Thu 18 Jul 2019
Mystery Movie Review: TOMORROW AT SEVEN (1933).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[13] Comments
TOMORROW AT SEVEN. RKO Radio Pictures, 1933. Chester Morris, Vivienne Osborne, Frank McHugh, Allen Jenkins, Henry Stephenson, Grant Mitchell. Director: Ray Enright.
This one comes straight from the pulp magazines. I should know. I’ve read enough of them. Looking for some background for his next book, a mystery writer named Neil Broderick (Chester Morris) inveigles his way into the household of Thornton Drake (Henry Stephenson), a wealthy man who is said to know a lot about a mysterious killer nicknamed “The Black Ace.”
The latter’s modus operandi is to send a warning the day before the victim is to die, in the form of course of a black ace of spades. Broderick manages to meet Drake by means of his secretary (Vivienne Osborne), but when Drake gets the black ace warning himself, off they all go to his manor house on a Louisiana plantation. And when I say “all” I mean Drake’s butler and two dimwitted Chicago cops who have maybe a half a brain between them.
If you picked Frank McHugh and Allen Jenkins as the two cops just from the cast listing, you’d be right, and I’ll bet you’re not the only one. It is Drake’s butler who was murdered on the plane coming in, though, not Drake himself, and with only a limited number of suspects to choose from, it’s also not very difficult to figure out who the killer has to be.
That’s not the point, though. This is half comedy and half a spooky old mansion mystery, not really a detective mystery, and depending on your tolerance for lowbrow comedy, the combination makes this an enjoyable if not very demanding film to watch. (If McHugh and Jenkins are the best that the Chicago Homicide Squad are able to offer, however, we really are in an alternate universe here.)
July 19th, 2019 at 7:35 am
With its screwy plot, colorful characers and skewed logic, TOMORROW AT SEVEN is more like a Keeler novel than any of the “official” film versions of his works.
July 19th, 2019 at 7:53 am
The comparison hadn’t occurred to me, Dan, but you’re right. There are a lot of similarities. All but one: Keeler’s books were invariably awfully long. At just over an hour’s running time, TOMORROW AT SEVEN is short, quick and compact.
July 19th, 2019 at 1:32 pm
It’s an entertaining film well played by the cast and especially the always underrated and reliable Chester Morris. Ralph Spence’s screenplay plays this as almost a screwball comedy as much CAT AND THE CANARY as murder mystery, and it works.
July 19th, 2019 at 4:44 pm
David, How can Chester Morris be underrated. He was in big time showbusiness for more than twenty years. That means making the big money. He was never underrated, and neither was anyone else in this show, but they may have been forgotten. On the other hand, he made this blog, so not quite. Just forgotten by the current crop of nonentities who cannot identify, George Washington, Napoleon or Gregory Peck.
July 19th, 2019 at 8:10 pm
Big time yes, but once the early thirties had passed he was relegated to mostly minor A and B fare, and at a time he should have been getting more mature roles he ended up happy to have Boston Blackie.
I know a lot of critics were surprised how good he was in THE GREAT WHITE HOPE having relegated him to Boston Blackie and some of those schockly SF films he did in the fifties as washed up and fit for only regional theater.
While I’m not suggesting Morris had the screen presence and charisma of Clark Gable I always wondered if the rise of Gable didn’t kill his A film leading man status.
July 19th, 2019 at 8:17 pm
Good points David!
July 19th, 2019 at 8:46 pm
Not right at all. B picture s for Columbia are big time. Morris earned a ton of money — your points are poorly taken, He was not underrated. As you say, not Clark Gable, so for what he was, he could not have been or done better. And minor pictures came from minor studios, like Tiffany and Supreme. Co-features, yes — and what is wrong with that?
July 19th, 2019 at 8:46 pm
The rise of Gable killed Johnny Mack brown and Metro, as it should have.
July 19th, 2019 at 8:52 pm
In any case, how does any of this go to underrating Morris?
July 19th, 2019 at 9:38 pm
I *think* but am not sure, that you and David have the same opinion of Chester Morris. Looking up the definition of underrated online, I found this:
“The definition of underrated is something that has not received the merit, recognition or praise it deserves. A movie that is really very good but that no one really pays attention to or praises is an example of an underrated movie.”
July 19th, 2019 at 10:38 pm
I was not really addressing Chester Morris, but the label underrated. No one in big time show business is or was underrated.
July 20th, 2019 at 9:58 am
Perhaps he meant underrated as an actor.
July 20th, 2019 at 11:01 am
That is what he did mean. Obviously not. His career was good and went where it could. Being successful equates with being capable.