The Crime of the Century

Even today, $100,000 is mighty appealing, and one might even commit murder for it. In 1933 - whoa - it had the spending power of $2,472,807.69 today.

The 1933 Crime of the Century, directed by William Beaudine, stars Jean Hersholt as Dr. Emil Brandt, a hypnotist who works with people from all walks of life.

Brandt enters the police station begging to be arrested for murder. However, he hasn't committed it yet. His patient, Philip Ames (Samuel S. Hinds) works in a bank. Under hypnosis, he has commanded Ames to bring him $100,000 - and then he plans to murder him.

The Captain, Riley (Robert Elliott) and a detective Martin (David Landau) agree to keep him from killing Ames. Martin will go with him first, and Elliott will replace him when he goes off duty.

When they arrive at the branch home, Brandt's daughter Doris (Frances Dee) arrives home. Martin then is able to leave.

It turns out that Brandt's wife, Doris' stepmother (Wynne Gibson) is somewhat money hungry, and has spent a great deal of Brandt's money. She arrives home to get ready to go to the theater. We find out that she knows about the $100,000 and in fact, she has her boyfriend Gilbert (Gordon Westcott) outside ready to step in and steal the money.

Ames arrives, as does Captain Elliott. Brandt gets the money, replaces it in Ames' pocket with Elliott as witness and programs Ames to return the money.

The lights go out. There's a struggle. Ames is dead and the money is gone. With many suspects. A reporter (Stu Erwin) stops by and tries to put it together.

Later, during a re-enactment, there is another murder.

The film is interrupted toward the end and a man appears, giving the audience one minute to see if they can solve the murder.

One fun thing: a suspect is asked to try on a glove. Shades of OJ.

At 1:11, the film seemed long to me, but it was a good mystery with fine performances and fun re-enactments.

Enjoyable.

I'm not an expert on William "One Shot" Beaudine, but I would venture to say that with a nickname like "One Shot" that you probably weren't so highly regarded as a film artist. From the films I've seen of his, I tend to be unimpressed and not very entertained. However, after a deep sigh at seeing his name in the opening credits, I spent the rest of the movie being happily entertained.

Crime of the Century is for fans of the 1930s-styled whodunits. It has the classic elements of what you would expect from an old mystery - a murder taking place in the dark with many suspects; an ensemble cast; a reporter who is one step ahead of the detective; the prime suspect is of course, the most innocent; and, an unexpected twist in the end. This film seemed to be very conscious of its' genre. There is a wonderful old-fashioned moment near the end when a narrator comes on-screen and gives us a short intermission to let the audience of the film take time to guess the murderer. The filmmakers' reasoning is that when reading a mystery novel, you have time to put the book down and think before you finish the end and films never offer you that opportunity. This was a refreshing moment and a great example of how this movie tries to be as original as it can.

The cast is very good. Stuart Erwin comes off better here than he did in a very similar film and role a year earlier in Before Dawn. Jean Hersholt is heartfelt and convincing as the doctor who tries to prevent himself from making a grave mistake. Look for Samuel S. Hinds in an early role as the poor hypnotized victim. The film moves along at a brisk pace. There are enough camera moves to make the film visually interesting and the film was made at Paramount and the production values really help for this type of film. The plot is about a doctor who goes to police to prevent him from killing a man who stole money for him. However, when the man ends up being dead the doctor becomes the prime suspect and it's up to the reporter to find out who was behind it. Crime of the Century is an excellent forgotten whodunit and is a must for fans of these drawing room mysteries.

Really Great Mystery So much So I never Could figure out who was the actual Culprit Until the Very End So if you love old detective mystery films this one is a must see .. One of 1930s Talkie at its Best !! It has Everything Romance Comedy,Action and Crime Thriller .. They Surly don't make movies like this anymore and if they try its so Corny it fails to entertain .. This is a must see in my Opinion .. I admit some of the scenes are hard to believe but you have try and remember this film is almost over 80 yrs ago so have and open mind and focus on the facts of the case and you will surly enjoy the Story .. Enjoy !!

The crime of the century wasn't quite the crime of the century. It was a doozy, it was a mystery, but it was also solvable. When I think, "crime of the century," I think of a crime that was gotten away with.

The movie began with Dr. Emil Brandt (Jean Hersholt) pleading to detectives Riley (Robert Elliott) and Martin (David Landau) to lock him up. Why? Because he planned to commit murder for money. If the cops locked him up then he couldn't commit the murder.

He had hypnotized a man by the name of Philip Ames (Samuel S. Hinds) and commanded him to steal $100,000 and bring it back to him by 8:15 p.m. He was then going to kill Philip and take the $100,000 for himself. The killing part is why he wanted to be locked up. He couldn't trust himself not to kill Philip, but police don't make arrests for crimes that haven't happened.

It turns out that Dr. Brandt needed the money to appease his wife, Freda (Wynne Gibson). She was a gold digger and was going to double cross Dr. Brandt and run off with the money with her lover, Gilbert Reid (Gordon Westcott). She never got that chance because a fourth person (someone besides Freda, Gilbert, or Dr. Brandt) entered the house, killed Philip, and took the money. The main suspects were the three aforementioned with an outside chance of it being one of the detectives, or the newspaperman, Dan McKee (Stuart Erwin), or the help, or another man who was anonymous.

There was enough intrigue with the murder and the cast of characters that I stayed tuned in. $100,000 is enough for just about anyone to commit murder, so everybody was in play. There was very little focus on characters with the exception of establishing who they were and a small glimpse of what type of person they were, and that allowed the movie to stay focused on the murder and solving the murder. That's what I want from a murder mystery. I don't need to know a whole lot about each character except what's germane to the plot. "The Crime of the Century" kept everything crime-centric even if it wasn't "the crime of the century."

Free on YouTube.

This is an absolute hoot! It's like one of those silly murder mystery games you play at dinner parties and just as much fun. It's difficult to categorise this: it's a really intriguing who-done-it but doesn't take itself at all seriously. It's brilliantly made whist at the same time absolute garbage.

It's exactly the sort of picture which could have garnered a real cult following. You could imagine hundreds of fans dressing up as these outrageously cliched characters: bungling cops, a cocky reporter, a femme fetale, a roguish playboy, a mad scientist and his sweet innocent daughter.

Of course, having that fabulous unsophistication of early thirties pictures, after knowing each other for about six hours, the reporter and the daughter fall instantly in love and get married - so nineteen thirties! It's certainly not your typical B picture - it's cheap, tacky, unashamedly over-acted but brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

Although all the clues are there, you'll never figure out who the murderer is. Even if you rewind back to the bit with the murder during the minute you're invited to guess yourself, you'll chase those red herrings down the wrong path cleverly laid out to trick you. For a B picture, it's got a surprisingly clever story (it is of course based on a play so Paramount can't take all the credit) You also benefit from dynamic direction from pre Will Hay-William Beaudine and even decent, atmospheric photography like a camped-up Old Dark House.

It would never win any awards for filmmaking but if you enjoyed SCOOBY DOO, you'll love this magnificent nonsense.