VividSimon Simply Perfect

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

nylaandrew Totally implausible/ridiculous but good fun. A pre-Charlie Chan Warner Oland, a Swede, is Russian this time. He's bent on revenge and hams it up all the way.Neither Oland or the other Russian characters utter a word of Russian. The fleeing royals reach New York and bump into an ingenue and her peppery aunt who, of course, shelter the strangers in their country house. Wouldn't you?The lights go out more than once. The phone is dead. A claw-like hand jumps out of the curtain to grab the girl. Stuff used a thousand times. The plot creaks and the print used for the DVD is battered, but you could do worse for an early talkie.Mischa Auer lurks around in a pre-screwball role.

MARIO GAUCI Like MYSTERY OF MARIE ROGET (1942), this is more thriller than horror but there is still enough atmosphere and thrills here to make it an entertaining ride (which, as with the above-mentioned film, clocks in at just over an hour and is therefore not allowed to overstay its welcome). The plot is that of a hoary melodrama – not unlike the Oriental Lon Chaney vehicle MR. WU (1927) – as an eminent personality (in this case, scientist Warner Oland: interestingly, his most famous role was the multiple genial appearances as popular Chinese sleuth Charlie Chan!) has his life virtually brought to a stand-still by the death, over her romantic attachment to a member of the aristocracy, of his young daughter. So, he swears vengeance and nearly accomplishes his mission, were it not for the intervention of an elderly but strong-willed lady (here, it is Clara Blandick, the landlady of the heroine who chooses to shelter one of Oland's 'targets') – though her annoying characterization reminded me of the middle-aged 'fraidy cat' maid in THE BAT WHISPERS (1930) and the romantically-inclined (albeit still very much way- past-her-prime) one in THE GHOUL (1933)!Incidentally, the title refers not to the musical instrument but to a diamond-studded necklace belonging to the upper-class family and which had been donated to Oland's daughter by her paramour. It eventually comes into play in the scientist's revenge scheme since he is gentlemanly (or is that sadistic?) enough to forewarn his next victim with a note accompanied by one of the jewels; by the way, Oland has an accomplice in a lanky and somber Mischa Auer, that is before he became everybody's favorite eccentric Russian! The few murder/action sequences deliver the goods – especially one in which Oland's shadow slowly bends over the kidnapped eldest nemesis to strangle him and then plants his body in a window so that, during a roof-top chase with the man's relatives and the Police, they take him for Oland and take several pot-shots at the poor soul! Then there is the finale where, as I said, it is Blandick who contrives to literally make the drop on Oland by pushing him through a trap-door down into the river running under his hiding-place/laboratory/operations center as he is about to blow everything sky-high via a potion he has concocted.Ultimately, this is a minor yet engaging outing that ought to be better-known (I only learned about it myself when I came across the film fairly recently)…if only because Oland's character here is named – brace yourself – Boris Karlov (the picture under review came out eight months prior to FRANKENSTEIN, released the same year and which, I am sure no-one needs reminding, immortalized its star who was soon to be billed simply as "Karloff, the Uncanny")!!

MartinHafer This movie is very curious when it comes to the name of the villain. Warner Oland stars as 'Boris Karlov'--and I am sure the real life Boris Karloff (famous for his horror films) took notice. Why they changed his name from Gregor in the 1923 version to Boris is curious. While the real Karloff was quite prolific in films by the time the 1931 remake debuted, he was not yet a star--and his iconic role in "Frankenstein" was still six months in the future. Perhaps it's just an odd coincidence.Now I mentioned that the film starred Warner Oland. If you aren't familiar with him, he popularized the character Charlie Chan and played him in a ton of films during the 1930s. He was a very prolific actor and starred in a lot of films other than the Chan series--though today he's known mostly as 'that Swedish guy who played Charlie Chan'. You might also notice Mischa Auer in a supporting role--a role totally unlike his usual comic ones.The film begins with Karlov's daughter on the brink of death. Boris blames her condition on a noble Russian family and he devotes his entire life to wiping them out--on-by-one. The drums, by the way, refer to a necklace. Karlov takes it apart and sends a piece of it to the victims before exacting his revenge.So is the film any good? Well, it's not "Gone Withe the Wind"! However, compared to other B suspense films, it's pretty good--with decent production values, a fast-paced script and plenty of suspense. But the film has its deficits as well--in particular, some really bad acting in some of the minor roles (it's like they are reading from cue cards) and a few of these scenes should have been re-shot (but for economy's sake, B movies did this as seldom as possible). But some of the acting was quite good--I liked Clara Blandick as the grouchy aunt and Oland seemed to have a lot of fun dispatching his victims! For example, I loved the wonderful poison gas scene at the 52 minute mark. Overall, you should not expect high art--just a decent and entertaining murder mystery/suspense picture-especially if you like this genre.By the way, this film is available through Alpha Video. And while I have mentioned this in many of my reviews, viewers should note that Alpha's DVDs have no restoration of any sort done to them. Like most of the rest I have seen, this one is in rough shape--though not so bad that you shouldn't watch. Unfortunately, many of Alpha's films just aren't available anywhere else, so if you are a fan of these sorts of films you have to just take what you can get.

Bill Barstad The movie starts very melodramatically, with a young woman in bed, tended by her mother, apparently dying. The reason for her deterioration is never stated, though it has to do with her relationship with some man. The acting here is poor. Her father (get this, his name is Boris Karlov, played by Warner Oland, acting like an evil Charlie Chan) enters, and demands the name of the man responsible, but his daughter refuses. A necklace, The Drums of Jeopardy, falls from under the bed covers, which he recognizes as belonging to the Petrovs, and vows revenge.The movie and acting get better in the second act as the Petrovs come to America, fleeing the Bolshevik revolution. Karlov, working for the Bolsheviks, is in America already, and waiting for them. The Petrov sons escape Karlov twice, and flee to a country mansion on a dark and stormy night. Karlov and his goons are right behind.This is an very 1930s movie with plot elements, and plot holes, typical of the period. The escaping Petrovs meet and are aided by a rich New York family. Karlov has a bullet-proof vest that defies Newton's third law of motion.Clara Blandick, playing the matron of the New York family, shines while providing some humor.