Green Eyes

I'm not that familiar with the mystery genre or era (1930s) at all, but I quite liked this murder mystery. Some old guy gets bumped off during a fancy dress party and stuffed in a cupboard, and it's up to the police and a smug murder mystery writer to figure out who the culprit was. Was it the spoiled granddaughter and her boyfriend? Or the secretary and his wife? Or the housekeeper? Or the old business partner? The police try and find out the only way they know – by cornering people in the house and barking rapid fire questions at them for the entire first half of the film. This sounds boring but it kind of got me all fired up too, so much so that I started firing rapid questions at my wife. Where's my dinner? Why don't you shut those kids up? Why are coming towards me with that knife?

It's all pretty brisk stuff as the writer guy snoops around and generally acts like a total pain as he tries to rumble the perp. As this film was made in the 1800s it's not full of blood and gore and sex as we've all come to expect, what with being brought up on Fulci films, but for a glimpse into a by-gone age (30BC) I thought Green Eyes was charming and I'll tip my hat to it.

Are there stand out films of this type? I'd like to know. The Pre-Cambrian explosion mystery film intrigues me.

This is a well made mystery film from 1934 with a conclusion that makes sense. It would be difficult to ascertain that from most of the reviews on this database that discuss this film, however. I am not sure why they even bother to watch it in the first place, since they seem to dislike it so much. The police are portrayed as "morons" says one review, but I didn't see them like that. The cast consists of "unknowns" says another. Charles Starrett who received second billing may have not been a big star in 1934, but beginning in 1935 he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures and had his own series of Westerns until 1952. He was able to quit the series and retire at 48, a wealthy man.

GREEN EYES opens with a costume party gone wrong, when the host is found stabbed to death. With his granddaughter as a handy suspect, the police believe they've quickly solved the crime. Obviously, that would result in a 5 minute movie, so, the cops wind up with a houseful of suspects instead.

The bulk of the film is taken up with the grilling of these people by Inspector Crofton (John Wray). While it's not a bad movie, anyone expecting a fast-paced movie packed with oddball characters spouting snappy 1930's-style dialogue could be disappointed. On the bright side, the story is interesting enough and gets sewn up nicely...

"A stately country mansion is the sight of a costume party thrown by its wealthy owner. The masquerade party comes to an abrupt end when the host is found dead in a closet, his body full of stab wounds. Now the authorities and a crime novelist, who is a guest at the party, must sort through the guest list and uncover the identity of the murderer," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

This dull whodunit stars handsome Charles Starrett (as Michael Tracy), despite the billing. Later, he became known as the western hero "The Durango Kid", one of the biggest "Box Office Western Stars" of the forties. As in other films, filmmakers got the ex-football star to partially undress, something usually reserved for women. Herein, you can catch Mr. Starrett in his pajama bottoms.

**** Green Eyes (6/15/34) Richard Thorpe ~ Charles Starrett, John Wray, Shirley Grey

Charles Starrett is a writer of murder mysteries who gets involved in—yes, a murder mystery. Nothing too original in Green Eyes, but a fair assortment of suspects and intriguing clues help maintain interest. Once again, it's a murder in a big old house in which nearly all of the film's action occurs. The event which sets the story in motion is the murder of the house's owner, one Steven Kester, during a costume party, and it's quickly established that his guests, his employees and even his granddaughter are not particularly sad to see him go. Even his butler can't find anything nice to say about him:

Inspector Crofton: "What kind of a man was Mr. Kester to work for?" Lenox the butler: "He was a Simon Legree, sir. It's been most difficult to put up with him these past 20 years."

For the first half of the film, John Wray as the inspector barks out a good half of all the dialog spoken as he rounds up clues and lays out the facts and motives. In the second half, we see more of Starrett as he quietly investigates while more noisily presenting a rather foppish front to most of the group.

Shirley Grey and Dorothy Revier, as the two women involved in the case, are given just enough screen time to hint that their characters could contain some interesting depths; but alas, a 70-minute movie holds limited space for developing character studies.

Nice touches: the goofy getups sported by the guests in the opening costume party and ensuing interrogation; the "green eyes" of the title; and a clever closing bit with Starrett at his typewriter.