The Witness Vanishes

One of Universal's "Crime Club" series of the thirties, this movie has a few good moments and a decent premise, but it falls apart halfway through the story. I wouldn't be surprised if it worked better as a novel before it was adapted into a movie. An escapee from a lunatic asylum has announced his intentions to kill the four journalists whom he claims stole his newspaper away from him, and one by one his enemies meet their demise. But all is not as it seems.... There is some imagination in the plot, particularly in the second murder, but the imagination dries up when the guilty party leaves a clue so obvious that a six-year-old child would call Scotland Yard immediately. From that point on, the film loses its steam. Edmund Lowe is almost invisible for most of this movie, and the lion's share of the acting is done by the supporting cast. They're capable, but this story isn't very believable, and it's a far cry from Agatha Christie or Ellery Queen.

During the early to mid-1930s, Edmund Lowe was a rather popular American actor. However, his popularity began to wane and here in 1939 he's overseas...starring in a British mystery film.

About 20 years ago, Lucius Marplay was placed in an insane asylum by his business partners who wanted his share of the newspaper. Apparently, Marplay's a very patient man because he suddenly escapes in order to enact his complicated plans of revenge. It seems that he's intent on killing these four men who knew he was sane...and the plans are very detailed and even detail the exact moments of their deaths. Amazingly, though the men know this, there seems to be nothing they can do to prevent it. Soon, only Mark Peters (Lowe) is left and it seems like his days are also numbered.

Despite a neat plot, this film really isn't that good...mostly because so much of the action takes place off camera. Not a bad film....just not a particularly good one either.

The Universal Crime Club series ends with a snore in this rather unexciting programmer starring Edmund Lowe (although I'd say the real star is Wendy Barrie). It starts off ok but quickly loses steam. Sadly it's all pretty dull. It really doesn't have much going for it except a decent supporting cast. If you want to see all of the movies in this "series," by all means check it out. Most casual classic film lovers won't find much here of interest, though.

A newspaper executive and three of his colleagues conspire to have the owner of the highly-respected London Sun committed to an insane asylum. The hapless publisher manages to escape. Soon after, the four collaborators begin dying one-by-one. Oddly their obituaries appear in a rival publication before they are actually killed.

An ok mystery which has some moments of humour of atmosphere, however it never rises above average, and it is a little flat and unexciting with not much drive in the plot, and Edmund Lowe hasn't got too much screen time, he isn't the leading man. Nothing too special but these mystery film of the 30's-40's do have some kind of charm, and there's a neat twist at the end.