The Preview Murder Mystery

Rod Larocque is starring in the sound remake of one of the studio's great silent pictures. The original starred Conway Tearle and his wife, Gail Patrick, and was directed by Ian Keith. Tearle was bound for superstardom, but an accident claimed his looks, and shortly afterwards, another his life. The remake likewise stars Miss Patrick and her second husband, Mr. Keith, directs

However, Larocque has been getting threatening notes that he won't live to see the new picture. When he dies during the premiere, it turns out to be poison... and then, during the production of her next picture, a prop gun aimed at Miss Patrick turns out to hold real bullets.

It's a pretty good murder mystery, directed by Robert Florey, showing off the Paramount studio using a lot of Dutch angles. Florey spent his career as a good journeyman director, always trying out interesting shots, so much so that they dominated his pictures... and he never got much higher than the programmers. Paramount's wealth of talent, in front of and behind the camera helped make this a very watchable movie, with Karl Struss as DP, and a cast that includes Reginald Denny, George Barbier, Thomas Jackson and a wealth of faded but still skilled performers. Had this been a production at Fox or RKO or one of the minors, this would have been a top-grade A picture. At Paramount, it was just another interesting release.

It's the World Attractions studio. They are remaking a classic musical. Leading man Neil Du Beck is receiving threats. During a preview, Du Beck is found dead from a suspicious overdose. There are more incidents at the studio and the police orders a lockdown.

This is a bit of behind-the-scenes of a movie shoot and a murder mystery. The actors are not big enough. Nobody is overtaking the screen. More than anything, it's a fun peak behind the camera with early Hollywood. The murder mystery is functional B-movie. This movie needs a more compelling lead character to head the investigation and solve the mystery.

This 1936 film from director Robert Florey is a return for him to the field of dark films, a path he almost started on early in his career. Florey did Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1932 as a consolation for being dropped from Frankenstein. In 1935 he directed The Florentine Dagger, another thriller. The Preview Murder Mystery was his most taut suspense film up to that date.

It is almost an ensemble piece with Reginald Denny and Frances Drake as the romantic leads, but there isn't much time for romance in this 60 minute murder mystery. What stands out most here is the editing. There are simply a TON of shots in this film. I don't think there is a single shot that lasts more than 10 seconds. Florey gives us every angle and many points of view for each scene and there are many short scenes so that if you get up to go to the bathroom, you'll miss a good chunk of the details. It's a pretty simple plot, but with many twists. An actor is threatened to be murdered before the preview of the movie he is shooting. After the screening he is found dead and the actress and director are next on the murderer's wish list.

Ian Keith puts in a nice turn as the suspicious director. Rod LaRoque is good early as the doomed lead actor. Gail Patrick basically gets to look beautiful and Denny and Drake make a decent team, but they just don't have too much to do. This is really a director's piece and Florey makes the most of all of his opportunities. He even gets to do a mock horror film scene late in the movie that looks good, and there is a comedy scene of another film being shot on a different stage with Chester Conklin in a cameo. Curios they are, but these are gratuitous, and unfortunately almost kill the pace of this movie just as we are about to reach the conclusion. All in all though, a nice way to spend an hour for classic mystery buffs.

Originally, a 'B-movie' was a shorter film intended as a second or lesser film at a double-feature. This does not mean they were necessarily bad...just cheaply and quickly made. And, instead of being 90 minutes or more like most A-pictures, the B ran from 50-65 minutes. Because the budgets were low and turnaround time very fast, many of them were pretty bad...but most were just ordinary time-passers. "The Preview Murder Mystery" is something different...it's one of the better Bs.

A new movie is about to debut and something odd is happening...someone is sending death threats to the leading man. So, while it's supposed to be a breakout film making him a star, his shining moment is marred with concerns about murder. Well, despite the police watching carefully, the man IS murdered in the middle of the preview for this film. But this isn't enough for the killer...and soon other folks connected with this movie begin to receive similar notes and attempts on their lives.

While I picked up on who the killer probably was early in the picture, it didn't really ruin the movie for me. Why? Because, despite being a B, the acting, direction and script were quite good. While hundreds or more B-murder mystery films were made, this one is very different and doesn't suffer from the usual cliches (such as the REALLY dopey cops). It's solid and very entertaining...and deserves to be seen as better than just another B.

Pretty inventive, daring, smart, brilliant, and because I guess the Robert Florey directing. What a very sophisticated little thriller, evoking the sound era in Hollywood industry, using it for a true mystery yarn. I did not mind the talking instead of action scenes because, I repeat, this story is pretty good, exciting. But if you are reluctant to the early talkies, maybe it will be a bit difficult for you. Robert Florey was a convincing B director from the forties and late thirties too. Many crime films and dramas, some adventures flicks, short and tense, before goung to the Tv industry with always the same talent.