That was an excellent one.

One of my all time favorites.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Monogram Pictures was a very low-budget studio that specialized in cheap and exciting films. They were NOT a studio to make operettas or Shakespeare--that's for sure. Some of there films hold up well after all of these years--many of them don't. I have not yet seen a Monogram film I would consider great but they were often quite fun. Fun, cheap and entertaining is how I would describe "The Thirteenth Guest". While the film has many plot holes and problems, the overall film is pretty good for a B-movie. The film is one of those ridiculously impossible and complex murder films that is fun to watch but dumb when you actually think about it. Only in this sort of film or a Charlie Chan film (many of which were also made by Monogram) film would do.The film begins with a lady being horribly electrocuted by some maniac--though who did it is uncertain. Oddly, instead of the police heading the investigation, they ask a private detective (Lyle Talbot) to run things--a plot element that makes not one bit of sense. Eventually, Talbot and the police learn that the murder (and subsequent murders) are probably related to a weird dinner that had happened many years earlier. The man who threw the dinner party was very rich and he died during the dinner! His will incredibly stated that the thirteenth guest to arrive would inherit his fortunate--but only twelve show. His wife was odd, as she left the house and the room where the rich guy died exactly as it was during the party--and the killer would then prop the bodies of each victim in their original seats from the party!! Weird stuff alright and the killer turns out to be the one who looked like a killer the first time I saw them! Make of that what you will.A nice fast-paced plot with some cool murders cannot completely undo the ridiculousness of it all as well as some plot problems. Other than having a private citizen lead the investigation, there is a plastic surgery angle that makes no sense as well as some overly obnoxious suspects--too obnoxious to be real. Worth watching (especially since it's in the public domain) but not one to rush out to see--unless you are dying to see Ginger Rogers in one of her earliest roles (though, unfortunately, her acting and character are both a bit rough).

The DVD sleeve's synopsis offers a good preview: "A wealthy gentleman hosts a dinner party where he is going to reveal the heir to his fortune, in front of the thirteen guests attending the dinner. Unfortunately, only twelve people show up for dinner and the host dies before he can reveal the heir's identity. Years later, the host's daughter returns to her long boarded-up family home to discover someone is killing off the dinner guests, making everyone wonder who will be the next victim." In the opening scene, Ginger Rogers (as Marie Morgan and Lela)'s recollections introduce the "guests", and reveal something critical about the plot. Ms. Rogers and Lyle Talbot (as Phil Winston) make the cast look promising; but, the real attractions are James Eagles (as Harold "Bud" Morgan) and Eddie Phillips (as Thor Jensen), due to the matter-of-fact way their likely relationship is depicted. This, and the "you told me to tail her" joke, near the end, are better than this otherwise dreary version of a done-to-death plot.**** The Thirteenth Guest (8/9/32) Albert Ray ~ Ginger Rogers, Lyle Talbot, J. Farrell MacDonald, James Eagles

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.

Spoilers herein.I've been slogging through many 1930's film mysteries. Dozens of them, and this is one of the most interesting. I've seen it three times now and still can't figure it all out. That's a good sign.It starts simple enough, and follows a standard pattern established over decades in radio mysteries: a raffish detective, incompetent comic police, beautiful girls, society people. There's a puzzle, hidden passages and a villain dressed in a black silk hood and gown. That villain has an evil laugh inherited from radio conventions.Things chug along predictably until the end which has a pretty interesting twist. The twist is on the notion of twist itself as the bad guy is someone you suspect and for the reason you suspect. The twist is that there are two conspiracies working at cross-purposes. So even though the solution itself is mundane, the next to the last step toward the solution is pretty darn clever.Oh, and a very young and pretty Ginger Rogers is the girl.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.