Sat 15 Jun 2013
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: MURDER BY THE CLOCK (1931).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[7] Comments
MURDER BY THE CLOCK. Paramount, 1931. William (Stage) Boyd, Lilyan Tashman, Irving Pichel, Regis Toomey, Sally O’Neil. Based on the novel by Rufus King (Doubleday/Crime Club, 1929). Director: Edward Sloman. Shown at Cinefest 19, Syracuse NY, March 1999.
This was an end-of-day screening (after 11 p.m.) that I would probably have skipped had the notes not pointed out that the film is “celebrated” by William Everson in his Classics of the Horror Film.
Tashman had a brief Hollywood career (she died shortly after the release of this film, according to the notes), but she was worth staying up for. She’s the sultry villainess who masterminds three homicides and appears to be getting off Scot-free until Boyd upstages her in the final minutes of the film.
This is an old-house mystery with a crusty dowager heiress who rigs her coffin in the family crypt so that an alarm can be sounded if she’s buried alive. As indeed, she appears to have been. Pichel (whose most memorable screen performance was as Gloria Holden’s minion in Dracula’s Daughter) has a hoot playing a deranged legatee and he almost manages to steal kinky acting honors from Tashman.
An improbable but delicious early sound romp among the corpses.
June 16th, 2013 at 10:48 am
“Very loosely based on a novel by Rufus King” is what the credit should read. The book is completely different and far more serious in tone. In the book a dead body appears to have come to life only to be murdered again. King would take the odd plot gimmick invented by the screenwriter of a family’s fear of being buried alive and later use it in his play Invitation to a Murder (1934). I have reviewed both the book MURDER BY THE CLOCK and the play on my blog. Rufus King was a lot smarter in his writing and story telling than this pulpy version of one of his first mystery novels makes him out to be.
June 16th, 2013 at 11:20 am
John
Why not add a link to your review of the book, I thought:
http://prettysinister.blogspot.com/2012/01/first-books-murder-by-clock-rufus-king.html
And I hope you don’t mind my quoting the last couple of lines:
“…King’s novel is far more modern than one would expect for his era. He may have been one of the earliest writers to explore the real drama inherent in crime and its aftermath rather than exploiting a fictional murder as a mere puzzle entertainment.
And as long as I was looking things up, here’s a link to Mike Grost’s review of the book:
http://mikegrost.com/rufusking.htm#Clock
In which he takes a somewhat contrary view:
“After its vividly written opening, this book declines in interest. This is one of several Valcour novels which largely deal with the denizens of a single house, most of whom are decidedly odd. Valcour spends a lot of time interviewing them, and trying to understand their abnormal psychology. I confess I do not enjoy such characters, and find this sort of King novel generally dull. “
June 16th, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Getting back to the movie, Everson could always spot an obscure film worth seeing (I’m still trying to track down one of his mentions: MURDER IN TRINIDAD with Nigel Bruce as the sleuth) and Walter evoked it nicely. And he’s right: Irving Pichel is what one remembers most about DRACULA’S DAUGHTER.
June 16th, 2013 at 7:08 pm
Thank you for the link.
I’ve never had a chance to see this movie.
The book has lots of suspense, as well as mystery. But I don’t think most people would call it a horror novel, or an old dark house thriller.These sound like aspects added to the film version.
June 16th, 2013 at 7:40 pm
If you can put up with the limitations of what’s available for free on YouTube, the video at the bottom of the review is that of the entire movie.
June 17th, 2013 at 9:02 pm
Will check out the movie!
Rufus King is a really terrific writer. He is a vivid prose stylist, whose descriptions really sing.
The opening of his early novel MURDER BY THE CLOCK shows his skill. But better works will soon follow.
October 22nd, 2013 at 5:24 am
A long detailed review of the film appears here:
http://immortalephemera.com/44035/murder-by-the-clock-1931/
Highly recommended!