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The Studio Murder Mystery

  • 1932
  • 19m
IMDb RATING
5.3/10
94
YOUR RATING
Jane Bramley in The Studio Murder Mystery (1932)
MysteryShort

When the leading lady of a motion picture is murdered in the middle of a scene, Inspector Carr and Dr. Crabtree are called in to investigate.When the leading lady of a motion picture is murdered in the middle of a scene, Inspector Carr and Dr. Crabtree are called in to investigate.When the leading lady of a motion picture is murdered in the middle of a scene, Inspector Carr and Dr. Crabtree are called in to investigate.

  • Director
    • Joseph Henabery
  • Writers
    • S.S. Van Dine
    • Burnet Hershey
  • Stars
    • Donald Meek
    • John Hamilton
    • Robert Middlemass
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.3/10
    94
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Joseph Henabery
    • Writers
      • S.S. Van Dine
      • Burnet Hershey
    • Stars
      • Donald Meek
      • John Hamilton
      • Robert Middlemass
    • 2User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos3

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    Top cast9

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    Donald Meek
    Donald Meek
    • Dr. Crabtree
    John Hamilton
    John Hamilton
    • Insp. Carr
    Robert Middlemass
    Robert Middlemass
    • Boris Seminoff
    Thelma Tipson
    • Dolly Demarest
    Walter Fenner
    • Ian Stevens
    Jane Bramley
    Jane Bramley
    • Mae Norton
    Herschel Mayall
    Herschel Mayall
    • Medical Examiner
    • (uncredited)
    Frank McNellis
    • Monitor Man
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Tyler
    Harry Tyler
    • Assistant Director
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Joseph Henabery
    • Writers
      • S.S. Van Dine
      • Burnet Hershey
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews2

    5.394
    1
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    10

    Featured reviews

    6bkoganbing

    The Leading Lady Gets Knifed

    The Studio Murder Mystery finds that intrepid team of sleuths Donald Meek and John Hamilton trying to solve a mystery committed right on a sound stage. Before a murder scene is done, a real murder of actress Thelma Tipson is committed and with a usual group of closed area suspects, it's a matter of eliminating the right one.

    This series was written by S.S. Van Dine the author of the Philo Vance and rather than have the elegant private detective come in and do the police's work for them, Van Dine kind of makes it up to the cops by having slow, but methodical John Hamilton actually solve the crime.

    Of course he can't really do it without forensic science and that's where Donald Meek comes in. At this time Philo Vance was normally being played by William Powell over at Paramount and Etienne Girardot was an integral part of that series as the coroner Dr. Doremus. This series at Warner Brothers was like they eliminated Vance and left Girardot and Eugene Palette as Sergeant Heath to their own devices.

    Hamilton and Meek seem to get the job done.
    Michael_Elliott

    Another Good Entry

    Studio Murder Mystery, The (1932)

    *** (out of 4)

    Fifth film in the S.S. Van Dine series has an actress filming a murder scene when someone shows up with a real knife killing her. Dr. Crabtree (Donald Meek) and Inspector Carr (John Hamilton) arrive on the scene where the suspects appear to be the woman's rival or perhaps her boyfriend (Robert Middlemass). This is a pretty good entry in the series that manages to have some charming moments, some funny one and these save the movie because the actual mystery isn't the greatest. The best scene in the movie happens right after the murder when the director is unhappy saying the scene wasn't realistic enough and then he finds out that the actress really is dead. The actual mystery of the film is fairly simple to solve but it's rather interesting that two key points in the film are now real life issues with certain cases. The "gloves must fit the killer" is of course from O.J. and we also got chloroform playing a part in the film, which is from the more recent Casey Anthony case. With that said, this short has enough going for it to make it worth checking out especially if you're a fan of these early mysteries. Both Meek and Hamilton are fun this time out and the supporting players aren't so bad either.

    Related interests

    Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
    Mystery
    Benedict Cumberbatch in La merveilleuse histoire d'Henry Sugar (2023)
    Short

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      The sixth of eleven Dr. Crabtree mysteries.
    • Quotes

      Dr. Crabtree: You believe?

      Insp. Carr: I believe nobody!

    • Connections
      Followed by The Skull Murder Mystery (1932)

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • February 5, 1932 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • S.S. Van Dine Mystery Series #5: The Studio Murder Mystery
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Bros. Eastern Vitaphone Studios, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 19m
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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