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Because "Love Bound" is a murder mystery, you realize very, very early into the movie who the victim will be. A much-hated woman who makes a fortune blackmailing innocent men in court is about to go on a cruise...and she receives a note threatening her life. Additionally, Dick, the son of the recently ruined man who was sued by her is also on the boat....and he's determined to get justice. Surprisingly, however, despite all the cliches and usual formula, she does NOT get killed. So what gives? Who's gonna die in this one?

This is a good movie because it avoided predictability and cliches. But it also does something that you'll either love or hate...the film gets you to believe that a professional blackmailer actually CAN do the right thing and she actually falls in love with her pursuer, Dick! Hard to believe she could fall for Dick, but also it opens up some interesting possibilities and twists. Well worth seeing.

A man takes a European cruise in order to keep tabs on a woman who blackmailed his father. He tries to trick her into blackmailing someone posing as a Texas oil millionaire.

If you watch this under the title MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS, you might get a bit frustrated around the halfway mark, when it seems to be more of a watery romance. Alas, this movie is also called LOVE BOUND. So, murder mystery fans could be disappointed. Not that it's bad, it's just not all that exciting.

Is there any murder involved? Well, yes, but it's sort of too little too late...

Story is pretty dated now. In IMDB it's love bound, but on tubi it's murder on the high seas. Picture quality is pretty rough, and much of it is washed out white. It's a sixty minute shortie from peerless pictures. When a man-chasing woman wins a case against a rich, married man, the married man's family decides to do something about it. When the blackmailer goes on an ocean voyage, the family man's son follows her, and tries to catch her at it again, and expose the truth. But plans never seem to turn out as we expected. We can tell talkies had just recently started, with the heavy eye makeup, the over acting in places, and the steady snap, crackle, pop of the soundtrack. Lots of grainy, stock footage of some generic ocean liner. Who will win in the game of love? Directed by robert hill. Story by jim gilbert. Hill and mulhall had started early in the silents, back before dirt was invented. The version showing on tubi has a copyright renewal date of 1949! Peerless was started in 1914, but filed bankruptcy in the early 1930s, and was merged into world picturess.

I don't mean especial disrespect to anyone involved when I say that I didn't have high expectations. It's just that between norms and values of the time, contemporary sensibilities of storytelling or film-making, and above all filmmakers and actors still adjusting to the new paradigm of sound cinema, features of the early to mid 30s tend to be middling and undistinguished. There are plentiful exceptions, by all means, yet with weak audio, image quality that is often grainy at best, usually a flat or inconsistent tone, and acting and/or direction of variable strength - let alone the question of the writing - many titles released around the same period struggle to make a mark, let alone a particularly good impression. Robert F. Hill's 'Love bound' of 1932, also known as 'Murder on the high seas,' is not immune to these concerns.

It's not that the picture is afflicted by all the above issues all the time, nor in equal measure, but the impact is unmistakable. In a runtime of only sixty minutes the exposition of the first quarter feels muddled, and plot development is bland and soft. Cast members such as Jack Mulhall must be depended upon to try to inject some vitality into the proceedings that is sorely lacked in Hill's direction or even the narrative or scene writing, but those same latter factors, among others, restrict their abilities to do so. Alternatively, under those circumstances performances may feel overcooked, and therefore false and hokey. It doesn't help that the feature makes only infrequent, irregular use of music to help round out rough edges or fill silence where there could be at least some background noise; this is not uncommon for the early 30s, of course, and some flicks get by just fine without - but once again, the overall so-so construction means that this is already facing an uphill battle.

There is potential in the story, perhaps, but it would take a very refined, practiced hand to shape the material into a form even on paper that would hold water, let alone stand out, and Hill, James R. Gilbert, and George H. Plympton lack that hand. An equal lack of refinement in the humdrum execution, captured on film, means that the minutes lackadaisically sail past without us hardly taking notice. Case in point, before I knew it we were already at the halfway mark, and a critical plot point seemed to have already transpired, but it came so unremarkably that I found myself earnestly pondering how we arrived at that juncture. And unfortunately, at no time in the length does the storytelling or film-making boast remotely enough power or vigor to come off any better. 'Love bound' is a cruise, alright, but it's a cruise so passive and smooth that one could be forgiven for thinking the ship never left port.

We can at least say that those operating behind the scenes turned in some fine work, including the sets, costume design, and hair and makeup. But if that's the most significant praise to offer, how far does that get us? Even moments of violence in the last quarter, ably orchestrated in and of themselves, are treated poorly by both the writing and direction, and so amount to nothing of consequence. Even with all this said I don't think the flick is altogether bad. For as mediocre as it is, however, and considering the whole wide world of cinema that otherwise waits to be explored or revisited, why would we spend time here in the first place? I guess I'm glad for those who get more out of it than I do, but while I don't specifically regret watching 'Love bound,' nor can I really give it an honest recommendation.

The movie has its creaking moments, as all murder mysteries from the early thirties do, but it's well shot and beautifully composed. Verna/Vera is a wonderful villainess, and I have at times during the film been transfixed by her ghostly and ghastly whiteness against the black backgrounds as she postures and poses, prances and plots.

The surrounding cast, especially the good son who must fight against her slander of the "family honour," do well also. There is an eccentric old lord who "wheezes," for instance, with great hilarity, as he is followed about by his valet.

Murder mysteries, if they are your genre, have three distinct phases. There is the set-up, which in this film is quite long and complicated. This film makes you think about the back story on your own, before throwing the film onto a ship where the murder occurs. The second phase transpires as the murder is about to take place and as it takes place, and then the final third details the solving of the murder.

I recommend this old film.

A man takes a European cruise in order to keep tabs on a woman who blackmailed his father. He tries to trick her into blackmailing someone posing as a Texas oil millionaire.

If you watch this under the title MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS, you might be a bit frustrated by the halfway mark, when it seems to be more of a watery romance. Alas, this movie is also known as LOVE BOUND, so, murder-mystery fans could be disappointed. Not that it's that bad, it's just not very exciting.

Is there any murder involved? Well, yes, but it's sort of too little too late...

An interesting film because of the multiple twists and turns. Verna Wilson is a blond seductress who preys on the rich by manipulating them into what seems to be "compromising situations," then takes them to court for settlement. But Vera is really a cat's paw for her lawyers who actually take 90% of the money.

Richard "Dick" Randolph is determined to expose her after she "takes" his father John Randolph for $120,000 in court (about $2,500,000 today 2023).

When Dick learns Verna is about to go on a cruise, he comes up with a plan to expose Verna. But the best laid plans of men go astray, and this is not the case that proves the rule wrong. Actually, after the film ends the viewer has questions left unanswered. This film is more of a Bret Harte trope than murder mystery, but it is worth watching.

Tom Ricketts, the Baron, provides some comedic moments to lighten the mood.