Un cri dans la nuit

If you like murder mysteries the you've seen this movie before, probably at least a hundred times. The plot is the typical a group of people are staying at the home of a rich man who turns up dead. The police arrive to flush out the killer and its quickly revealed that everyone wanted the guy dead. Its an early sound version of the plot line you've come to know and love. Spicing things up is the addition of an Oriental fortune teller played by Misha Auer. The introductions to most of the characters come during a reading he is doing for one of the people staying at the house. Its a unique twist to the proceedings. Auer himself ends up at the house and it is during a gathering for a séance that the murder occurs.

Despite my low rating this is not a bad movie. The cast is good the mystery serviceable. The problem is that time has not been particularly kind to this movie. Its pacing is now rather slack and it seems to just go on and on. The action is a bit static. The film being a relatively early sound film is very talky at times. The detective once he appears is capable of chattering on and on a good deal. The flaws are not fatal, but since this is a path I had been down before numerous times I found that I wasn't enjoying it as much as I would if I wasn't a mystery fan.

If you're curious try it, though be warned its the type of thing you've seen before.

A group of zillionaires is gathered in a mansion to witness Swami Yomurda (Mischa Auer) demonstrate his mystical powers. Two minutes into the seance the lights go out, and when they come back on someone lies dead on the floor!

Almost everyone in the room has a motive for killing the victim.

SINISTER HANDS has the standard "old dark house" plot, set up, and rogue's gallery of suspects. There's even a tough-talking detective and his goofy sidekick!

Fans of this sub-genre won't find anything groundbreaking here, but it's nonetheless entertaining...

Getting old can surely help a movie's entertainment value, as this low-budget very traditional murder mystery offers ready-made camp content. I attended innumerable premieres of extreme flops over the decades, and it's a fact that people are often quite forgiving many years later when nothing (money) is on the line -I would cite "Heaven's Gate" which I saw in NYC at its disastrous first public showing as a prime example.

The almost constant array of cliches and corny elements (most notably attempted comic relief of the cop detective's sidekick insisting over and over and over "Don't call me Watson!" burlesque routine) are fun over 90 years after they were recorded. And what's wrong with having fun at the movies?

For me, the barrage of clues, a gimmick still very much in vogue (see: Daniel Craig in that new and popular series of "Knives Out" films, which by the way is the weapon of choice in "Sinister Hands") is fun, and I was able to use them to guess the killer correctly quite early on. And the lengthy list of suspects, played by nonenties (with the exception of the sinister swami played by the great Mischa Auer) was quite easy to follow via adequate stereotyping. Nothing could be cornier than the arrogant behavior of the police captain/detective (Jack Mulhall) and his gathering everyone in a room to confront them and explain everything leading up to fingering the killer!

I have always been interested in Poverty Row films since I read the book Forgotten Horrors many years ago. While other reviewers say this is a standard mystery, I argue it is not the case. The standard is that usually a much hated man with many enemies is murdered. The twist here is that Richard Lang (Phillips Smalley) is successful and well liked. His problem are the women in his life. His wife has fallen for a phony mystic (Mischa Auer), while his daughter is enamored with a two bit gangster (Louis Natheaux). In fact every bum and crook in town seems to hang out at his estate because his wife and daughter are attracted to these types of men.

One evening Smalley announces at his home that the days of these parasites living off him has ended. Smalley is found murdered shortly thereafter. Police Detective Devlin (Jack Mulhall) arrives on the scene and quickly uncovers a couple more suspects. One curious aspect is that casting of Louis Natheaux as the gangster. He is suppose to be tough and handsome. The ladies can't resist him, yet he looks 40 years old, he is balding and very thin. Worst of all is his nasal, whiny voice. During a showdown with Smalley, Natheaux is suppose to be intimidating, but I suspect a fifth grader would find nothing to be afraid of.

There are some spooky, atmospheric parts during the swami's seances. The dialogue is quiet good and believable. I recommend this film to mystery lovers and poverty row aficionados like myself. This films isn't of the quality of the films at the major studios at the time, but by poverty row standards, a cut above average.

The lights are turned out during a seance, When the lights come back on, Phillips Smalley is dead with a knife in his back. Detective Captain Jack Mulhall comes to investigate and soon discovers that almost all present had motives to kill him and, given the dark, had opportunity. So who did it?

It's a typical cheap mystery directed by Armand Schaefer and not, alas, a well constructed one. Although I figured out whodunnit before it was revealed, vital clues were not shown to the audience until Mulhall begins his summation -- with all the suspects in the room, natch -- which is not playing fair with the mystery aspect of the movie. Also, despite some good lighting by William Nobles -- his first movie was a Mary Pickford vehicle, but he soon sank into the ranks of B cameramen and never recovered -- is there much in the way of interesting action. Instead, it's a nearly constant stream of talk, pausing only to show a clue to the mystery.