Thu 12 Apr 2007
Movie Review: MURDER AT GLEN ATHOL (1936).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[4] Comments
MURDER AT GLEN ATHOL. Invincible/Chesterfield, 1936. John Miljan, Irene Ware, Iris Adrian, Noel Madison, James Burtis. Based on the Doubleday Crime Club novel by Norman Lippincott. Director: Frank R. Stayer.
The date of the movie as given on the DVD case is 1932, but that’s in error. The book of the same title that the film is based on is 1935, a one-shot detective novel by Norman Lippincott, about whom very little is known. The book itself is scarce, with no copies being offered for sale by anyone on the Internet at the present time.
I happen to have a copy myself, but of course it’s inaccessible, along with most of my collection of Crime Club mysteries, shelved away in the far end of the basement, which I do intend to get to one day. Really soon now. So any impression of the mystery that Mr. Lippincott wrote is going to have to come from this filmed version instead, and I must say that I was impressed.
Within the 64 minutes that it takes to watch this tightly directed detective movie are all of the standard ingredients of the Golden Age mystery yarns of the time: A detective, Bill Holt, on holiday, played rather stiffly by John Miljan; his trusted and slightly comic assistant, Jeff (James Burtis) who looks like an ex-prizefighter; a brash and sexy vamp who lives next door, Muriel Randel (Iris Adrian), who’s not afraid of a little blackmail on the side, even if one of her victims is local gangster Gus Colletti (Noel Madison). See below.
Visiting next door, where Holt is invited to a dinner party one evening is Jane Maxwell (Irene Ware), who in this movie is merely wholesomely pretty, not beautiful. Holt’s eye lights up as soon as he sees her; Muriel’s overt charms mean nothing in comparison. Jane Maxwell has her own secrets, but no one this wholesomely pretty could be guilty.
And Muriel is one of three people who are murdered later that same evening. I haven’t mentioned the other two, but suffice it to say that one of them is assumed to have killed both Muriel and the other victim, which suits the local police just fine. They’re wrong, of course, and the job Bill Holt takes upon himself is to prove it, and it isn’t easy, what with all of the red herrings, lies and false trails he’s forced to dodge and make his way down before doubling back.
Movies like this are often played for laughs as well as for the detective aspects, but thankfully such small hilarities are kept to a minimum. It’s only a guess, but I’d have to say that the movie stuck fairly well to the novel it was based on. Whether that’s so or not, and low budget or not, this is detective movie that’s both worthy of the name and the just over sixty minutes that’s needed to take it all in.
PostScript: Here are the two leading ladies of this film, neither of whom are dressed as they are in this movie, but as if this blog weren’t classy enough, they do add a little something to the overall ambience, don’t they?
Iris Adrian
Irene Ware
April 19th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
[…] My review of the film Murder at Glen Athol not too long ago mentioned that it was based on a Doubleday Crime Club mystery of the same title, a book written by Norman Lippincott. It turns out that this is the only work of detective fiction that Lippincott wrote, and that otherwise he was more or less a man of mystery. […]
February 21st, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Like the film very much….have all scene cards, but alas no title card, but keep on hoping to come across it. Also have a copy of the book that I found on the internet a couple of years ago. It was described incorrectly, so I verified that is what the bookseller meant. A Canadian 1st(no dj) so ordered it. Was also fortunate to acquire a facsimile dust jacket. So because of the scarcity of this book, am very grateful to have it and the film and lobby cards.
Regards, Rita
February 21st, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Rita, Congratulations on finding a copy. It’s a book that’s hard to find indeed!
Best
— Steve
July 13th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I had the opportunity to watch this movie last night on “Cinema 24” on the PBS station in Syracuse, New York. I just love watching these old B and W movies.
Iris Adrian is one of my favorite character actresses. I even liked the few times that I saw her on television.