Murder by Invitation

No doubt prompted by the success of Elliot Nugent's 1939 remake of THE CAT AND THE CANARY, Monogram's MURDER BY INVITATION is a spit polishing of dusty doings distinguished by a cagey awareness of its own derivativeness. Like the imperiled teens of Wes Craven's SCREAM, the dramatis personae here – heirs to a sizeable legacy - enter into danger with full knowledge of the rules of the game - with comic star Wallace Ford (FREAKS) even cracking: `I'm the handsome young juvenile of this story – he never gets hurt.'

Supporting the ever-watchable Ford is a cast of faces familiar from the Poverty Roll payroll: Sarah Padden (THE MAD MONSTER), Dave O'Brien (THE DEVIL BAT, REEFER MADNESS), Minerva Urecal (THE CORPSE VANISHES) and John James (DEVIL BAT'S DAUGHTER), as well as Marian Marsh (Trilby to John Barrymore's SVENGALI) and Gavin Gordon (Lord Byron in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN). A former Edison camera man turned prominent silent film director (ABRAHAM LINCOLN), Phil Rosen exhibits little enthusiasm for George Bricker's scenario, and seems grateful that the conventions of the murder mystery allow characters to remain seated for long stretches at a time. French cameraman Marcel Le Picard also shot the low-rent SPOOKS RUN WILD and VOODOO MAN.

Not a must-see film, but undemanding fun for fans of the murder mystery - and Wallace Ford never disappoints.

Perennial second-from-the-left-cop-in-the-station-house, George Guhl, has a featured role, would you believe, in Monogram's 1941 tale, Murder by Invitation, which turns out to be a sort of Mrs Longfellow Deeds Meets the Cat and the Canary. With halfway competent direction and a halfway appropriate budget, this may well have turned out as sleeper of the year. The money is there all right, but Phil Rosen's direction is strictly from hunger. The picture's potential is unrealized. Obviously left largely to their own devices, the players do what they can to salvage the film. Although inclined to over-act, I thought Sarah Padden carried off the main role with a fair amount of conviction, although other reviewers disagree. George Guhl was a big letdown, and I was also disappointed that Marian Marsh was simply just another pretty blonde in this outing and no longer the charismatic charmer of Beauty and the Boss.

Rich old Aunt Cassie considers herself "the only sane person in a family of nitwits." She invites her greedy relatives to the creaky family mansion—instructing them to arrive on Friday at midnight—where she will decide which of them will inherit her millions. Needless to say, it's not long before the murders start….

Vanishing corpses, secret passageways—murder spoof elements abound in this extremely goofy murder mystery. Assorted crackpot characters include several shifty relatives, an oddball sheriff, and a snoopy neighbor.

Sarah Padden cackles gleefully as the eccentric Aunt Cassie. Wallace Ford is tough to dislike as wisecracking newspaper reporter Bob White. Marian Marsh is lively and likable as White's assistant Nora, although she isn't given much to do except keep up with Ford's jokes and detective work.

This Monogram production is certainly a cheapie: while some scenes look like they may have been rehearsed, others definitely don't. However… a sense of good natured fun carries the picture along, and joviality mostly makes up for lack of production polish.

Also livening up this B mystery are a few cute comments alluding to the fact that this is, in fact, a B mystery. Just past the midway point, for example, Ford discusses the two missing corpses: Dead bodies, he says, always go missing in murder mysteries and "it generally happens just past the middle of the picture."

It ain't profound but it's pretty easy viewing for those who enjoy good silly lowbrow fun.

And what a great closing line!

Talk about screwy films! "Murder By Invitation" almost takes first place! A daffy old lady, Aunt Cassie (a terrible performance by Sarah Padden who seems to be reading her lines off of cue cards) invites her greedy relatives to her country estate for the weekend and murders start to pop up all over the place. A reporter (Wallace Ford) and his secretary (Marian Marsh) arrive at the estate to get the scoop. Minerva Urecal (whom I usually like) overacts here as one of Aunt Cassie's relations. J. Arthur Young is totally offbeat as Trownbridge Montrose (Aunt Cassie's neighbor). Dave O'Brien is good, as usual, though as the estate's chauffeur. Zany dialog is almost unbelievable at times and Ford (although likable) is too old to be pretty Marsh's sweetheart boss. In spite of itself, "Murder By Invitation" is a film that works, although I don't quite know how!

This is the kind of film, where you will really have a hard time deciding if you like it or not. Basically it is nothing more than a very, very clichéd murder mystery, but it is fully aware of that and make no secret about it. And that is what almost saves this one. But only almost.

There is nothing here that we haven't seen dozens, hundreds of times: old rich lady with greedy relatives, who are all sweet and lovely with her in one minute and try to put her in an asylum the next. We have the ambitious, but pretty much clueless local sheriff, the clever reporter (Wallace Ford), who does all the job the police should, his pretty assistant and all those other stock characters that pop up at all the similar films. Did I mention the old house, filled with hidden corridors? And that the old lady decides the invite all the would-be heirs to her house at midnight? Sounds familiar? Sure it does.

But what makes this one stand out is that it is not just completely aware of its clichéd nature, but actually makes fun of itself all the time. And these in-jokes provide easily the best moments of the movie. The scene where Ford states, that he can't die, as he is the handsome young hero or when they even go as far as mentioning their most obvious inspiration, The Cat and the Canary (which had a hugely successful remake two years before this came out), referring to its similar invited-at-midnight theme...? Priceless! But my personal favorite is probably when Ford states that "There comes a time in every murder mystery, when all the corpus delicti are missing and it generally happens just past the middle of the picture." Guess what happens in the movie and when. But we even know who's going to be the first victim, way before the actual murder takes place. This self-reflection really works fine.

The problem is that beside this the film has nearly nothing to offer. The screenplay is pretty badly written: the opening scene at the court already puts our expectations pretty low (the wisecracking lady is pretty funny, but the lawyer's complete lack of evidence make the whole scene very awkward), no surprises, no suspense, the characters are mostly very shallow (after they get killed, you will have a hard time remembering who some of the victims were) and even the motives are rather pointless. And while the actors are OK, there aren't any memorable performances.

Too bad. With a bit more effort, it could be a little gem, like the rather similar, but far superior One Frightened Night (1935 - also starring Wallace Ford), which worked wonders with its similarly minimal budget. But this way, this hardly passes as a time-passer.