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This is the type of film that one might find listed in the old Forgotten Horrors book about forgotten chillers from independent studios. From Majestic Pictures during the golden age of mysteries, a rare film I had tried to hunt down many years back with no luck. I was pleasantly surprised to see the film listed for sale on Amazon and quickly made the purchase.

For it's type, a 1930's independent studio release, it is quite good. An actor with many enemies is bumped off during a party at a theatre. The actor was a true rogue making it tough for the detectives probing the case. C. Aubrey Smith plays Hanvey, a cagey, methodical sleuth. While, Sam Hardy, plays Gallagher, a dim-witted police captain, played mostly for laughs. One of the running gags throughout the film is Gallagher arresting whomever is the top suspect at a certain time.

Did I mention the monkey? Groan if you want to, that's what I did when I saw him. Yes, monkeys were certainly popular in films during the late 1920's and early 1930's and yes the monkey is a suspect in the case. Although the monkey is not really annoying, far too much screen time is wasted on him, especially when considering the talented actors on hand for this minor B picture. C. Aubrey Smith is always welcomed. Ruthelma Stevens was a treat whenever she made a rare appearance. Same for Paul Cavanagh and Hale Hamilton, all excellent performers.

The finale is unique, in that Smith, like Sherlock Holmes was to do upon occasion, solves the mystery, but then lets the killer go free, feeling justice had been served. For collectors of rare films and the people like myself who enjoy the poverty row studios, warts and all.

C. Aubrey Smith is first billed in the movie credits (although Dorothy Mackaill precedes him in the advertising posters) and does a fine job too. Admittedly, he looks much older than we would expect, but he carries his detective role role with all his customary assurance, even though he is sometimes forced to play second fiddle to Sam Hardy's aggressively loud-mouthed but dim-witted policeman. The support cast is full of interesting faces, not the least of which is an amazingly well-trained chimp! Good to see reliables like villainous Paul Cavanagh and Syd Saylor plus comic relief Herman Bing and ego-bruising Russell Hopton in prominent roles. The girls are rather stylish too. I love their costumes! Despite an obvious "B" budget, director E. Mason Hopper infuses a reasonable amount of mystery and suspense into the movie's 61 minutes.

Noted stage actor Wylie Thornton (Paul Cavanagh) has plenty of girlfriends, apparently. (Also a monkey friend who likes him a lot.) New co-star, old co-star, estranged wife—he doesn't seem to be playing any of them completely straight, and that's about all that we know for sure during the rather confusing opening portions of this classy if modest B mystery.

Dorothy Mackaill is good as Lola, sister to Anice, one of Wylie's discarded romances; from our first meeting with Lola, we see she is angry with Wylie and frustrated in her attempts to make contact with him.

Natalie Moorhead has only one full scene as Alma Thornton, the wife—but it's a goodie. Alma, too, is fed up with Wylie. She shows up in his room and answers the phone as his "secretary"; she mocks the way he speaks to his female phone callers ("Bye-ee!"); and she speaks to Wylie frankly and with a bite: "Your lips fairly brew honey when they want to. That's how you got me." (His reply: "I wish some of the same could get rid of you.")

Doris Manning (Ruthelma Stevens) is Wylie's new co-star; she's a rich girl and neither her father nor her fiancé have any intention of allowing her to travel to New York with a married actor (of all things!) and will do whatever it takes to prevent her. –All in all, in the best murder mystery tradition, there is no shortage of characters who have it in for the cad, Wylie Thornton.

Top-billed C. Aubrey Smith enters the picture around the midway point; he and Sam Hardy are a sort of smart cop/dumb cop pair. (Hardy does all the talking, Smith all the real detecting.) The chimp who lets himself in and out of his cage and has been known to swipe a handgun from the prop room is also a key player in this picture.

A fair amount of comic relief keeps the action relatively light; the murder scene (on a stage darkened except for a candle-lighted birthday cake) is somewhat unique; and the plot's eventual resolution is a bit out of the ordinary, as well. Overall, although the exposition of the first half hour is a bit dense, once this story gets rolling it's a fast-paced show that's very easy to take.

During the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made something like 1838234252847 murder mystery B-movies and "Curtain at Eight" is one of them. Like most of these films, it all hinges on a cliché--the dopey detective who is totally clueless. Chief Detective Martin Gallagher jumps to conclusions and comes up with theories and tries to make facts fit it (instead of vice-versa). If it weren't for another detective (C. Aubry Smith--in a very unusual role for him).

When a two-timing actor is murdered, there are two obvious suspects. But, when one turns up dying, it looks really bad for the other suspect. It MUST be him, or so the dopey policeman thinks. But they realize that a chimp (mistakenly called a monkey throughout the film) might actually be the shooter...maybe. So who did it? And, more importantly, is there enough to separate this from the pack of films in the genre? Well, the answer is not a lot. It's very typical in most every way. The differences were the hero (Smith) and the very end when he learns who the real killer is. It's worth seeing if you like these sort of films but for most, it's quite skippable.

1933's "Curtain at Eight" was a Poverty Row mystery from independent Majestic Pictures, routinely staged and acted by a mostly lethargic cast, chiefly remembered (if at all) for its remarkable chimpanzee, as adept at gunplay as the surprise culprit. Theatrical lothario Wylie Thornton (Paul Cavanagh) juggles multiple love affairs while supporting a blackmailing wife (Natalie Moorhead) who wholeheartedly approves of his philandering if it fills her coffers with ready cash. Dorothy Mackaill plays a conquered lover tossed aside, her sister (Marion Shilling) a gullible waif who chooses suicide rather than life without Wylie, his new leading lady and latest conquest (Ruthelma Stevens) being a wealthy heiress whose disapproving father (Hale Hamilton) suspects the two timer has never divorced his wife. When both Thorntons are shot, we get an odd couple of detectives, the abrasive dimwit (Sam Hardy) who arrests everyone who didn't do it, and the patient old timer (top billed C. Aubrey Smith) who at least fingers the right person; oddly enough, neither crime is truly solved by the investigators. The screenplay by veteran Edward T. Lowe has some sharp jabs but the first murder takes place at the half hour mark, after which things fall apart and the suspects are generally neglected. The sparring between the greedy couple makes for the one truly outstanding scene, he making excuses about not sleeping well to his various lovers over the phone while she's relaxing in bed, amused at playing her husband's 'secretary' and calling out his numerous deceptions ("you'd cut my throat for a dime" "when did the price go up?"). The female chimp is a real scene stealer, as smitten with the dead man as her human costars, easily getting in and out of her cage, occasionally visiting Wylie's dressing room to steal away his photograph. This marked the first screen appearance of author Octavus Roy Cohen's laconic detective Jim Hanvey, here played by British thespian C. Aubrey Smith, later interpreted by Guy Kibbee in 1937's "Jim Hanvey, Detective," a Republic production that failed to produce any further follow ups.

It's a murder mystery set backstage. At a party for womanizing, broke, married actor Paul Cavanaugh, he blows out the candles on his cake, the lights go out, and a gun goes off. When the lights come back on, he's dead. Enter two detectives: blowhard Captain of Detectives Sam Hardy, who proceeds to lock up half the cast by the time the movie is over; and District Attorney investigator Jim Hanvey, played by C. Aubrey Smith.

Hanvey was created by prolific short-story writer Roy Octavus Cohen, and he later appeared in several mysteries in which Guy Kibbee took on the role. I really like the way Smith plays the role. I'm so used to seeing him as the elderly, gruff but ultimately kindhearted avatar of the British Empire, that when I see him playing far afield his usual casting, he's a constant surprise. Here, he's doddering, unsure of himself, methodical constantly muttering, seedy, and three steps ahead of Hardy.

In the end, it's not much of a mystery. Director E. Mason Hopper tells the audience who did it even before the murder takes place. Still, Smith keeps things interesting throughout.

"Curtain At Eight" is only 61 minutes long, and I can't figure out if that's an asset or a detriment. It should have been longer to allow more plot development and it suffers from an editing problem - some scenes seem to be out of sequence and continuity suffers as a result.

On the other hand, maybe it's a blessing it was wrapped up quickly, as the production in general and the acting in particular is too stagey. There were no exterior shots and I thought that Sam Hardy, as the Detective Captain, nearly sank the whole picture with his outrageous overacting and obnoxious demeanor. He detracted from every scene he was in. C. Aubrey Smith and the female actresses were quite good, and the women were attractive (always enjoy watching Dorothy Mackaill), given that this was 1933, and this was an early 30's production through and through.

The mystery was above average and accounted for my rating - after all, the play's the thing, right? It was a whodunnit right up until the final scene, and with lots of suspects to choose from.

Interesting and marginally entertaining.

When "Wylie Thornton" (Paul Cavanagh), an actor who likes the company of women - not necessarily his wife - is shot at his own birthday party, we have no shortage of suspects. Detectives "Halliday" (Sam Hardy) and his sidekick "Hanvey" (C. Aubrey Smith) are soon drafted in to fathom it all out... Much of this is just a standard whodunit, and as we discover just how unpleasant "Wylie" actually was, we might also want to join the line-up of potential killers, too. What makes this a bit more fun is the dynamic between the two detectives. Hardy, the senior of the two, frequently comes up with half baked solutions whilst Smith proves the far more astute and considered of the pair and largely lets his boss bask in the glory whilst he does all the work. Good to see Smith given a more substantial role - he plays it well, and there's also a fine contribution from Natalie Moorhead as the deceased man's somewhat clandestine widow "Alma". The writing is simple, but effective, the ending is quite quirky - almost vindicating the crime - and at just over an hour it sustains the suspense quite well...

Wylie Thornton (Paul Cavanagh) does some big-time philandering. He has several women hooked including the chimpanzee. He puts out the standard story that he is going to leave his wife of whom he has never talked to in quite some time; all the time his wife is listening and snickering in the background.

It doesn't take us long to realize who's going to be shot. However, the plot is more complex than you would suspect. An inept policeman Marty Gallagher (Sam Hardy) suspects everybody and as usual, comes near to arresting everybody. Only Detective Jim Hanvey (C. Aubrey Smith) can glean the truth out of this complex situation. He must do so before reporter Terry Mooney (Russell Hopton) does some gleaning of his own.

It is a fun movie. However, they do a lot of fumbling and make up obscure connections between people and events. Oh yes, I think C. Aubrey Smith must have been born old.

Movies like this make me appreciate the technical categories of Academy Awards. In this case, especially film editing and camera work. Both come into question in "Curtain at Eight," along with directing. The cast is mostly OK in this early "B" level mystery, but no one particularly shines in his or her role. The bombastic Sam Hardy stands out some in his role as Martin Galllagher, chief of detectives. Dislikable as he is, his braggadocio helps viewers see the clear difference in the abilities of the two policemen. That probably was intended in the script. We are supposed to like C. Aubrey Smith as the more calm and collected detective, Jim Hanvey. Smith is OK, but there is nothing special in his or any of the other performances.

The plot of this film is interesting, and is what kept me watching. But a number of disconnects makes it difficult to follow at times. It jumps around between abrupt scene breaks and suffers from lack of cohesion. Again, that may be the editing. The ending is rather abrupt as well. And though it leaves us with a sense of justice having been achieved, it also reinforces doubt about the police work. And, the character of the police. The production quality is very poor, and even a digital remastering of this film couldn't improve it enough to make it a good movie to recommend.

One other reviewer noted the retort by the reporter, Terry Mooney (played by Russell Hopton), to a boastful comment by Gallagher. "Says Hitler!?" surely says a lot about the times. Hitler had only just risen to power in Germany the previous year. The press on him was obviously good enough that the folks in Hollywood already perceived him as a liar and untrustworthy. But then, we should remember that a number of entertainers, writers and other artists were among the early people to flee the Nazis, in the early 1930s.