Curtain at Eight

1933
1h 8m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Paul Cavanagh in Curtain at Eight (1933)

An elderly detective sets out to find who murdered a stage actor.An elderly detective sets out to find who murdered a stage actor.An elderly detective sets out to find who murdered a stage actor.

Director
- E. Mason Hopper
Writers
- Edward T. Lowe Jr.
- Octavus Roy Cohen
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.5/10

235

YOUR RATING

Director
- E. Mason Hopper
Writers
- Edward T. Lowe Jr.
- Octavus Roy Cohen
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Featured reviews

6boblipton

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.

6planktonrules

A smidgen better than average for the genre.

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.

6CinemaSerf

Curtain at Eight

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...

5Bernie4444

Don't monkey around with women.

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.

4kevinolzak

"you'd cut my throat for a dime" "when did the price go up?"

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.

Trivia
The earliest documented telecasts of this film took place on the East Coast in New York City Thursday 26 August 1948 on WCBS (Channel 2) and on the West Coast in Los Angeles Thursday 23 November 1950 on KTLA (Channel 5).

Quotes
Alma Jenkins Thornton: A wife has some rights, particularly an undivorced wife.
Wylie Thornton - Actor: If Doris Manning smelled a rat, she'd back out like that
[he snaps his fingers]
Alma Jenkins Thornton: And we can't afford to lose the Manning millions, can we, Dear?
Wylie Thornton - Actor: Keep on, keep on, you'll throw a monkey wrench into the whole works.
Alma Jenkins Thornton: Oh, you'd find words to soothe the troubled waters. Your lips fairly drool honey when they want to. That's how you got me.
Wylie Thornton - Actor: I wish some of the same could get rid of you.
Alma Jenkins Thornton: [mockingly] Ah, what is life without you, my Sweet? Each hour away from you is a nightmare, torn with despair. Each day a Purgatory of waiting, waiting for night and the sweet caress of your tender lips. You cackling boudoir rooster!
Alma Jenkins Thornton: [she resumes mocking him] I was the only woman in your life. The glorious sunburst on the dark horizon of your lonely days. And the very night you married me, you had dates with two of your ex-sweeties!
Alma Jenkins Thornton: [still mocking him] Oh, but Darling, don't you understand, these other women, they mean nothing to me. They're just stepping stones on the pathway to our happiness. And I fell for it. I believed you, you bedroom Ananias. I loved you. I laugh myself sick when I think about it now. But I used to sit in my room and cry over you. Till I got next to him and me. You big Baboon! But you're going to pay for every bit of unhappiness you caused me and you're going to pay for it the only way it hurts you - through your pocketbook.
Wylie Thornton - Actor: Alright, alright. You're getting yours, aren't you?
Alma Jenkins Thornton: You've held out on my cut for the last four weeks. And unless you kick in, I'm going to move in and stay in. Now what about my dough, Big Boy, what about it?
Wylie Thornton - Actor: I had to pay...
Alma Jenkins Thornton: Oh, don't lie to me. You gambled it away. I know when, how and with whom. You've lost three salary cheques, one after another. And last night, you gave a certain well-known gentleman a cheque that'll still be bouncing when Gabriel toots his horn!
Wylie Thornton - Actor: Listen, Alma...
Alma Jenkins Thornton: I'll do the talking, you flannel-mouthed Romeo. Wylie Thornton, matinee idol, pride of every kitchen mechanic and points south. Why you worn out Adonis, pull any fast stuff on me and I'll lay you out among the lilies - and little Alma Thornton is the one that can do it!