Sun 30 Aug 2015
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: THE CIRCUS QUEEN MURDER (1933).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[3] Comments
THE CIRCUS QUEEN MURDER. Columbia, 1933. Adolphe Menjou, Greta Nissen, Donald Cook, Dwight Frye, Ruthelma Stevens. Based on the novel About the Murder of the Circus Queen, by Anthony Abbot (Fulton Oursler). Director: Roy William Neill. Shown at Cinefest 18, Liverpool NY, March 1998.
One of the disappointments of the convention. Menjou plays Anthony Abbot’s Police Commissioner Thatcher Colt, vacationing in a small town, where the arrival of a circus and an attempted murder draws him reluctantly into the center of a hastily conducted investigation. But not hastily enough.
The beginning is promising and Colt’s secretary (Ruthelma Stevens) registers strongly as an attractive, smart companion, but her role is never sufficiently developed and the lame melodrama is capped by an underpowered, restrained performance by Dwight Frye that never ignites. (He’s much livelier in The Vampire Bat [Majestic, 1933], a cheap but entertaining thriller that I watched last night on a cheap video tape. He reprises his Renfield role from Dracula, even using the Renfield laugh.)
Editorial Note: This move was also reviewed by Dan Stumpf some time ago on this blog. Check it out here.
August 30th, 2015 at 4:51 pm
I agree this film is awful.
Rarely has such a good book been turned into such a bad film.
August 30th, 2015 at 5:08 pm
Ruthelma Stevens has a small but memorable part in Val Lewton’s APACHE DRUMS (1951) as a madame named Betty Careless.
My problem with this film is that Famous Detective Thatcher Colt makes no difference to the story; everything turns out just as it would if he’d never come on the scene. Roy William Neill’s direction is suitably circus-y though.
August 30th, 2015 at 7:29 pm
The most interesting thing about the film other than looking at Gynt, is that is preserves some of the racial tolerance of the novel.