Mystery Liner

Mystery Liner has to be one of the very few times that the senior Noah Beery ever headed a cast list. He had to go to Monogram Pictures to have this happen and the results are somewhat indifferent.

Edgar Wallace novels are usually sources of material for film, but in this case they didn't really get down to business until the final third of the film. Someone has invented a remote control steering device for ships and so while this is peacetime, it's decided to test it on a passenger liner. But a mysterious foreign power wants to get this device and the plan is to cut in with their own radio waves and steal the ship. They've fatally injured the inventor Ralph Lewis and a few more people will die before all is revealed.

Beery plays the ship's captain who is stripped of command due to a nervous breakdown and forced into a rest home. But he doesn't show up there and there are sitings of him on the voyage.

A collection of interesting character actors besides Beery make Mystery Liner somewhat enjoyable. Here's a hint though, don't be fooled by some of the obvious casting in deciding who are the good and the bad folks here.

On board this ritzy passenger liner, the ship's control room communicates with a roomful of scientists on shore using a cool two-way Etch-a-sketch style device: You scrawl out your message on a picture screen, and at the other end they see your handwritten message appear just as you wrote it. Pretty neat! Unfortunately, that's probably the most interesting thing about the whole movie.

This B suspense picture features a broad array of standard characters—embattled veteran captain with mysterious health issues (Noah Beery), all-business doctor, pretty blond nurse (Astrid Allwyn) who is being pursued by a rival pair of ship's officers, a firecracker of an old lady who wants to party, a tall and thin mystery traveler (Gustav von Seyffertitz), and a military man (Edwin Maxwell) who quickly appoints himself chief investigator when mysterious events kick in.

The mystery centers around a high tech invention called S-505, which is apparently a tube that will enable a ship to be steered and controlled remotely. The invention is ready to be tested—but look out! because a sinister foreign power is very interested in the device and may have spies aboard.

It all adds up to intrigue, deceit, and even murder….but alas, the actors and plot are sadly defeated by slow pacing, obvious dialog, and just a generally muddled presentation of the whole story. Too bad, because there is a nifty story buried in there somewhere.

Talky mystery that never really gels. Events concern an ocean liner being tested for remote control. Since a successful test will revolutionize warships and naval warfare, the test is being done in secret. Nonetheless, an unnamed foreign power gets wind of the experiment and gets an undercover agent aboard. But which of the many characters is it, and how many will be murdered before the end.

Cheapo Monogram is constrained to film inside cramped ship-board sets, though oddly we never see the supposed water below. And since there's little action or pacing, the narrative fails to crystallize plot potential. Events tend to meander rather than build. I suspect the problem lies with trying to cram too much of the Wallace novel onto the screen On the other hand, the reveal did surprise me, while showing a good twist on the usual. Too bad that imagination didn't extend to directing and lighting.

Though Beery headlines--probably for marquee reasons--he has little screen time. Instead, rotund Maxwell carries the plot as a self-appointed sleuth. I guess the aged Tilbury is supposed to be comedy relief, likely because lanky Jerry Stewart proves so inept. Too bad her over-acting hits more of a sour note than a funny bone.

Anyway, I didn't dislike the results as much as many others. Still, it's an easily forgettable entry among that decade's slew of cheap whodunnits.

This Edgar Wallace murder mystery takes place aboard an ocean liner being piloted automatically, as everyone and his grandmother is trying to get hold of the tube that pilots the ship without benefit of human hands. Ed Maxwell, veteran of the early silver seen, has a decent role as an investigating private eye. He may remind some of Nero Wolfe. Zeffie Tilbury, as Granny Plympton, a familiar face from Little Rascals shorts, was the most annoying character. No mystery here, and dreadfully acted and sound-produced to boot. It feels like a play transferred directly to Hollywood. Some of the performers would appear to have come right from the NY stage.

MYSTERY LINER (1934)

* 1/2 (out of four)

The ship is sailing the ocean when bodies begin to pile up. Is it a stowaway? The captain? Another member? The biggest mystery is trying to figure a way to stay awake. Typical overly talkative Monogram film that tries to be mysterious but forgets to be interesting. Monogram was always smart by releasing films very short (usually under 65 minutes) but this film really doesn't have a thing going for it. By the time the movie is over it feels like a grade D film.

Available on DVD through various PD companies.