Robert Bailiey (Jack Holt) is planning to give his company to his employees versus selling it because he says he has plenty of money AND he has this egalitarian streak in him that would have gotten him in trouble with that little gang called HUAC 15 years from now, but I digress.
Everybody in the executive suite dislikes what Bailey is doing - all of his executives, some femme fatale character who might have been an old flame, and a couple of the wives of the executives. They are all afraid of how the stock might tank if the employees fumble running the company or the employees might decide they want a new group of executives. Plus there is a nephew of Bailey's who wants five thousand dollars. For the first time in their mutual lives, Bailey tells his nephew the kitchen is closed.
But then on his way to his hunting lodge Bailey is almost killed in an auto accident, then his private plane crashes with his pilot test driving and warming up the plane, and finally a bullet barely misses Bailey when he is inside his apartment. Bailey comes up with the idea of inviting everybody who has a motive for killing him to come to his hunting lodge for a few days. With the help of a recommended private eye (Purnell Pratt) and the PI's men disguised as servants, he plans to "smoke out" the person who is trying to kill him by giving each one an opportunity to finish the job.
This was a pretty engaging B mystery at just under an hour in length. It did keep me guessing and, in spite of the fact that only a couple of the actors including Holt were people I'd ever heard of before, it was pretty well acted. The only thing that got a bit tiresome was the bit about the chef who was proud of his cooking but whipped up food that was just awful. He was aiming at being the comic relief but just fell flat and the joke got old in a hurry.
Why didn't Bailey just have the PI guard him day and night until the papers giving the company to the employees were ready for him to sign, at which point killing him would have accomplished nothing? Because then we'd have no film! Still I'd recommend it, especially if you are a fan of 1930s Columbia stalwart Jack Holt.
