Tangled Destinies

From the ever-reliable Frank Strayer comes this early-sound poverty-row indie murder mystery (so low budget that they didn't spend the fifteen dollars to license any music over the opening credits, they just have airplane sounds!!!). A plane headed to LA is forced to land about 300 miles east of LA in the middle of nowhere and the passengers/crew find an abandoned house where they stay for the night. One of the passengers is killed, some diamonds are missing, there's a violent storm outside, and it's off to the land of the "old dark house" murder mystery, a staple of early-sound-era poverty row filmmakers and a favorite genre of depression-era audiences. The cast includes many familiar faces if not big names--Syd Saylor (former silent comic and later western sidekick) as a former boxer who speaks in malapropisms, former silent comic actor and later writer/director Glenn Tryon (who starred in some early indie sound films and was a fine handsome and suave leading man) as the second pilot. There's a nice mysterious atmosphere and tension created throughout the film--you're constantly thinking something weird is going to appear out of the dark corners. There are some interesting subplots and red herrings thrown into the mix, all of the characters are colorful and have interesting personal histories that are transmitted quickly and tersely without wasted words or verbose expository dialogue, and the whole thing runs only 55 minutes, although you feel you've seen a longer film because so much is packed into such a short time. It moves at a brisk pace and completely achieves what it set out to achieve--to be an entertaining 60-minute second-feature which could take a depression-era audience out of the grind of daily life for an hour. Worth checking out if you like vintage murder mysteries.

From a poverty row outfit called Commonwealth Pictures with a cast of players that I guarantee that most you never heard of comes Tangled Destinies about a plane that has to make a forced landing and finds an empty house where the crew and passengers bunk for the night. During that time a man is killed. Another man is a detective tells the rest that he was acting as security for a fortune in diamonds the deceased was carrying.

The only player in this cast that I had any familiarity with is Syd Saylor who would go on to be cast in a ton of westerns usually in sidekick roles. I recall one film where he was John Wayne's sidekick. Saylor is a boxer and he turns out to be another bit of security for those gems.

Even at less than 55 minutes, Tangled Destinies moves at a glacial pace. Production values are nil and I think most will figure out who our culprit is.

I agree with what the other reviewers have said. It's basically a "no-star" cast -- the only people i recognised was the prizefighter and the head of the detectives (he was the doctor in The Monster Walks), but it still makes for some great viewing. I daresay (to use an old expression) that there's no other mystery quite like it!

My only complaint about this film was that the the "old lady" is obviously much, much younger than she appears......this might lead the viewer to concentrate on HER as the murderer, when all it is is a lousy makeup job!

Check it out if you get the chance to see it!

Tangled Destinies (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Forgotten "old dark house" entry has a plane going down during a storm and the passengers are forced to spend the night at a creepy house. Within a few minutes a man is murdered and some diamonds stolen, which makes everyone a suspect. This ultra low-budget shocker has been all but forgotten by today's crowds, which probably isn't fair because this movie is a lot more entertaining than some of the films from this genre that are still talked about today. The cast is full of unknowns and a few who appeared in some minor films but they are all quite effective and make the film worth viewing. I was really surprised at how good the performances were as the entire cast really digs in and delivers some very memorable characters. The writing here certainly isn't anything special and often times the dialogue is rather bland but that doesn't keep anyone from giving it their all and in the end really delivering some nice moments. Director Strayer is best remembered for various BLONDIE movies but he handles the subject matter here quite well and keeps the thing moving for its ultra fast 57-minutes. The budget must have been so low that they couldn't even afford an opening music score so instead we get some dumb sound effects of a plane flying. The low budget does eventually help out as it gives the film some nice atmosphere so fans of the genre will certainly want to track this one down.