TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Robert J. Maxwell Unlucky numbers aren't that common across the globe, and they vary. I don't know how Western Europe settled on thirteen. To the Chinese, four is the unlucky number. There are no fourth floors in old Chinese hotels. I just threw that datum in I had to learn it once. I don't see why anybody else should be excused.To make up for it, I will now give away the snappiest line in the movie. "Poor Marjorie. Your soul must look like the inside of a vinegar bottle." I didn't say it was a flight of poetry. I just said it was the best line, which should give you some idea of what the rest of the lines are like.It's a haunted house mystery. Thirteen years ago, a dinner was given in his ancient house. The thirteenth guest failed to show up. Then the house was shut up and now, thirteen years later, the original thirteen guests receive invitations to show up again. There's a great deal of money at stake since the host, having died, has left his fortune to one or more of the guests and they're all anxious to find out who gets what. One by one, the guests get picked off, despite the presence of the brusque police captain, J. Farrell MacDonald, and the suave private investigator, Lyle Talbot. (Sounds like Agatha Christie at this point.) The murderer creeps, masked, through secret rooms in a black hooded cape and wears gloves. We see the shadow of his clawed hand against the wall, and he pipes up with the theatrical guffaw of a complete maniac. (Now it's beginning to sound like Abbott and Costello.) I've always wondered who pays these private investigators. The word "fee" sometimes shows up in Sherlock Holmes. Hercule Poirot is sometimes hired, but more often just happens to be present when the crime takes place. I've often wondered whether he was a serial murderer himself. Coincidence is one thing, but a correlation approaching unity is another. Charlie Chan never seemed to bother about money. He may have been on per diem from the Honolulu Police Department. In more carefully constructed detective stories the gum shoe usually is hired for his services. The negotiation provided some amusing moments in "The Maltese Falcon." The first half hour or so is a little dull. It belongs to MacDonald as the cop in charge. He stomps around shouting orders. Talbot is so smooth that by the time he appears he seems to have slid into the story on greased skids. But Ginger Rogers enters and it seems to be spiced up. Madonna, she was cute as hell. Wait. Let me look up her age when this was made. Okay. She was twenty-one. Nice figure, as the public would discover in a few more years. And she could dance too.Creepy old houses like this one can have a lot of promise, whether they're done seriously ("The Haunting") or used in a comedy ("Murder He Says"). This one is without distinction. It's not bad, not insulting, just strictly routine. Don't bother going out of your way to catch it.

bkoganbing Were it not for the presence of future superstar Ginger Rogers in the lead, no one would remember The Thirteenth Guest. But I suppose for that very reason it was remade by Monogram in the next decade with absolutely no one truly memorable in the film. I will say the remake had very few deviations in plot from the original.Ginger plays two roles in this film, an heiress and someone who is given plastic surgery to look like her. The lookalike is killed and the method of execution is part of the gimmick of this whole movie. In any event the real Ginger shows up with results similar to what happens in Laura though not as dramatic.Ginger comes from a family of greedy relatives. It's only a question of which ones are trying to keep her from inheriting. Even at that there's another plot twist I won't reveal.For fans of Ginger Rogers who want to see all her movies. \

MARIO GAUCI Routine but likable 'old dark house' mystery thriller with numerous familiar but enjoyable trappings (a family reunion for the reading of a will is followed by multiple murders committed by a hooded figure). There's also comic relief from an inept policeman, while romantic interest for potential heiress Ginger Rogers is provided by the dashing detective on the case (Lyle Talbot); an interesting plot point involves a girl who undergoes plastic surgery in an attempt to replace Rogers. Unsurprisingly, the Alpha print is extremely poor but I'm glad I had this opportunity to watch the film. Director Ray and Rogers later collaborated on the similar A SHRIEK IN THE NIGHT (1933), which I watched a couple of years back (thanks to Michael Elliott).

MarcoAntonio1 Lovely young Ginger Rogers arrives at her long ago abandoned family manor on her twenty-first birthday to meet her lawyer so that she can find out about her inheritance. She finds out about foul play and murder instead! Obviously, someone in her family is trying to do away with her. But just who's trying to do it? Everyone is a suspect, including Rogers herself. Lyle Talbot is the private investigator who rounds up the entire family and tries to sort things out. J. Farrell MacDonald is the police sergeant who is confounded by it all. Paul Hurst is his nitwit sidekick. Everyone has some good lines and often the comebacks are hilarious. There's a part near the end of the film where Hurst's shoes are on the wrong feet, which is an absolute howl if you understand the reason why. Nice, creepy looking house is the perfect setting for pretty Rogers to be menaced in. There's plenty of cobwebs to contrast with Miss Rogers' who looks very cute in her costumes. Low-budget, but doesn't really seem to be because one gets involved in the puzzling mystery. You may have to see "The Thirteenth Guest" twice to fully understand it. It is a very intricate murder mystery which ultimately does make sense.