MOONLIGHT MURDER (1936)

This neat little murder mystery, a better than average programmer, especially for M-G-M where B-pics usually died of neglect, has Chester Morris (in his last pic under contract there) as a police detective investigating a baffling on-stage death at the Hollywood Bowl. Famed tenor Leo Carrillo, singing Manrico in Verdi's IL TROVATORE (the same opera M-G-M used for The Marx Bros. in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA/'35), expires on a high note. Whodunit? The fortune-telling Swami who predicted it; a lunatic composer; the alternate tenor; an over-possessive soprano or her dancer rival; maybe the harried conductor? More suspects than a 1-hour pic should be able to handle, especially when your first two reels are largely devoted to the opera production. All handled with aplomb by rising journeyman director Edwin L. Marin who keeps the story continuity clear; maintains a rattling pace and a pretty decent looking opera production; even works up a couple of striking trick camera effects. (Check out an out-of-control car maneuver as a prisoner escapes. Very cool.) The script lets things down in the last half reel, culprit and confession with hard-to-swallow squishy logic, but not enough to spoil the fun.

DOUBLE-BILL: *Morris is even better in his previous M-G-M pic, THREE GODFATHERS/’36 with underrated director Richard Boleslawski. It’s the same story made twice by John Ford; a lost 1919 silent, then a bit too gushy in 1948 TechniColor, but with a great tacked on third act. Best of all may be William Wyler’s Early Talkie beaut from 1929, HELL’S HEROES.