The Circus Queen Murder

DA Thatcher Colt (Adolphe Menjou), who hasn't had a day off in years, is finally going on vacation. He has chosen a town in upstate New York called Gilead. He brings along his secretary, Miss Kelly (Ruthelma Stevens).

It's not particularly calm, as the circus is in town, replete with cannibals and intrigue. Wouldn't you know that the circus press agent (Harry Holman) recognizes his old buddy Colt and gives him and Ms. Kelly free passes.

That evening, the owner of the circus, Rainey (George Rosener) tells Colt that someone is out to ruin his show. One incident involved the half-owner (La Tour) caught on a runaway horse. Miss Kelly, a lip reader, saw what Flandrin (Dwight Frye), La Tour's husband, said just before he popped a balloon to scare the horse: "The double-crossing cheat. I'll kill the both of you."

La Tour is having an affair with The Great Sebastian (Donald Cook) and wants a divorce. Flandrin has disappeared, but Colt knows he's still around and planning something deadly.

Nice high-wire acts and good performances, particularly by Dwight Frye as the clearly insane Flandrin. Menjou is very charming and smooth.

This is a dated film, with black cannibals and a black tap-dancing toy atop Menjou's desk.

This is the second film (in a mini-series of two) featuring Menjou as Thatcher Colt, Police Commissioner, the first being THE NIGHT CLUB LADY. They're both extremely well made and quite entertaining, a very diverting double. And well written: based on novels by Fulton Oursler, they have screenplays by Capra regulars Robert Riskin (the first) and Jo Swerling (this one).

The similarities of the two films are many. In each, the character (and actor Menjou) shows off his language skills. In NIGHT CLUB LADY, each suspect is a different nationality, and Menjou plays a long scene on the phone in lightning French. Here, he overhears a conversation in German with Nisson (whose first language that was). In both, the time and place of the impending murder of the title lady is known, and Colt arrives in plenty of time with a large retinue of police, but is still unable to prevent the crime (a funny sort of hero). In both, the method of the murder is exotic, and in both Colt puts himself at risk, wearing a secret protective vest, to catch the murderer. In both, he has a personal side-kick named Kelly who handles all the important details, nicely played by Ruthelma Stevens (probably her largest film roles). His relationship with her is ambiguous. In the first film, he is constantly surprised in apparently compromising situations with her (actually demonstrating a wrestling hold or the murderer's method) which he blithely declines to explain. In the second, she is traveling with him on his vacation, and at the end, when she's in danger, he says that she's the only person he really cares about in the world. Their somewhat equivocal relationship is only one of the many little pleasures in the two films.

But there are also many significant differences. NIGHT CLUB LADY is a whodunit with many equally guilty suspects; and whenever one begins to look more guilty, "you know who" gets killed. In this one, one more-or-less knows who the murderer is, and the tension is in whether he will be caught in time (in a ridiculously extended big-top sequence that cuts--and cuts--back and forth from the murderer, intended victim, police, spectators, etc.). In the first, the victim is rather unpleasant, and is killed off early, but here the victim is sympathetic and is killed near the end, a real plot flaw.

The style of direction is even more dramatically different. The first is generally rather lighthearted, with an alcoholic Skeets Gallagher constantly interjecting humorous comments. It's brightly lit and takes place in posh surroundings. CIRCUS QUEEN is atmospheric, with heavy drama driving the plot. The circus ambiance is moody and dark, and the eerie growls and cries of the wild animals are used like soundtrack music for the night scenes with impressively unsettling results. For me, this effective development of atmosphere gives this film a slight edge over the first in the series. Needless to say, the two films had different directors. This one was directed by Roy William Neill, who also turned in the creepy, nearly unknown BLACK MOON the following year.

Like most other Columbia films of the pre-Code era, this double has no reputation simply because they are virtually totally unavailable. What a shame!

1933's "The Circus Queen Murder" was Columbia's second adaptation of an Anthony Abbot Thatcher Colt novel, in this case 1932's "About the Murder of the Circus Queen," a followup to the previous year's "The Night Club Lady." Back as the lip reading Colt is Adolphe Menjou, happily teamed again with gorgeous Ruthelma Stevens as faithful secretary Miss Kelly, as savvy and sassy as ever. This time around, there's precious little mystery, with Colt taken out of his native New York City milieu, watching over suspicious activities in a traveling circus far from home. It does evoke Tod Browning's "Freaks," with such pre-code details as cannibalism adding to the doom laden atmosphere, not really a mystery as defined in the title, the circus queen only meeting her fate in the final reel. Fortunately, we have Dwight Frye's Flandrin commanding attention, and in a larger role than usual he's definitely in rare form, better in dangerous mode than his bland hero from 1935's "The Crime of Doctor Crespi." Both Thatcher Colt features have remained stubbornly elusive over the years, while one of Columbia's four picture Steve Trent series has suffered the indignity of actually disappearing without any trace. There would be one revival for Colt, in 1942's "The Panther's Claw," casting dependable Sidney Blackmer as Colt, his fate on screen ending just like his inspiration Philo Vance, at Poverty Row's PRC.

This is a highly entertaining B mystery movie. While a ton of these type of movies were made in the 1930s and 40s, this one is a bit different. First, Adolph Menjou who plays the lead is nothing like the typical leading man in such films. Like he usually was, he's debonair and exudes class--and is so different from folks like Charlie Chan and Sherlock Holmes and the Falcon. And, he also happens to be a cop on vacation who walks into the middle of crimes--not the typical "dopey cop" you'd find in many Bs (especially the Boston Blackie films). Watching Menjou was always a pleasure and this film is no exception. An additional factor that made the film more entertaining was its begin set at a circus. There's a part of most viewers that is excited in seeing high wire acts, clowns and the like. And finally, it's interesting because the killer is just plain bonkers--and quite entertaining.

Well written and acted, this film is well worth seeing if, like me, you love B-movies. While not a great film, it is among the better examples of the genre.

Circus Queen Murder, The (1933)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Rare Columbia mystery was the second film in a two-film series. Police Chief Thatcher Colt (Adolphe Menjou) gets tired of the gangster in NYC so he takes a vacation with his secretary (Ruthelma Stevens) on a vacation. He runs across a friend who owns a circus and decides to stick around when an abusive husband (Dwight Frye) turns up dead. The suspects could be his wife, her lover or perhaps African cannibals. This is a fairly entertaining mystery that works best with its pre-code nature, which at times is fairly ghoulish considering the era that this was made. There's talk of bodies being cut up and fed to lions and there's even a theory that the African cannibals have eaten a victim. Some might be offended by the black folks being called cannibals with their voodoo dolls and skull lying around so be warned there. Menjou and Nissen work well together but it's Frye and Greta Nissen that really steal the show. Donald Cook, best known for his role in The Public Enemy is also good in his supporting role. The actual mystery isn't too hard to solve, which is the film's biggest problem but the 63-minute running time goes by fast. This isn't one of the best of the genre but it's a good time killer.