The Symphony Murder Mystery

... because he would never be able to solve these murders without him!

Inspector Carr (John Hamilton) gets a note from someone saying there will be a murder at the symphony that night. Just about that time the doctor (Donald Meeks) shows up and asks to tag along to the symphony while the police stand around waiting for the murder to happen. A cellist drops dead of a gunshot wound while performing, and later the only person to have a tangible motive is found dead in his locked office, apparently a suicide. The police - well, actually the doctor - takes it from there.

The cast is strong in this series of 20 minute murder mysteries WB put out in the early 30s. There isn't any time for side plots or melodrama, so the series comes off as having a workmanlike quality. The cast you will recognize as having good careers as character actors in the 30s and 40s, especially Donald Meeks and Douglass Dumbrille. And then there is John Hamilton who in the 50s is the cigar chomping editor of The Daily Planet in the Superman TV series.

Notice I said there was no time for melodrama, but the sole woman in the cast, Rita Lan, makes time for it. She is constantly looking terrified or burying her head in her hands and either looking like she needs a valium or some calamine lotion to treat what seems to be a powerful itch. She actually dropped a star off of my rating. Believably, this is her only role - credited or otherwise - mentioned on imdb.

I'd recommend all of these early talkie murder mysteries. They are fun if only for watching the chemistry between Meeks and Hamilton.

Willard Huntington Wright was a critic who wrote mystery novels in the 1920s under the name of S.S. Van Dyne. I've read a couple and they are pretty badly written. Nonetheless, they were immensely popular, made into movies that typically starred William Powell and impelled Warner Brothers to hire him to write a series of short mysteries for Joe Henabery to direct after Burnet Hershey had punched up the script..

Like the other 11, this one concerns itself with Donald Meek, a doctor and criminologist, and John Hamilton, a police inspector, who receive a warning that a murder will take place at the symphony that evening. Police surround the hall. The murder takes place. Meek explains what happens. It's the short-story form of the mystery.

Everyone speaks loudly and clearly, as if the sound equipment has not been worked on since 1928, although the music sounds just fine. I suspect Henabery had not been directing much but musical and variety shorts, and didn't know to tell the actors to tone it down. The camerawork by Edwin DuPar is fine.

A good mystery by S. S. Van Dine. If you are a mystery buff, then you will enjoy the story line. Please remember that this was filmed by Vitaphone in 1932, so the acting is a bit wooden. One gets the impression that the cast probably thinks that microphones are near them, so that the dialogue is a bit more emoting than speaking. If it was filmed three years later this short would probably get an 8 from the viewing audience. Donald Meek, Neil Hamilton and Douglas Dumbrille later in their careers prove this point. Reference Donald Meek in the Nick Carter series. Reference Neil Hamilton in his many character roles through television. Douglas Dumbrille reprises his usual roles, see CASTLE IN THE DESERT and THE BIG STORE. If you can sit back and overlook the vintage of the filming, enjoy a good murder mystery.