The Avenging Hand

Don't let the misleading title fool you into thinking this is a horror movie or even in an old-dark-house mystery - it's actually a rather light-hearted whodunnit in a hotel. On New Year's Eve, a guest who has recently come into money is murdered (initially diagnosed as suicide) and a vacationing American gangster (Noah Beery) turns detective to solve the case.

The murder comes well over the halfway mark but there's plenty of interesting characters and American-style fast-talk humour to keep you entertained before then. Surprisingly pacey for a 1930s British film and quite entertaining, even if it's far from ground-breaking. It's available for download for free at the Internet Movie Archive.

A vacationing gangster (Noah Beery) visits London, England, only to be caught up in a murder mystery, involving a certain package.

THE AVENGING HAND is a showcase for Beery, who gets to sleuth about, acting more like Sherlock Holmes than any gangster! A decent little movie, and at just over an hour in length, it doesn't wear out its welcome...

THE AVENGING HAND might sound like a creepy, creaky old horror movie from the 1930s, but instead it's a creaky old crime film from that era. Clocking in at just over an hour long, this tells the sinister tale of a gang of robbers hiding out at a plush hotel, the murder they commit, and the men who track them down and bring them to justice.

As you'd guess from the single setting (much of the story takes place in just two or three rooms), this is a low budget effort that nonetheless tries hard with the resources it has. And it does quite well for its part: the plotting is nothing to write home about, but the script is pretty funny, with lots of humour and quick-fire dialogue from the central characters. It certainly makes the whole thing easier to sit through.

By far the most interesting thing about THE AVENGING HAND is the lead, a bullish Chicago gangster played by American star Noah Beery. Beery's portly detective is one of the most unorthodox investigators put on screen, but he brings a lot of drive and vitality to the production, enhancing the entertainment factor no end. Without him, this would have been a real bore.

Behind the spooky title is an inconsequential quota quickie that gets simply talkier and talkier as Noah Beery plays a self-described 'gangster' (as if that's something you'd put in your passport) on holiday in London, where most of the chatter that passes for action takes place almost entirely in the lobby of a plush hotel where one of the guests turns up shot dead one morning and Beery takes it upon himself to solve the case (while also at the conclusion turning cupid to a young couple whose path he happens to cross).

Noah Beery was the less famous brother of Wallace Beery. During his career, Noah mostly played supporting roles...so "The Avenging Hand" was an unusual opportunity for him to star in this British B-movie.

Lee Barwell (Beery) is an American gangster who is vacationing in Britain. He's amazed how lax everything is here and his criminal inclination thinks he's in a place ripe for fleecing. However, he is on vacation and instead goes to hang out at a swanky hotel. There he meets an odd man...a match-seller who has inexplicably come upon some money under unusual circumstances. However, some time later the poor guy is murdered and the killer stuffs a gun in his hand to make it look like a suicide. Barwell realizes it's a murder as he could smell some sort of cologne lingering from the assailant and spends the rest of the film acting like a detective investigating the crime.

The amateur detective investigating a murder is a common American genre of the 1930s....but putting the story in Britain and having a criminal doing the investigating...well that IS unique. Very watchable...mostly because I found Beery's performance enjoyable.