to lingering effects of the Great Depression. That night, Thatcher is shot in his bed but only wounded. As he recovers, his doctor and nurse try to discern his assailant's identity while also protecting him from any attempts to finish the job.

A familiar tale of a distasteful member of the family meeting his demise but not after a lot of set-up. The person who figures out the murder is Marguerite Churchill who plays a nurse, and the denouement was quite complicated- had to rewind a few times. My head was spinning, but it's an entertaining mystery that kept my interest.

Snappy 60 minute Clue Club mystery featuring blackmail and the elimination of the aristocratic Thatcher family. Based upon the 1932 novel of the same name by Mignon Good Eberhart, a nurse heroine is able to put together the pieces of a mystery that confound the local district attorney. Pretty difficult to keep up with myriad of clues and figure out "who done it" ahead of the nurse-detective who seems even "psychic" in her ability to divine the murderer. The movie title says it all -- the murderer is an aristocrat. It would have been nice for the property department to actually supply the cast with a revolver instead of an automatic -- but it really does not matter to the plot. In many Eberhart mysteries, Sarah Keate is the nurse-detective, but in Murder by an Aristocrat, the name used is Sally Keating. Directed by Frank McDonald. Cast includes Marguerite Churchill, John Eldredge, Lyle Talbot, Claire Dodd, Virginia Brissac, William Davidson. Orry-Kelley costume design. About as good as these 1930s-era formula mysteries get. Good viewing on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Murder mystery B-movies are a dime a dozen, as they made a bazillion of them in the 1930s and 40s. Because of this, much of "Murder by an Aristocrat" seems very familiar...too familiar. Additionally, there are a few logical inconsistencies that spring up here and there during the story.

When the story begins, you learn that EVERYONE in this aristocratic family hates Bayard, the obvious rogue of the family. He apparently knows a lot of dirt on various family members and is not afraid to blackmail them. You'd think he'd learn his lesson when he is shot (but not killed), but Bayard is still looking to make a big clean up because of the secrets he knows. It's obvious some family member tried to kill him and you can only assume that they'll try it again.

The logical inconsistencies abound...such as WHY weren't the police called when the nurse caring for Bayard learns that his gunshot was NOT an accident and he was nearly murdered, why after the actual murderer is discovered that they let the person leave the room with no one following them to make sure they didn't try to escape or kill more folks! There are a few more instances like this, though I must admit that the film STILL manages to entertain.

William B. Davidson is blackmailing his aristocratic family: $25,000 before the next evening or he opens the closet to show all the skeletons. There's an accident with a gun, and nurse Marguerite Churchill is brought in to see to him. He appears to be getting fine, and Miss Churchill overhears the rest of the family agreeing how to raise the cash. The next afternoon, she is sitting on the lawn, when Davidson is shot and killed, with no one to do it, and no gunshot!

It's a nice little locked-room mystery from a Mignon Eberhart story, and under B director Frank MacDonald, it comes in at precisely one hour, giving the audience little time to think out the mystery. Everyone in the household has a reason to want Davidson dead, and no one has the opportunity. Yet there he is.

... and even then, the nurse who figures out the murder mystery is doing everything by memory and even jumping to some wild conclusions. The guilty party would need a lawyer as bad as my sister's divorce attorney to allow the guilty party to confess, because there really is no solid evidence.

The set-up is this. Portly and distasteful Bayard Thatcher threatens the other Thatchers with exposure and scandal - there are many in this prominent family - if they do not give him 25K by the following night. Then he actually has the nerve to spend the night at the family mansion. An attempt is made on his life, but he survives, although for some reason he is never transferred to the hospital. The family tells the doctor that Bayard was shot cleaning his revolver, so the police are not called. Plus it turns out the D.A. is a Thatcher too. The gun is left behind and Bayard puts it under his pillow. Sometime during the night the gun is stolen. The next afternoon the job is finished, a bullet is shot through Bayard's heart except this time the gun is not left behind.

The only outsiders are Doctor Allen Carrick (Lyle Talbot) and the nurse that is assigned to watch over the patient, Sally Keating (Marguerite Churchill), also a love interest of Dr. Carrick. She is witness to lots of goings on, but I could never figure out how she could piece together what she saw - including a dog merely leaving the house - and spin it into a tale of murder and who the guilty party was.

This film is only one hour long and lots of fun with lots of action. And old Bayard is so unpleasant to everybody that just about anybody he speaks to, including the servants, could have done it. Watch and see if you can figure it out. It certainly is not boring and much better than the current mediocre rating implies.