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poster of The Thirteenth Guest
Rating: 5.2/10 by 17 users

The Thirteenth Guest (1932)

Thirteen years after a dinner party in which the thirteenth guest failed to arrive, the remaining guests are being murdered one by one, and their bodies being placed at the same dinner table in the appropriate seats they occupied thirteen years prior.

Directing:
  • Albert Ray
  • Gene Anderson
Writing:
  • Arthur Hoerl
  • Frances Hyland
  • Armitage Trail
Stars:
Release Date: Tue, Aug 09, 1932

Rating: 5.2/10 by 17 users

Alternative Title:
Lady Beware - GB
The Ghost Creeps - US

Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 09 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $0

Plot Keyword: police, guest, dinner, pre-code

Ginger Rogers
Lela / Marie Morgan
Lyle Talbot
Phil Winston
Paul Hurst
Detective Grump
Ethel Wales
Jane Thornton
James Eagles
Harold "Bud" Morgan
Crauford Kent
Dr. Sherwood
Frances Rich
Marjorie Thornton
Phillips Smalley
Dick Thornton
Robert Klein
John Barksdale (Uncredited)
Tiny Sandford
Mike (Uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook
Cabby (Uncredited)
Bobby Burns
Photographer (Uncredited)
Adrienne Dore
Winston's Date (Uncredited)
Tom London
Detective Carter (Uncredited)
William B. Davidson
Police Captain Brown (Uncredited)
Henry Hall
Police Sergeant Jailer (Uncredited)
Lynton Brent
Prisoner (Uncredited)
Kit Guard
Prisoner (Uncredited)
Allan Cavan
Uncle Wayne Seymour (Uncredited)
John Ince
Uncle John Morgan (Uncredited)
Al Bridge
Policeman (Uncredited)
Dick Rush
Policeman (Uncredited)
Isabel La Mal
Marie's Mother (Uncredited)
Charles Meecham
Marie's Father (Uncredited)

CinemaSerf

Ginger Rogers ("Lela") and Lyle Talbot ("Winston") work well enough together in this quite enjoyable murder mystery. It all centres around a dinner party that took place (or didn't!) some thirteen years earlier, at which the wealthy host died. It turns out that his fortune has been left to the thirteenth guest, but nobody knows who that actually is/was... Skip forward to present day, and a young woman returns to the house - still bedecked for the ill-fated banquet, only electricity and a telephone have been installed. After a brief altercation with two unknown assailants, she is murdered - or is she? Who is she? The police, led by "Capt. Ryan" (J. Farrell MacDonald) now have to track down the culprits and establish an hitherto unclear motive for all these shenanigans. They start by summoning those who ought to have been at that fateful dinner and with the aid of Talbot (a criminologist) work to get to the bottom of things, in an increasingly dangerous environment for all! As cheap and cheerful thrillers go, it's not bad at all. The eerie big house setting works well in it's favour, the pace is quite effective and there are enough interesting characters - especially the acerbic "Marjorie" (Frances Rich) and an hooded stranger who inhabits the obligatory secret passages, to keep the pot boiling. I could have done with far less of McDonald's annoying comical sidekick "Grump" (Paul Hurst) though even he does manage to raise a laugh at the end. It was probably just the print, but the lighting really needed a bit more radiance too. Worth an hour though...


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